Emotions ran high and fresh guards were taken at the felicitation of successful Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidates at SN Tagore Civil Services Study Centre in FD Block last Friday.

The centre, set up in 2014, has had five of its students securing ranks on the merit list this year. Four of them were present at the programme along with five others from Bengal who also qualified.

“Out of six lakh candidates who appear for UPSC, I have calculated that about 8,000 are from Bengal. If we have 10-15 candidates clearing the exam out of just 8,000, imagine what the figure could have been if the number of aspirants was 50,000 to 60,000, reflecting the proportion of Bengal’s population on this nationwide list. How can there be more ready products till there is enough raw material?” said Surajit Kar Purkayastha, chairman of the institute.

Chief secretary Manoj Pant delivers his address

He added that the government had set up study centres in every district to guide and motivate students about the UPSC examination. “Earlier, students of Bengal had no clue where to go to seek guidance. Now they have this government-backed address to come to. We need to develop this ecosystem further. The study centres are also choosing 50 students each to train,” he said, adding that training was 20 per cent of what it took to succeed. “The other 80 per cent is the fire within. Our boys and girls have enough merit but lack confidence,” he lamented.

Chief secretary Manoj Pant felicitated some of the aspirants. Before leaving, he even shared some words of encouragement with the candidates from the next batch who were in the audience.

He quoted the three ‘I’s that a trainer in their Mussoorie training institute had quoted — integrity, industry and intelligence. “Of these, integrity is the most important when it comes to the civil services.” He also quoted a doha he had heard in school on the five qualities of a good student.

— Kak cheshta, referring to the perseverance of the crow in the fables who kept throwing pebbles in a half-filled pitcher till the water reached the brim,

— bako dhyanam, referring to the crane’s meditative fixation on the prey,

— swan nidra, meaning being alert like a dog even at night,

— alpahari, prescribing significantly less food and

— grihatyagi, speaking of the unattached person leaving his comfort zone to achieve his goal. “Such qualities are needed to make it in this examination,” he summed up.

Meghna Chakravorty, the AK Block girl ranked 79th, reminded the audience of her “invisible hours of hard work” which have earned her the recent moments in the limelight. On a request from Anil Verma, the director-general of Netaji Subhas Administrative Training Institute, which houses the centre, she shared her interview experience. “I was asked why the state of democracy is in decline. I reasoned that there were changes, but that was not a decline. The back-and-forth went on for 10 minutes,” adding that it helped to have informed opinions about all kinds of issues, as there was no knowing what issue would be taken up for discussion.

Sahars Kumar, ranked 153, introduced himself as a passout of Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya Narendrapur, IIT Kanpur and IIM Calcutta. “Though I was working in the corporate sector, the push to give back led me towards the civil services,” said the boy whose fourth shot at the UPSC entrance yielded the desired rank.

Urmi Sinha was possibly the youngest among the 10, given that she had cleared it on her very first attempt, securing a creditable rank of 170. The Howrah girl said she knew her calling lay in the civil services ever since she was seven. “In Class IV, we were asked to write about what we want to become. I remember writing that I want to become an IPS officer and catch robbers and thieves. A lot of people wanted to become a doctor like my father, but my parents supported my dreams,” said the girl in a speech that was interrupted twice as she got emotional on spotting tears streaking down her mother’s cheeks.

A proud father from the Indian Army was present to record his daughter Prativa Lama’s speech. On clearing the UPSC on her sixth attempt with a rank of 461, the Darjeeling girl shared a story she had heard from her sister about a farmer who gave up after digging his field for gold for a long period. “He sold the land and the buyer found the gold which lay just a foot below. It is just the extra push that is needed for success,” she said, in a message to the aspirants.

Another Darjeeling girl was present, with a rank of 765. Zojila Dolkar Bhutia looked graceful, dressed in the traditional Tibetan costume of bakhu. Appearing for the examination while working full time at the directorate of registration and stamp revenue, she spoke of the importance of choice and the need to be resolute to succeed in UPSC.

Rajdeep Ghosh, ranked 789, speaking partly in Bengali, urged the aspirants neither to panic as the examination was not too difficult, nor to relax as it was not too easy either.

Praveen Kumar, ranked 837, is also in service — at the Central GST department. He said he had given up a better-paying job in order to prepare for the examination.

Paramita Malakar, ranked 477, could not come as she was undergoing training as an IRS official, by dint of her rank in the previous year. Kar Purkayastha lauded her, underlining the humble background she had risen from. “And she had chosen Bengali as one of her subjects,” he emphasised. Her mother spoke of Paramita’s journey and thanked the institute for help in not just coaching but also arranging for accommodation in Delhi, where the interview round takes place.

The 91-year-old teacher, whose name was on every successful candidate’s lip, Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhury, reminded his wards that they were entering a service. “Who would you serve? Political parties? Your bosses? No. The Constitution talks about ‘We, the people’. That is who you are going to serve. And you are supposed to serve them, not boss over them,” he pointed out.

A chilling reminder of the need to maintain a straight spine is the career of a Calcutta boy who has recently retired — Ashok Khemka, a mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur, who did his Ph.D from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research before joining the civil services. “He worked for 34 years and was transferred 57 times. What went wrong, or rather what went right?” Pal Chaudhury wondered aloud about the anti-corruption crusader from the Haryana cadre, leaving the aspirants to reflect on the price for honesty in the career they had chosen.

Also present at the programme were Binod Kumar, principal secretary of the higher education department, and assistant commissioner of police Dhrubajyoti De of Kolkata Police.