Being an IAS aspirant from rural India can be tough at times, owing to the unavailability of study materials and resources. But Nitesh Kumar Jain wasn’t someone to let this obstacle come in the way of his civil services goal.
Today, Indian Masterminds presents the story of how this young man from a village in Bihar faced every challenge thrown his way to clear the UPSC Civil Services Examination.
EARLY LIFE
Born and brought up in the Puraini block of Madhepura district, Bihar, Nitesh is one of the first from his village to become a civil servant and the first to join the administrative services. He passed his matriculation examination from Sri Vasudev Higher Secondary School, Nayatola, Bihar, in the year 2008 and then got himself enrolled in Intermediate at Sri Jain Vidyalaya in Kolkata.
After completing his schooling, Nitesh went on to pursue B.Com from the prestigious St. Xavier’s College in Kolkata. After graduating from college, Nitesh decided to opt for Chartered Accountancy as his career choice and therefore started preparing for it. His efforts bore success as he passed CMA in 2013 and CA in 2014.
Through his brilliancy in academics, Nitesh contradicted the prevalent idea that only with a fancy private school degree can one even hope to achieve something good in their career. However, the fact remains that being from rural background also meant he did not have ready access to coaching or study materials as easily as an urban candidate would. He also explains his choice to move to Kolkata for his graduation as a strategic step needed for him to access the facilities that would allow him to prepare for civil services.
JOURNEY INTO CIVIL SERVICES
Throughout the years, Nitesh had heard of men and women of his state, who have made great strides into the Indian bureaucracy and served the nation to the best of their abilities. He wanted to follow in their footsteps. When he started his preparation, he got to know more and more people who have achieved this goal despite many hardships and he started believing that he can do it, too. However, the main source of his motivation has always been to reach a position from where he can influence real change and provide quality education to all children, urban and rural alike.
With this motivation in mind, Nitesh began his preparation for civil services. His father Anand Jain and mother Sudha Jain were confident that he would clear the examination in the very first attempt, owing to his brilliance in academics, and stood by him through every step of the journey. However, it soon started seeming like luck wasn’t on his side and that fate had other plans for him.
THREE FAILED ATTEMPTS AND TWO PASSES
Nitesh gave his first attempt at UPSC CSE in the year 2015. Even though he prepared hard for the examination, he was unable to clear even the Preliminary stage of CSE. Understanding that he might have lacked in preparing a proper strategy or missed something in his revisions, Nitesh did not get disappointed and immediately started preparing for another attempt.
In his second attempt at UPSC CSE in the year 2016, he passed all the written examinations but unfortunately could not clear the interview phase of the exam. So, Nitesh decided to give his third attempt next year in 2017, where he could not clear even the Prelims.
This time, he felt disheartened and disappointed with himself, but his parent’s love and support encouraged him to give the examination once again. He started preparing with a full zeal once again.
Soon, he gave his fourth attempt in the year 2018 and to everyone’s happiness, entered his name on the final list in the 96th rank. He received his posting and started working as an Income Tax Commissioner for two years before deciding to give a final attempt at UPSC CSE in the year 2021, as he wanted to acquire a better rank. This time, things moved as they should and he scored AIR-22! He is all set now to become an IAS officer.
Sharing his mantra of success, he asked aspirants to choose their optional subjects and books properly and read them over and over again. And, apart from this, they should keep minimal sources of study to avoid confusion.
