Bhubaneswar, June 1: Avishyant Panda chose to appear for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination after working in the private sector for over two and a half years.

He secured an all-India rank of 91 in the UPSC exam this year. "I wanted to become an IAS officer since and did not want to let myself down," he said.

The electronics and telecommunications engineering graduate of KIIT University feels the only thing administrators require is empathy. "Officers in our country are doing good work. But first, we need to understand the problems faced by people and only then we can work for them," said Panda.

He feels that the services offer lot of freedom to an officer. "If one can balance various aspects of the services, then wonders can be done," he said.

"There has been a lot of improvements in the profession since Independence. Policies and schemes keep coming over time. But better implementation of policies is required. We need better accountability mechanism and create timelines to ensure better implementation," said Panda, the son of Odisha-cadre IAS officer Arun Panda.

Suman Sourav Mohanty, the 31-year-old mechanical engineering graduate, has secured ninth rank in the examination.

An Indian Revenue Service officer, he had earlier qualified for Odisha Civil Service and served in Kandhamal district for six months. Last year, he secured 413th rank in the UPSC examination.

He feels the three major strengths of the state is community spirit, rich natural resources and simplicity. "I always wanted to work for the people of my state and use its strengths for development," said the BTech from KIIT University in mechanical engineering from 2008.

Sunanda Jhoria, a youth of Kashipur block in Rayagada district, also qualified the examination and has secured 1064 rank.

A student of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Koraput, Sunanda said: "More and more youngsters from the state should join the civil services to serve their native places."

Subhankar Mohapatra and Suchismita Kanungo from Odisha have secured ranks 255 and 261 respectively.

A total of 1,099 candidates (846 men and 253 women), including 44 physically-handicapped candidates, have been recommended by the UPSC for appointment to its various services.

Job scam

A police team on Thursday headed for Delhi to probe into the fake placement scam at Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University. The team will conduct raids to nab the perpetrators who posed as human resource personnel during the placement drives.