Balancing family responsibilities and a busy work life is not an easy task by any means. It can leave one drained. And, on top of it, if you have to add 8 hours regular study to this balance, imagine the uphill task before you.
But this is what Dr. Paramjeet Singh succeeded in doing for more than 9 years. He has been working as a doctor since 2012. He got married in 2014 and then started civil services preparation. And, balancing all three diverse areas, he cracked RAS 2021 with 27 rank in his third attempt.
His perseverance and dedication towards what he sets out to, and not fearing failures on the way, is what marks him out as a cut above the rest.
Indian Masterminds interacted with Mr. Singh to know about his inspiring journey in detail.
JOURNEY SO FAR
He gave a total of 3 attempts in RAS. In his first attempt in 2016, he was not able to crack the prelims even. In his next attempt in 2018, he was well prepared, but again could not get a rank of his choice. He got the 753 rank and was allotted no post. He lost out because of his poor mains marks.
But, in the 3rd attempt in RAS – 21, everything went according to plan and he finally achieved the 27th rank and a deputy collector post.
In the meanwhile, he had started his career as a doctor after doing BAMS. And, in 2015, he got posted as Ayurveda Medical Officer in City Medical Dispensary, Jodhpur.
Talking about that phase of his life, he said, “The journey was really challenging, because it’s very difficult to study with a medical profession and family responsibilities. I experienced some failures, so my success destiny got extended. But, overall, it has been an enjoyable journey.”
SECRET OF SUCCESS
His secret of success lies in having no fear! Though his RAS journey was full of ups and downs, he never feared failures.
He said, “I studied with the thought that even if I don’t get the expected result, it doesn’t matter. I just want to study.”
BACKGROUND
He originally belongs to Pali district of Rajasthan. His father is a retired government employee, while his mother is homemaker. He has two elder brothers and one sister.
He did his basic education till 10th in his home town, Pali. Then he moved to Jodhpur from where he completed his 12th. Thereafter, he prepared for medical exam in Kota for almost a year. After that, he completed BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery) from Shri Bhanwar Lal Dugar Ayurveda College, Sardarshahr, Churu, in 2012.
After doing BAMS, he moved to Delhi and practised as a doctor in Maharishi Ayurveda group. In 2014, he came back to Rajasthan and joined a private hospital.
In 2014, he got married and is now the proud father of a beautiful child. After his first failed RAS attempt in 2016, he started preparing seriously for the exam.
His motivation for RAS came from his office meeting with bureaucrats. He said, “In 2016, when I attended several meetings at the collectorate and had our orientation in front of the DM and SDM, I got a lot of inspiration from their functioning and their working style. After that, I decided to go for RAS.”
RAS PREPRATION
In the 2016 attempt, he had not prepared well and just gave the exam out of curiosity. Before his next attempt in 2018, he became very serious about RAS and joined elementary coaching for sometime in Springboard Academy in Jodhpur for guidance.
First, he covered the basic syllabus with NCERTs and other standard books. Then, he attempted many test series. He made notes and focussed on timely revisions. He did many group discussions on important topics with other RAS aspirants.
Due to a lot of answer writing practice and solving of test series, he got very good marks in mains in his third and final attempt.
STRATEGY
In his strategy, three things were very important – Revision, Writing Practice, Core Group for Discussion. His study schedule started at 4 pm and went on till 8 pm. For the second round, he used to study from 9 pm till 1 or 2 am.
He said, “Your revision strategy should be very clear. If you study for 5 days in a week, then two days should be for revision. Do practice writing as much as you can. Write test series without any hesitation. It’s a must! Third, make a core group with fellow aspirants and do discussions on every important topic. It will enhance your perspective and help you in the exam very much.”
INTERVIEW
His interview went very well. Seventy per cent of the questions were asked from his job profile. He was asked an interesting question: “Right now, you are dealing with patients, but if you get RPS (Rajasthan Police Service), then you will have to deal with criminals. So what will be your different approaches in dealing with both?”
He was also asked questions on the Constitution, Jammu and Kashmir issue, making of a new state, and the Right to Information Act.
MESSAGE
Giving a message for RAS aspirants, he said, “Prepare with full integrity and focus. This journey demands your 100 per cent and full dedication. Study according to the demand of the exam. Make a plan and follow it regularly. Work on your weak areas from the start. If you do this, you can crack the exam in the first attempt.”
FUTURE AIM
His immediate aim for the future is to enjoy his training period and learn as much as he can. “Then, during my field posting, I will work on the challenges faced by the common people. I will identify those problems and correct them. I will reach out to each and every person and also make it easy for people to reach me,” he said in conclusion.**
