Haryana farmer’s son tops UPSC; 2 from Delhi in top 5
NEW DELHI: Three serving civil services officers topped the prestigious Union Public Service Commission examination 2019, which selects people to join the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service and other civil services after three gruelling rounds of assessment.
There are 13 men and 12 women in the top 25.
Indian Revenue Services officer (2019 batch) Pradeep Singh, 29, from Haryana’s Sonipat has topped the list, and will opt for the IAS. Singh, a farmer’s son, is currently undergoing training at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics in Faridabad.
All told, 829 students have cleared the examination in 2019-20 and will now head to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand, where they will spend over four months for a foundation course training them to be officers in various arms of the government. Those selected for IAS will spend well over a year with the institute, travelling and attending lectures before heading for their district training, while those selected in other streams such as the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service will move to other specialised institutes for training after four months.
Jatin Kishore, 26, secured the second position. He is from Delhi and a member of the Indian Economic Service (2018 batch); he is currently posted as assistant director in the rural development ministry.
Pratibha Verma, also an IRS officer from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, has secured the third rank. She too wants to join the IAS.
It is common for candidates
who clear the exam but do not get their desired stream to appear again for it in an effort to improve their rank. Verma, for instance, was ranked 489 in the 2018 examination (the results of which came out in 2019).
The preliminary and main examinations were held in June and September last year, respectively. After the candidates cleared the exams, some appeared for interviews in March, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent nationwide lockdown imposed on March 24, UPSC decided to reschedule the interviews and medical examinations from July 21 to August 4.
Last year, 759 candidates cleared the UPSC exam.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also reached out to all the aspirants who did not get the “desired result” in this year’s exam.
“For those youngsters who did not get the desired result in the Civil Services Examination, 2019, I would like to tell them — life is full of several opportunities. Each and every one of you is hardworking and diligent. Best wishes for all your future endeavours,” Modi tweeted.
This year 304 students from the general category cleared the exam, as did 78 from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), 251 from Other Backward Classed, 129 from Scheduled Castes and 67 from Scheduled Tribes, according to UPSC. The candidature of 66 candidates is provisional and that of 11 has been withheld.
According to the notification released by the government, there are a total of 927 vacancies that need to be filled. There are 180 vacancies for the IAS, of which 72 are for those from the general category, 18 from EWS, 52 for OBC, 25 for SC and 13 for ST categories.
The Foreign Service has 24 vacancies, with 12 for general category aspirants, two for EWS, six for OBC; three for SC and one for ST category aspirants.
There are 150 vacancies in the IPS — 60 for general category, 15 for EWS, 42 for OBC; 23 for SC and 10 for ST.
“I was quite confident I would get through, but I never expected the first rank,” Singh told Hindustan Times. “This is unbelievable, my parents are ecstatic.”
Kishore told news agency PTI that he hoped to work in the area of education and environment.
“I’m shocked and super excited,” said Verma. “I have not been able to put down my phone and my family is pouring in from all over to congratulate me. This was very unexpected.”
Verma is the daughter of teachers (her father retired recently and her mother continues to teach primary school) .
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) director Sanjeev Chopra welcomed the incoming batch. “The academy looks forward to welcoming all who have joined the civil servants family,” said Chopra. “We are hoping to start our foundation course as early as possible, keeping in mind the state’s Covid-19 guidelines.”