Patna: Saharsa boy Sagar Kumar Jha, who secured 13th rank in the civil services examination, the results of which were declared last Friday, wants to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) over the IAS in a bid to eradicate crime and the sense of insecurity among the people.

For Sagar, his third attempt proved lucky. In a conversation with The Telegraph over phone on Monday, Sagar said his first two attempts in 2015 and 2016 were unsuccessful: he didn't even clear the preliminary examination. "Failure is something that inspires and motivates those with wisdom and sheer determination," he said.

It was while doing a project at IIT Banaras Hindu University that the problem of crime drew his attention and he made up his mind to eliminate the sense of fear and insecurity among people, especially women, due to rising criminal activities by joining the IPS.

In many ways Sagar's dream echoes that of Ajay Singh Rathod, the character portrayed by Aamir Khan in the 1999 hit Sarfarosh. In the film too, Aamir's character opts for the IPS over the IAS as he wanted to come down heavily on crime and criminals.

Sagar has already worked out a to-do list. There is a communication gap between police and the community, he said. Therefore, as a superintendent of police, police-public outreach campaigns will be his top priority. "The police department should become people-friendly so that the aggrieved or victims of a crime feel free to come and seek help," he said. "I want to improve the image of the police by people-centric, active and enabling initiatives."

Sagar hails from Chainpur village of Saharsa, around 280km east of Patna. His father Mihir Kumar Jha is a block cooperative officer in Pakur, Jharkhand.

Sagar completed his Class X schooling from DAV-Dhanbad, securing 96 per cent in his matriculation, and cleared Class XII with 93 per cent marks from Delhi Public School, Ranchi. Thereafter, he joined IIT BHU, Varanasi, in 2015 and graduated with B.Tech in computer science.

In the same year, he took his first crack at the civil services but failed to clear. He again appeared for the exam, but did not succeed. Despite the twin failures, he wrote the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) examination in 2016, also conducted by UPSC, and clinched All India rank one.

Speaking about the biggest myth of the civil services examination, Sagar said a lot of aspirants put in long study hours. But for him what mattered were the concepts, a balanced point of view and continuous study for at least one year. "All this combined with will-power is sure to get you success," Sagar said.

Sagar took mathematics as optional subject. He did take coaching since the syllabus is vast, "but there is certainty of good marks if the candidate has a good grip over the subject", he said.