A Shepherd’s Journey to the IAS
- Ayodhya Prasad Singh
- Published on 16 May 2022, 9:02 am IST
- 4 minutes read
Highlights
- A childhood story of goat grazing by 2018 batch IAS officer Ram Prakash has left people emotional on the social media.
- He cracked the toughest and prestigious UPSC exam in India in the sixth attempt with AIR-162.
- Recently, Ram Prakash has been transferred for the fifth time in his 30-months job.
A few days ago, a tweet by an IAS of Rajasthan cadre of 2018 batch went viral on social media. It said, “June 2003: We 5-6 people went to graze goats. We were swinging in a swing hanging from a mango tree branch. Suddenly the branch broke. No one was hurt, but we took away the tree branch to avoid getting thrashed. It would not be known whether the branch was ever broken.”
No one would have thought that a kid who herds goat will pass India’s toughest and most prestigious exam, UPSC and become an IAS one day. But his story is an example that a person can change his destiny with sheer hard work and dedication.
He cracked the IAS exam in his sixth attempt. Then he got AIR-162 rank. He is presently posted as Joint Secretary in PHP in Jaipur. Indian Masterminds interacted with IAS officer Ram Prakash and delve deep in his motivational journey.Related Stories
The Beginning
Ram Prakash hails from Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh. His parents were small farmers in the village, so he had limited resource. He did his early studies from Shraddhanand Saraswati Intermediate College in Rohaniya, Varanasi. He has 5 sisters & a brother. In spite of all the difficulties his parents always supported him in the studies. He had a hard life as he used to sell vegetables in the morning before going to school. He passed 12th examination in 2007.
Due to poor financial condition of the family, he had to feed goats along with studies. His brother is a loco pilot.
After completing schooling, he started his preparation for IIT JEE. He cleared the exam and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Gandhinagar in 2017. He worked with the Department of Urban Development, Government of Gujarat for one and a half year. He also prepared for the CSE simultaneously. Meanwhile, his father died but mother wanted her son to become a collector. So, he carried on with the preparation.
PRELIMS IN FOURTH ATTEMPT
He started his preparation in 2011 while doing an internship in Pune. He started with the NCERTs books and reading English newspapers. He gave his first attempt in 2012, but he did not clear the prelims. He only got 6 marks in GS1 paper.
He cleared the prelims in fourth attempt and same year cleared the mains as well. But he faltered in the interview because of lack of fluency in spoken English language & low confidence. But he worked on his mistakes & weaknesses. He attempted personality tests series. In his sixth attempt, he cleared the UPSC exam securing 162nd rank. His optional subject was Mathematics. He secured 1,041 out of 2,025 marks in this exams and 151 marks out of 275 in the interview.
Posting
After completing his training in Mussoorie, his first posting was as Assistant Collector in Banswara, where he stayed for 11 months. After this he was posted as SDO in Bhawani Mandi Jhalawar. After 7 months, he was transferred again and put him DSO in Beawar. He stayed in Beawar for only 9 months and on December 31, he was made the CEO of Pali Zilla Parishad. For about 3 months, he worked as the CEO of Pali Zilla Parishad but was transferred again on 25 April. Presently, IAS Ram Prakash is Joint Secretary in PHED (Public Health Engineering Department).
Work in Pali
As CEO, Pali Zilla Parishad, Mr. Ram Prakash took strict action against negligent employees. He suspended 10 Village Development Officers and 4 LDCs for wrongdoing in Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Scheme (MNREGA). Similarly, notices of were served to 23 Village Development Officers, 4 LDCs.
Message
The IAS officer has more than 75 thousand followers on Twitter. His twitter bio, written in Sanskrit, is very interesting and gives a message to all UPSC aspirants as well as other. It says that, you have the right only on the actions; never in the fruits of the action… so don’t work for the fruit.
END OF THE ARTICLE
