Civil Services: Neha, Ankit do city proud

PATNA: While the girls overshadowed boys in the Civil Services Examination conducted by Union Public Services Commission (UPSC), a Patna girl also did the city proud by securing 22nd rank in the prestigious examination. An alumnus of IIM-Lucknow, Neha Prakash said her diehard attitude and support of her parents helped her qualify the examination with flying colours. Neha, who is an ex-student of the city-based Notre Dame Academy, expressed delight at her achievement, “I was confident that I would qualify, but such an astounding success left me ecstatic beyond bounds.”The 29-year-old Neha, who made it big in the first attempt itself, completed her engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra and MBA from IIM-Lucknow. She is presently based in Delhi working with a multinational bankTalking to TOI on phone from New Delhi, she said, “Working with a multinational bank, I am making profits for a foreign bank. This does not provide me an opportunity to work for the people of my country, which the Civil Services would. So I decided to join it.” She added, “I attribute my success to my parents who were always by my side and supported me wholeheartedly in my efforts.”No doubt, Neha’s father Jai Prakash, who is employed in Union ministry of agriculture and posted in Bihar, and mother Priti Prakash are beaming. “We are extremely proud of our daughter. She was always a bright student and qualified in Common Admission Test (CAT) without any coaching. We were confident of her success this time too,” said Neha’s mother.Neha has now become a role model for the Civil Services aspirants. She advises them, “Firstly, they should shed the notion that the Civil Services examination is too tough to qualify. They should have full faith in their abilities.” She added, “What matters is smart strategy and putting it into practice. I can say with full confidence that self-study can help you better than any coaching.” Incidentally, she herself did not go for any coaching.She had taken sociology and management as her mains subjects, and suggests the aspirants to choose their subjects as per their inclination. “I don’t think there are any subjects which are more marks fetching. Interest in a subject and one’s exposure to it must be the only guiding factors.” She adds, “An aspirant must expose himself to maximum number of resources apart from books to have in-depth knowledge. A good knowledge of current affairs is important just not for general studies but also for optional subjects. Extensive reading of newspapers is a must for every aspirant.”Apart from Neha, Ankit Kumar Agrawal has also brought laurels to the city by securing 126th rank. An-ex student of city’s International School and alumnus of Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology, Delhi, Ankit had worked with Yahoo Inc. in Bangalore for two years“I quit my job in April 2010 and started preparing for the examination. Fortunately, I succeeded in my second attempt,” Ankit told TOI, adding, “I credit my family, friends, seniors and mentors for my success.”Ankit opted for sociology and public administration as his mains subjects. To the aspirants, he advises, “Subject selection must be done carefully. One must thoroughly study all the topics instead of selected ones because many a time questions are set in a combined manner comprising more than one topic.” A few other Patna students have also qualified in the examination. While Ujjwal Kumar secured 24th rank, Ashish Bharti and Prabhakar Kumar Ranjan got 337th and 339th rank, respectively.