The Union Public Service Commission sees an impressive number of candidates from Bihar and Jharkhand trying their luck in the civil service exam, but, of late, very few have been clearing it. Most of them do exceptionally well in the written exams but fail to perform well in the interview round. Noticing this trend, the National Association of Civil Servants (NACS) has taken to mentoring those aspirants to help them perform well in the viva round, too.
OBJECTIVE
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, IAS officer Santosh Kumar, who is an active member of this group, said, “Bihar and Jharkhand are states that are backward in development, so we wanted a platform where civil servants from both the states can come together to help each other and, also, groom our youngsters looking for guidance”.
He added that the platform should be such, where officers from both states can freely share their ideas on development issues and work together for their states collectively. And this is how the idea to form a society was born.
INITIATIVE
The officers keen to join this initiative got themselves registered in the year 2014 under the name ‘National Association of Civil Servants (NACS)’. Under the guidance of Retired IAS officer BK Prasad, the President of NACS, the initiative started off with just 16 members and now has more than 1000 civil servants in its fold.
In some states like Tamil Nadu, UPSC coaching is provided to aspirants for free by the state government. However, this is not the case in Bihar and Jharkhand. That’s why these officers decided to move in and become mentors of the young aspirants from their states.
Mr. Kumar said, “We started with mentoring them on how to face the interview board after clearing UPSC mains exam. An ‘Interview Guidance Programme’ was conducted in Bihar Niwas, New Delhi, with 100 candidates from both states after they qualified for the mains exam. We received a good response and now around 40 aspirants from our group get selected to UPSC every year.”
He added, “many aspirants came to our weekend programs, however, they felt that it’s not enough to grasp all the knowledge. That’s where we pondered to launch MargDharshan Programme in Patna, where candidates selected by NACS test, continue with regular classes”. And to achieve their goal, Patna University agreed to provide its classroom to NACS for regular classes.
He was quick to point out that they are “not a professional organization that aims to earn money. Ours is a society that devotes its time solely to offering free guidance to young civil service aspirants.” Society is totally funded by the civil servants who are associated with it. At present they do not have an office but are looking into setting up a proper institution with all required paraphernalia.
USP
The organization’s USP is that the faculty members are all civil servants who passed the civil services exams in the recent past. And, more importantly, the training is provided free of cost. “We do not charge a penny from the aspirants. It’s our way of giving back to society”, said Mr. Kumar. Similarly, he expects the NACS students who go on to become civil servants to give back to society by mentoring new aspirants.
PROCEDURE
The procedure to become a part of NACS operates on two levels: the officer group, where civil servants from Bihar and Jharkhand are added; the aspirant group, where information about all coaching programs is uploaded on a website.
Every year, a felicitation function is organized in New Delhi, where all newly-selected IAS officers from Bihar & Jharkhand are felicitated by their seniors, before they embark on their new journey as civil servants. “This begins their formal induction into NACS fraternity as fellow officers,” Mr. Kumar said.
NACS’ operations are not just confined to mentoring UPSC aspirants. It also lends its support and helps to pertinent social issues. During natural calamities like pandemics or floods in Bihar, NACS members make sure to reach out to the affected people. With senior bureaucrats as active members of the group, the response is prompt and issues get resolved fast.
