Haryana farmer’s son tops UPSC; 2 from Delhi in top 5

NEWDELHI: 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.