Praveen Kumar who scored AIR 7 in UPSC CSE 2020 is more realistic than idealistic. He believes in being practical in everything he does and whatever he hopes for. That is why the first question he asked a gathering of young UPSC aspirants at a topper’s talk session was: Why do they want to join IAS?
“You should know why you want to join IAS. I wanted to join because I believed that it would throw up many opportunities for me to do public work.” Indian Masterminds brings to you a brief profile of this topper and his journey into IAS.
THINK OUT OF THE BOX
With his top rank, he easily entered IAS, and today he is on his way to doing what he always wanted to do: public service. But he wants to do something different, not the run-of-the-mill kind of works. That’s why while interacting with the aspirants, he advocated “thinking out of the box”.
“I always see hungry people on the streets begging. But instead of giving them food or money, wouldn’t it be better if we did something like opening a canteen for people like them, where a complete meal can be given on highly subsidised rates like Rs 15 to Rs 20. And disabled and needy people can be employed to man this canteen. This way so many can be benefited.”
STRUCTURED APPROACH TO EXAM
“Just because I got the 7th position in the UPSC exam doesn’t mean that I am the seventh most qualified person in the country.” He said that there are many who are more deserving and qualified than him for this position. But he got this far because of his structured approach to the tough examination. He prepared in a structured manner, yet at the same time kept it very simple.
“A simplistic approach is the best way. Don’t go by the market trends.” Here, he means the multitudes of coaching institutes selling readymade preparation packages which are not tailormade to suit individualistic needs. One size can’t fit all. So, according to him, one should chalk out a preparation strategy that would suit him the best, and that would fit into his life well.
FROM JAMUI TO UPSC
Praveen Kumar’s journey to 7th rank in UPSC CSE 2020 began in Jamui, Bihar, where he was born into a simple middle-class family. Where his father still runs a medical store, and his mother takes care of home and family.
He did his schooling there from Ramakrishna Vivekananda Vidya Mandir and completed his B.Tech in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 2017.
In 2018, he secured AIR 5 in GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) and AIR 3 in ESE (Indian Engineering Services). He worked in the Indian Railway Service briefly before clearing the Civil Services Exam 2020 with AIR 7 in his second attempt, to enter IAS.
EASY SUBJECT FOR OPTIONAL
He opted for Civil Engineering as his optional subject since he graduated in that subject. He said Civil Engineering was easy for him as he had already made the notes for appearing in the GATE and ESE exams. He advised UPSC aspirants, too, to choose easy subjects, subjects that they had already done for their graduation as this would help them in the long run.
Another thing he stressed on was time management, as it is important to keep track of time so that the whole syllabus can be covered without missing any topic.
WILL HELP IN OTHER CAREERS TOO
Last but not the least, he asked aspirants not to treat the exam as an end, so that failure cannot dishearten them.
“It is not the end but just the means to a noble end, maybe. And there are many noble ends that you can strive for, like NGOs, for instance. Your UPSC preparation will not go in vain. It taught you to think in a structured way and this will help you to do well in other career fields as well.”
