‘You are just a constable’: Spurred by senior’s barb, Andhra Pradesh man cracks UPSC exam

IN AUGUST 2018, Uday Krishna Reddy, then a constable in Telangana, was humiliated by a senior officer just because he was preparing for the civil services. The words “you are just a constable” ringing in his head, he resigned the same day.

Six years later, 30-year-old Reddy has secured the 780th rank in the 2023 UPSC exam, whose results were announced Tuesday. And he has not stopped dreaming yet, saying he will continue to prepare to achieve his goal of becoming an IAS officer.

Reddy, who is from Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district, was selected as a civil police constable in 2012. He worked from 2013 to 2018 in the department and resigned the day his circle inspector insulted him in front of his colleagues.

“My circle inspector did not like the fact that I was preparing for civils in my leisure. He would make fun of my preparation, and assign me duty out of turn to demotivate me. One day he mocked my preparation in front of 60 colleagues and gave me an extra hour of drill as punishment when I was slightly late. He just wanted to limit my career progress,” Reddy told The Indian Express.

Though Reddy sent in his resignation the same day, the senior officer, according to him, did not forward his letter, marked him absent from duty, and issued a deserter notice a year later. “He took out his grudge against me by not accepting my resignation. I had to then request the SP to relieve me, while I worked on my preparation,” he said.

Reddy, who lost his parents at a young age, grew up with his grandmother and studied in a Telugu-medium government school. Reddy said he pursued his IAS dream in the face of educational and financial barriers.

A graduate, he thanked his mentor Sarat Chandra from Sarat Chandra IAS Academy and his family members for instilling confidence in him.

It was only in his fourth attempt that he tasted success though. In the second and third attempts, he failed to clear the prelims.

Reddy said he focused on covering the syllabus thoroughly to excel in each of the topics.