More often than not, life’s hard blows push a person down, making him lose the race even before it starts. But once in a while, the same hardships make another person charge ahead with a renewed burst of energy, much like whip acting on a horse.
Ansar Sheikh, one of the youngest men ever to clear the UPSC exam- at the age of 21- belongs to the second category.
Born in very poor family in the Shelgaon village of Maharashtra’s Jalna district, Ansar Sheikh was deprived of all the creature comforts which we in the cities take for granted. His father, with no overt interest in his formal education, was a rickshaw driver and his mother worked as a land labourer. It was tough for Ansar’s parents to even fulfill the basic needs of the family members. But the desire to learn and get education never really left the boy.
When Ansar was in class 4th, his father wanted him to give up studies and start working to support the family. He obviously wanted to continue not only because he was good in it but also because he enjoyed it. However, that time his class teacher came out to be his savior and convinced his parents to let him continue with the studies. Speaking with the Indian masterminds about that early phase Ansar Sheikh said, “It would be really hard for me if I had lost the chance of education. I really loved my school but nothing much was in my hands. I can never really forget the efforts of my teacher who convinced my parents. I was really fortunate that my father also understood it and started supporting me thereafter.”
Even in a Government school where he studied, Ansar found the teachers to be very good. “They used to identify students with good potential and pushed them to work hard. It is said that a good teacher could make or break you. I am fortunate that till my 12th grade I was blessed with some very efficient good and teachers. Apart from my family members, they are the one who should get the credit for my success,’’ he added.
Moping Floors, Serving Food in Restaurant
With great personal efforts and help from a couple of good samaritans, Ansar completed his schooling. However, only being good in his studies was not enough and it didn’t make his journey easy. He always had to struggle financially. To make up for the shortage of funds required for extra courses, he did a number of menial jobs. Life never gave anything easily to him. At one time, he worked in a restaurant in his village, serving tea to customers, cleaning tables and mopping floor.
Talking about those days, Ansar said, “After the 10th board I had two months vacation. I wanted to utilize it and do a computer course. But my family’s financial condition didn’t allow me it. So I started working in a restaurant to pay for the course. I would work there from morning to evening and in between I would go for one hour class.”
Sanskrit in Class 12
With great difficulty- and admirable resourcefulness- Ansar cleared his class 12th in Marathi Medium with good marks. What’s interesting is that he chose Sanskrit as the fifth subject. On choosing Sanskrit he said, “I have a special love for different languages. I did my schooling in Marathi and Hindi is my mother tongue. I also know Urdu. So, I thought of choosing a Sanskrit because I wanted to learn something different. I am really glad that I was able to score good in it.”
Ansar’s life took a great turn after 12th board results. He managed to get admission in Pune’s renowned Fergusson College and completed his bachelor’s degree in political science from there. As he puts this, it was his dream to enter this college. He knew that he needs to get above 86% to get a seat in the merit list. So, he worked doubly hard and cracked the merit list. This is one of the biggest achievements he had till date.
Almost Changed the Medium
He entered the college with great aspirations and dreams. He had the support of his parents and brother who had started working then and used to send him the money for expenses. But the main challenge now was to get acceptance in the college. He was pursuing the graduation in English medium but this was little difficult for him. He was a Marathi medium student and was not comfortable in speaking fluent English. In two months, he decided to give up and applied for the change of medium. Again, he was blessed with good professors who encouraged him to try at least. He agreed and picked up with other fellow in just one month time.
While he was in second year he came to know about civil services. One of his school teachers was able to crack the state service exam. This gave him an insight about his career and he also started preparing for it. He failed in his first attempt at Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPCC); in hindsight, it proved out to be a blessing for him. Because in 2015, Ansar Sheikh created history by clearing UPSC in his very first attempt, scoring a rank of 361!
Since then, there has been no looking back for him. After completing the training he was posted in Commerce ministry, government of India for a period of three months. Then he was assigned with the post of Special Duty officer at the Department of MSME & textiles, Government of India. Currently, he is serving as the SDM of Dinhata .
Annapurna & Bandhavi
It’s been just three years since Ansar has started his service as the administrative officer. However, he has already started showing signs of a good and visionary bureaucrat. He is making efforts to make some ground changes in his area. With this hope in his eyes, he has already kick started some campaigns which deserve a huge applaud.
By organizing several camps in the district, Ansar provided over a thousand differently-able certificates to those who are still not aware of its importance, or do not know how to get one. Along with it he also organized community kitchen ‘Annapurna’, where every day 2000 meals were served in lockdown for 100 days. “These people were worst hit by the pandemic. Something had to be done for them.He said, Even you and I were struggling in that phase. So we started this campaign on administrative label to serve food to them. Now many other individual are also supporting us in it,” he said
To create awareness about the menstruation, Ansar and his team designed a campaign called Bandhavi (meaning friends) in the district. 38 high schools of the district are already enrolled in this program. Under this program, three students from schools were trained about the myths and facts about the menstruation. After completing the training they had to propagate it within their school and neighborhood. Talking about it Ansar said “Dinhata is one of the most backward district in terms of education and development. Around 50% of the population belongs to the Schedule cast and the usage of sanitary napkins is very minuscule.”
Points out the IAS officer, “Only 29% women and girls are using sanitary napkins. I wanted to do something about and came up with this idea. The initial stage of the campaign has been successful. The girls were trained but we couldn’t take it further because of the lockdown. I am positive that we will start it with the same enthusiasm again and achieve the expected results.” Asked about his aspirations as an IAS officer, Ansar replied, “When I joined as the officer I only had two things in my mind. One, I will try my best to implement the programs already by the government for helping poor people. I will consider myself successful even if I am able to do that. Secondly, I want to create and implement a few novel ideas in every posting I get. This would give me real happiness and satisfaction.”
