After nine-years, Meghalaya again rejoiced as Ankur Das brought laurels to the State by clearing the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) this year.
Ankur, 27, a resident of Jail road locality in Shillong was a student of St. Edmund’s Higher Secondary School and Army Public School, Shillong and did his B.Tech from the Amity University in Noida in 2017.
Ever since his graduation, Ankur was preparing for India’s toughest exams at home and did not rely on coaching classes but self-study. He made the cut this year after five attempts, by securing the 52nd rank in the overall category.
Over the years, Meghalaya has seen dismal performance in the civil services examination. Isawanda Laloo, who is currently the East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner and Daribha Lyndem, Deputy Commissioner of GST in Mumbai, were the last candidate from the state to clear the exam in 2013.
Speaking to Highland Post, Ankur said, “Consistency and hard work is the ultimate that leads to success.”
When asked how this time was different from his previous attempts, Das said that he had put in more hard work so that played a big role.
He said that other youth from the Northeast as well as Meghalaya can crack the examination. “I believe we from the Northeast have high command over the English language and along with this books and the internet will help,” he said.
Expressing concern about the need for additional coaching centers in Meghalaya, especially ones that are connected to colleges, he said that if colleges can tie up with some good coaching centers it will be very beneficial for the youths.
Ankur said he would like to work for the State in empowering the grassroots and women in the village level after joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
“Congratulations to Ankur Das of #Meghalaya for securing the 52nd rank in the #UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2021. Congratulations also to everyone who cleared the exam. I wish these young Indians the best as they set out in their administrative careers to serve the nation,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma tweeted.
Of the total of 685 successful candidates, 244 are from the General category, 73 from Economically Weaker Sections, 203 from Other Backward Classes, 105 from Scheduled Castes and 60 from the Scheduled Tribes.
The Centre had notified 749 vacancies 180 of IAS, 37 of Indian Foreign Service (IFS), 200 of IPS and remaining central Group A’ and B’ services to be filled through the 2021 examination.
The civil services (preliminary) examination, 2021 was conducted on October 10th, 2021.
A total of 10, 93,984 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 5, 08,619 candidates appeared, the UPSC said.
The candidature of 80 candidates is provisional, while the result of one candidate has been withheld.
