Patna, July 4: Suharsha Bhagat stopped just four notches from the top. Rather, four girls outsmarted all others - 1,232 to be precise - to claim the first four ranks of the UPSC civil services exam, 2014, results of which were declared today.
Among the boys, Samastipur's Suharsha clinched the top rank.
Delhi-based Ira Singhal, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, today became the first physically challenged woman to top the civil services exam. Renu Raj, a doctor from Kerala, and Nidhi Gupta, also an IRS officer from Delhi, both 27-year-old, secured second and third positions, respectively. Vandana Rao, who is also from Delhi, has got the fourth rank.
Born to doctor father Phulendra Bhagat, Suharsha - at present undergoing IRS (Income Tax) training in Nagpur - shared his thoughts with The Telegraph: "It was my dream to join administrative service since I was studying chemical engineering at IIT Bombay."
After passing from IIT Bombay in 2010, Suharsha started preparations for civil service exam and in 2011 he got selected in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. In 2012, he took the exam again and got into Indian Information Service. In 2013, Suharsha again prepared for the exam and got into the IRS.
Suharsha, 27, completed his matriculation from Ramakrishna Mission School, Deoghar, and Class XII from DPS RK Puram, New Delhi. Though he has an engineering background, Suharsha chose geography as an optional subject in the exam. He said: "I got the encouragement to join the administrative service from my father. Though my background is science, my father and friends asked me to choose social science (geography) in the exam."
Phulendra was overjoyed at his son's feat: "Suharsha's hard work and dedication eventually paid off. All of us in the family are very happy about him." Suharsha's younger brother Niketharsha is pursuing MS from Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi.
Ghuncha Sanobar's success is almost on the same level as Suharsha's. Sanobar, the daughter of retired IPS officer Anwar Hussain, completed engineering from Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, in 2012, and took geography as an optional subject. After her second attempt, she cleared this exam with 424 rank. Anwar said: "It was Sanobar's childhood dream to join the civil services."
Besides Suharsha, several others from Bihar performed exceptionally well in the
exam. Kantesh Kumar Mishra from Ara ranked 103 in the exam. Son of Dharma Deo
Mishra and Rajkumari Mishra, Kantesh is working as an IT officer in UCO Bank, Calcutta, for the past three years. Kantesh belongs to Mahuaon - the village of former chief minister Bindeshwari Dubey.
Sources said Raju Mishra with rank 65 and Rohan Kumar Jha with rank 95 are also from Bihar.
Patna boy Ankit Pandey, who has done his schooling from DAV BSEB and St Michael's High School, has got rank 522. Ankit's grandfather Shivvansh Pandey said: "While doing his graduation from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi, Ankit had a dream of joining the administrative service. Ankit's subject in the exam was accountancy."
Viraj Singh, the younger brother of Patna senior superintendent of police Vikas Vaibhav, also features in the list with rank 593. Viraj said: "This was my fifth attempt but I was sure of cracking the exam this time."
Pitambar Kumar of Patwa Toli, Gaya, has also cleared the test with rank 754. It is after 27 years that someone has cleared the UPSC exam from Patwa Toli.
The civil services preliminary exam was conducted on August 24 last year at 2,137 venues across 59 centres in the country. About 9.45 lakh candidates had applied for it but approximately 4.51 lakh sat for the exam. Altogether, 1,364 posts are to be filled through this. It is the first time that the UPSC has declared the final results within four days of the closing date for the personality tests or interviews, which was held from April 27 to June 30.
With inputs from Alok Kumar in Gaya
In 2010, Ajay Prakash from same district Samstipur got ninth position in Civil Services Examination 2010.
By Suharsha’s success students from Bihar have once proved their mettle in civil service examination. Dr Rash Bihari Prasad Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Nalanda Open University (NOU) under whose guidance many students had cleared civil service examination few years back said: “The success of Samastipur boy has once again proved that Bihari students are energetic and sharp minded, but, at the same time questions about lack of career support in Bihar.� Singh’s statement assume importance as in Suharsha case too his career shaping was done outside Bihar.
