There is an old saying that ‘patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.’ When you achieve something after much hardship and struggle, then, it gives more pleasure. Amit Gupta from Bahraich completed his secondary education on scholarship and did his engineering on loan. His dream was to be a civil servant, but family situation pushed him to take up a job in the corporate world.
However, after one year, he decided to leave the job and started preparing for UPSC CSE. Meanwhile, he cracked state civil exams and became a SDM. And, now, finally, he passed the UPSC CSE 2022 with AIR 246 in his 5th attempt.
He is currently working as SDM in Maharajganj district, UP.
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, he said, “I come from a background where financial condition breaks the people. If one keeps preparing and there is no selection, there is a lot of mental stress, so backup is necessary.”
JOURNEY SO FAR
For him, life was very difficult from school to engineering college. However, he never gave up and thoughts of his family kept him motivated and focused on his goal. He was sure he would get IAS and, if not, he will give the exam again.
He started preparing for CSE while on his job in Samsung, in 2017. He gave his first UPSC attempt in 2018 but failed. Next year, he in CSE 2019, he reached till the interview stage, but could not make it to the final list. In CSE 2020, he could not crack the Prelims. In CSE 2021, he passed prelims, but failed mains. Finally, in CSE 2022, he cracked the exam and turned his dream into reality.
While giving UPSC exams, on a friend’s suggestion, he also had a backup plan of state civil services. He cracked Bihar PCS in 2018 and got a revenue officer post in 2021, as result was declared late. He also cracked UP PCS twice. He got deputy jailer post in UPPCS 2019 and was selected for SDM post in UPPCS 2020.
BACKGROUND
His father runs a small shop of General Merchant, while his mother is a homemaker. He is the only child of his parents. He passed high school with 97.6 per cent marks from Bahraich, UP. Then he got a scholarship and scored 97.4 percent in his 12th. He was in the district toppers’ list in both. Then, after taking a loan from a bank, he completed engineering (B.Tech) in computer science from National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh.
After that, he took up a job in Samsung for a year. Around this time, he took decision on his own to leave job and follow his goal of becoming IAS.
GUIDES ASPIRANTS TOO
As he build his own career under such difficult circumstances, he now helps civil services aspirants to build their future. He teaches in Abhyudaya Coaching of UP government in Mahrajganj and lends online guidance to students of Civil Service Margdarshika in Aligarh, which was started by his senior, ADM Pankaj Verma, for all state civil aspirants for free.
UPSC STRATEGY
His entire preparation was based on self study. He only gave mock interview in various coaching centres. He mostly studied online. He says that all materials are available online, but, first of all, a candidate should know the basic sources to be able to take the help of Google.
His optional was Anthropology. His strategy was to follow the syllabus and complete basic study from NCERT and other reference books. And, then, make short notes and revise multiple times.
He said, “Becoming IAS, IPS or SDM and DSP etc is a big thing for the place I come from. And preparing oneself is a big challenge in itself. There is under confidence from inside. But one should not think about all that and focus only on study.”
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
As he is currently working as SDM in Maharajganj, hence maximum questions were from his job profile. There were many questions related to Maharajganj district, like employment and tourism opportunities there. There were also questions like: Big districts are better or smaller? What are the benefits and drawback of big and smaller districts? There were also questions on fertilizers and farming, the discernment use of urea, why farmers are using more urea nowadays, etc.
There were questions on his corporate life, too. Like – what are the challenges in government and corporate sectors? Which is better? Why does the government sector not perform better in comparison to the corporate?
MESSAGE TO ASPIRANTS
Giving suggestions for aspirants, he said, “Those who want to prepare for this exam should have a financial backup plan. This journey takes almost two to three years minimum. Secondly, aspirants should do integrated preparation for this. They should give state civil services along with UPSC CSE, so that they have more opportunities in store.”
Lastly, he urges all aspirants to study regularly with utmost dedication, and always be positive and confident, come what may.
