IIT grad Shubham Kumar tops UPSC; 761 clear exam

NEW DELHI: A total of 761 candidates have cleared the coveted civil services examination 2020, with engineering graduates Shubham Kumar and Jagrati Awasthi bagging the first and second ranks respectively.

The Union Public Service Commission on Friday declared the results of the examination, conducted annually to select IAS, IFS and IPS officers, among other civil servants.

Kumar, a Bachelor of Technology (civil engineering) graduate from IIT Bombay, has qualified the examination with anthropology as his optional subject. Awasthi is the topper among women candidates, according to a statement issued by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Awasthi qualified the examination with sociology as her optional subject. She completed B.Tech (electrical engineering) from Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal.

Ankita Jain has achieved the third rank in the prestigious test.

A total of 761 candidates -- 545 men and 216 women -- have cleared the examination and recommended for various civil services by the Commission. The civil services examination is conducted by the UPSC in three stages -- preliminary, main and interview -- to select officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others. The civil services (preliminary) examination, 2020 was conducted on October 4 last year.

As many as 10,40,060 candidates applied for the examination, out of whom 4,82,770 appeared in it, the statement said. A total of 10,564 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination which was held in January, 2021.

Of them, 2,053 candidates qualified for the personality test (interview), it said. The 761 recommended candidates include 25 persons with benchmark disability -- seven orthopedically handicapped, four visually challenged, 10 hearing impaired and four multiple disabilities.