For second year in a row, a Delhi girl tops civil services exam

NEW DELHI: Delhi girl Tina Dabi, all of 21 years, has topped the civil services examination (CSE) 2015 in her very first attempt. The second position, as per CSE results declared on Tuesday, was bagged by J&K domicile candidate Athar Aamir ul Safi Khan while Delhi's Jasmeet Singh Sandhu stood third in the competitive exam for appointment to elite government services such as the IAS, IPS and IFS. Dabi, probably one of the youngest civil services toppers, is the second Delhi girl to top the exam in consecutive years after Ira Singhal in 2015. "I certainly thought I would make the merit list. But I had never imagined I would top," said Dabi, overwhelmed by the dozen cameras pointed at her. "When I first saw the result, I had to check a few times to be sure."

Dabi has chosen IAS with a preference for Haryana."Haryana has developed economically but on gender equality, there's much to do. It has the lowest child sex ratio in the country and I wish to work on that," says the political science graduate from Lady Shri Ram College.

Appearing for CSE from Delhi, Athar Khan said his role model was fellow Kashmiri Shah Faesal, who had topped the exam in 2009."Even before going to IIT Mandi for electrical engineering, I was inspired by Faesal. I first appeared for CSE in 2014 and was selected for IRTS," he told TOI.

"I made a second attempt, taking advantage of the provision allowing re-appearing candidates to join late, to prepare myself," Khan added. Athar Khan, who has finished second in the civil services examination (CSE) 2015, hopes to work for the downtrodden and make his home state J&K one of the better-administered parts in the country. "I want the J&K youth to get inspired to join the mainstream," he said.

Jasmeet Singh Sandhu, who bagged the third rank in his fourth attempt, said he had cleared the exam last year though his rank made him eligible only for IRS. The engineering graduate is currently undergoing training at National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics at Faridabad.

"My aim of getting into civil services is to perform my duty with dedication," he said and mentioned his psychology teacher Mukul Pathak as well as Aman Mittal, who also cleared CSE 2015 to qualify for IPS, among people who inspired him to give his best.

The top five among 1,078 successful candidates include Artika Shukla and Shashank Tripathi, both from Uttar Pradesh. While Artika is from Varanasi and hopes "to make a difference just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in Parliament", Tripathi comes from the industrial town of Kanpur.

For Dabi, topping the exam was no fluke. It took meticulous planning of her daily schedule and discipline, she said. Having graduated at 20, she had a year before she became eligible and she used the time to prepare for the exam. Eight to 10 hours of study a day was the norm for this girl gifted with an eidetic memory, her mother Hemali said.

Tina's cousins reveal she was extremely focused and for the two years of preparation, her social life took a serious hit. For a girl who admits to loving "hanging out and shopping", that was a big sacrifice.

But academic excellence is not new to Dabi. Gold medals displayed at her modest apartment near Gole Market in central Delhi attest to the fact that she had made a habit out of topping exams in school and college.

Being a political science student, the subjects she found toughest were maths and science. The interview panel that questioned her was pleasantly surprised to have a humanities student amidst the flood of engineers, revealed Hemali, sporting a badge that read, `My Daughter My Hero'. Ria, her younger sister who's just out of Class XII, considers Tina her role model and plans to follow in her footsteps.

As many as 1,078 candidates were recommended for appointment to IAS (180), IFS (45), IPS (150) and Central Group ` A' and `B' services (728 & 61) on the basis of CSE 2015.UPSC, in a release, said the successful candidates included 499 from the general category , 314 from OBC quota, 176 belonging to Scheduled Castes and 89 from Scheduled Tribes. The UPSC is also maintaining a consolidated reserve list of 172 candidates.