Milkman’s son Ravikant Singh who cracked UPSC against all odds! –
Remember, it was Ravikant Singh, who gave a clean chit to IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal who was suspended in July for allegedly ordering demolition of a wall of a religious shrine in her sub-division within Gautam Budh Nagar, popularly called Noida.
Cracking the IAS usually means months of expensive tuitions and at least two or three attempts and it helps if you are in one of the country’s big cities.However, two young men from Bihar whose financial means are modest, to say the least, have smashed that myth. The duo has made the grade merely out of sheer hard work and meticulous planning. A booking clerk by day at a remote railway station in West Bengal and an IAS aspirant by night, Ravikant successfully juggled the twin roles out of his dogged determination.”My father sells milk in the village. Our financial condition hasn’t been good. That is why I decided to become an IAS, since it is considered impossible,” says Ravikant, who has achieved 77th rank in the UPSC examination 2008.
Ravikant had a colleague-in-arms in Keswendra Kumar, also a booking clerk from Bihar posted in Bengal. Both nursed similar ambitions since joining the railways four years ago. Their success has burst a myth.”You don’t need to be in Delhi or other big cities for that matter to clear the civil service entrance test. All those who are struggling and aspire to make it big in life, keep trying and you will never fail in life,” says Keshwendra, IAS rank 45. Kumar was allotted the Kerala cadre.
2008 batch UP cadre IAS and district magistrate Kumar Ravikant Singh was transferred from Gautam Budh Nagar, the UP district that generates 25% of the state’s total revenue and houses plants of multinational companies such as Daewoo Motor, Honda, BPL, LG, HCL etc., a reason why state political bigwigs don’t want independent-minded bureaucrats to rule there for long. Singh is now wait-listed, meaning that…
he has no office to attend till he gets a new posting.