Among the top candidates who manage to qualify for the UPSC exam every year, we have got you an inspirational story of a 2018 batch IAS officer who managed to clear the exam in the first attempt despite being an average student throughout his life. Mr. Himanshu Kaushik’s story is the epitome of dedication and hard work- a perfect antidote for people who discourage themselves due to their grades in studies.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Kaushik shared his success story and what is he looking forward to in his administrative career.
AN AVERAGE STUDENT
Mr. Kaushik is a resident of Delhi and had spent most of his lifetime in the capital. He comes from a middle-class family where his father is an engineer and his mother a Sanskrit teacher. He also has a younger brother who is an architect. Following the footsteps of his father, Himanshu also opted for a science background to become an engineer one day.
While speaking with Indian Masterminds, he said “After completing my schooling, I started preparing for the entrance exams in engineering to get into a good college like IIT. But I was unsuccessful in clearing any entrance exam. Finally, I got admission to Krishna Engineering College which comes under the Uttar Pradesh Technical University, located near my home in Ghaziabad.”
Mr. Kaushik got through with his four years of engineering in 2013, in which he scored 65 percentage with two backlogs at the end semester. The result was not that good, yet he landed up with a job in the private sector as a software developer. The company was based out of Noida and Mr. Kaushik continued with it for two and a half years. Therefore, he got an opportunity in another company that was ready to pay Mr. Kaushik with a good salary package.
THE INSPIRATION FOR CIVIL SERVICES
Initially, while working in Noida, Mr. Kaushik thought of appearing for civil services as he had a good command over general knowledge and was a keen observer as well. However, with his average performance in academics, people always demotivated him to appear for something like civil services. Ignoring all these negative comments, Mr. Kaushik also visited an astrologer but he found the same advice from there as well.
He said, “Even after I switched my job and was getting an increment, I wasn’t satisfied and happy while working in the private sector. I always had a thing for public service and governance. I used to observe the things which were out of place, such as broken roads, inadequate water supply and the culture of paying paying bribes to get your work done. My friends used to criticize the governmen,t but I always used to say that apart from criticizing, it should be a constructive criticism with a search for the solution.”
And then, after some deliberation, Mr. Kaushik took the plunge. He resigned from the private job, determined to appear for the UPSC exam. He said, “The time was uncertain as I took a big step, but I was committed to giving my best shot.”
CLEARING CIVIL SERVICES IN FIRST ATTEMPT
After quitting his job, Mr Kaushik started preparing for the UPSC exam. He joined a coaching centre in Delhi for which he used to travel two hours every day and attend classes for six hours. With utter dedication, he cleared the prelims exam on the first attempt.
The prelims was a game-changer as it gave him confidence to prepare for the mains and the interview. His mains exam went pretty well and he was sure he will get selected for the interview stage. The interview also went equally well and after the results were declared in April 2018, he saw that he has cleared the exam with AIR 77. That was a proud moment for him, as he was considered an average student all his life, but he proved all the nay-sayers wrong.
Mr kaushik became an IAS officer of the 2018 batch, and was allotted the Andhra Pradesh cadre. He got his first posting as Assistant Collector under training in the West Godavari district. After the training, he is now holding his first individual posting as Sub-Collector and Sub-Magistrate in Amlapuram in East Godavari district.
In the second part of the story, we will discuss about the opportunities and challenges he is looking forward to in his career, and his achievements so far.
