Manipuri girl, Khumanthem Diana Devi, made headlines overnight, as she cleared the prestigious Civil Service Examinations, conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and achieved a grand feat by bagging the 24th position. Khumanthem Diana is the highest rank holder among the 21 from the northeast who cracked the UPSC’s Civil Services Examination 2015.  Diana’s achievement spread like fire in every corner of the region soon after the declaration of UPSC.

In 2015, Khumanthem Diana cleared the Indian Forest Service (Mains) examination which was also conducted by the UPSC. She was ranked 9 in IFS.

The first position was secured by Tina Dabi, followed by Aamir Ul Shafi Khan Akthar and Jasmeet Singh Sandhu in second and third positions respectively. The final merit list was prepared based on the results of the written examination held in December, 2015 and the interviews for Personality Test held in March-May, 2016.

Must Read: UPSC Board Interview of Paramvir Singh IAS, AIR-29

Family Background of Khumanthem Diana

Khumanthem Diana Devi comes from Singjamei Top Thongam Leikai. Khumanthem Diana is one of seven clans of the Meitei tribe. But she have been living in Delhi for nine years. Diana is the fourth child of the five siblings. Diana’s father, Khumanthem Chandramani Singh is an Inspector General of Police and Director of Fire Service and Manipur Police Training College, Pangei said, “My daughter’s success is one of the happiest moments in my life.” Her mother Ibeyaima Devi is a housemaker.

Khumanthem Diana said her father being a police officer, is her role model and has always inspired and motivated her in achieving her goal. Her father showed her what an able administrator can achieve. On her achievement she prefers giving credit to her family, relatives and all other well wishers.

Khumanthem Diana is one of seven clans of the Meitei tribe. Some Meitei are demanding for Scheduled Tribe status, because they feel that deserving candidates are not getting jobs etc. The situation is somewhat like what we see in Haryana and other places. Here too many feel that there is need to define a creamy layer within existing reservations. For this she says, “Even I feel there should be a creamy layer because in Manipur the situation is unique. Here 40 per cent of the population is ST. My community is in the general category but the fact is there are a very few Meitei men in service.”

Also Read: Meet Jasmeet Singh Sandhu IAS, AIR-3, 2015

Educational Background of Khumanthem Diana

Khumanthem Diana did her schooling till 10th Standard from Nirmala Bas High School. In the year 2007, Diana topped the Board of Secondary Education Manipur (BSME) exams and was a state gold medalist. After that she did class 12th from Delhi Public School, Mathura Road. She got 95% in over all subjects and was rewarded with cash prize of 25000 in (2009). Subsequently, in 2009, she topped the Higher Secondary examination from Science stream. After completing her schooling Khumanthem Diana did B.Sc from Miranda House in Physics Honors from Delhi University. She again set a new record by scoring the maximum marks in the B.Sc examination 2012, Delhi University. After completing her graduation she pursued her Master Degree in M. Sc from Miranda House and again topped in Delhi University in 2014.

Khumanthem Diana is currently serving as a guest lecturer in Physics at Miranda House, Delhi University. She wanted to appear in the civil services exam since childhood. She loves playing lawn tennis and listening to music.

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Optional Paper

Khumanthem Diana opted for Physics as her optional subject. She says, “The secret for my success is a bit of luck and some principles—honesty, simplicity, patience, hard work, discipline and punctuality.”

Attempts

Khumanthem Diana cleared Indian Forest Service and ranked 9th in IFS which was conducted by the UPSC 2015. Again she sat for her second trial and got 24th rank and got through IAS. Getting 9th rank in Indian Forest Service, I was happy. It was like a motivation to me to prepare myself for higher level. No doubt IFS is also a very good service.

This year Manipur has many successful candidates, and one reason is that people are better informed now. Earlier, Manipuris mostly pursued state service exams. Now they are more acquainted with what is happening through television, social media etc. Another reason is that the UPSC is considered a merit-based system, so more people feel encouraged to try.

Khumanthem Diana says, “To succeed in life one should be a soft spoken and one needs to respect their own teachers and parents and concentrate in their studies.” Inspite of devoting five to six hours daily on her lesson, Daina by no means was a bookworm and blind to the happening around her. On the issues confronting the State today, she has this to say, “Violence incidence of killing and crimes that are taking place in Manipur almost on daily basis is very sad.”

Must Read: Topper’s Story – Harshika Singh IAS, AIR – 8, 2011

Corruption Issue

On the tag given to Manipur of being high in corruption, UPSC state topper Khumanthem Diana said at the sideline of her felicitation programme that corruption is not limited to Manipur but it exists almost everywhere. She said that people have taken corruption as part of their lives and that is their biggest mistake. “I cannot change everyone but I can live by example” and said that as her first step as administrative officer she can work with full integrity and sincerity.

“I want to serve my people in a much better way. It is just the beginning,” said Khumanthem Diana and added that she is looking forward towards working for the upliftment of the state, region and the country as whole. I really don’t know what future holds for me? But I will always make my best effort in life to do something meaningful for the society.

Also Read: Read UPSC Board Interview of Akash Patel IAS (2013)

Lok Bandhu had only one burning ambition in life ie; making it to the Indian Administrative Services and he finally achieved it by has securing All India Rank 7th in the prestigious Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Marks Obtained

Must Read: Topper’s Story – Nitika Pawar IAS, 2011

Family Background of Lok Bandhu

Lokbandhu comes from Mandi village, Narnaul-Nangal Choudhary road, Haryana. His father Vishav Bandhu was doing a tent house business and family is settled in Delhi. His mother Maya Devi is a housemaker and has studied till class 8th only. He has two elder sisters, Kranti and Pooja and they both have cracked the prestigious examination in the past. While Kranti has been serving as a Deputy Commissioner (Income Tax) in Mumbai, Pooja is a Rajasthan-cadre IPS officer.

His mother, Maya Devi said, “Lok Bandhu informed us about his achievement over phone. We are glad he has achieved his childhood dream of serving the nation by joining the IAS”.

His elated father Vishav Bandhu said, “My grandfather Rao Madhav Singh was a freedom fighter and keeping the tradition alive, my children are serving the country, though in a different field.”

Also Read: Topper’s Story – Prabhjot Singh IAS, AIR – 16, 2010

Educational Background

Lok Bandhu has completed his primary education in village itself which is being run by his father’s cousin. He studied from Madho Public School. After completing his primary education he took admission in class 12th at DAV School, Narnaul. After completing his schooling he graduated in BSc (Biotechnology) from Jaipur. After completing his graduation, Lok Bandhu wanted to do MBA in Global Business and took admission in Shri Ram College of Commerce.Thereafter completing his Masters Lok Bandhu started preparing for the UPSC examination along with his sister Pooja.

When the results were declared Lok Bandhu, was undergoing Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) training in Mumbai, said: “It’s a great day for me. I owe my success to my father Vishav Bandhu, my sisters — Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Kranti Yadav and Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Puja Yadav.”

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Optional Paper

Lok Bandu opted for Sociology as his optional subject.

Despite bowing to lot many difficulties, his mother, Maya Devi educated all her children to meet their expectations and turned them into the IAS Officers. She strived hard day and night to see all her three children in a similar position and this was her only aim in her life. Her three children gave her the recompense by grabbing the success as desired by their mother.

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Attempts

“My sisters motivated me to improve my rank from last year’s 855 to seventh this year”, said Bandhu. Lok Bandhu was not satisfied with his previous performance and, thus, decided to take another chance to improve his ranking. This was Lok Bandhu’s second attempt. In the first attempt Lok Bandu had managed a rank of 855th in 2013.

His mother, Maya’s happiness have touched skies as she has witnessed something that every parent dreams to. She said that “I had thrived to see my children to become IAS officers, when my eldest daughter, Kranti was studying in Class 5. I had been longing to witness a day in my life to see when all my 3 kids would become an IAS officers.”

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Charusree Thiagarajan emerged the topper by securing All India Rank sixth among thousands of aspirants who prepared for the Civil Services Exam. When the results were declared she was undergoing training to join the Indian Forest Service at Dehradun.

“I would like to be engaged in policy formulation (or) policy-making positions and be able to bring about changes in the lives of the people, rather than spending time in administrative and implementing activities,” Charusree Thiagarajan said.

Family Background

Charusree Thiagarajan comes from the industrial city of Coimbatore, 650 km south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is daughter of Thiagarajan, a retired executive engineer, in the state agriculture department. Her mother is a housemaker.

Must Read: Success Story of Lok Bandhu IAS, AIR-7, 2014

Educational Background of Charusree Thiagarajan

Charusree Thiagarajan completed her schooling in Coimbatore. After completing her schooling Charusree decided to shift to Chennai for graduation. Charusree Thiagarajan holds a graduate degree in Electronics and Communications and is an alumna of College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University. After completing her graduation she used to work with Qualcomm.

Charusree Thiagarajan says, “I joined the College of Engineering Guindy because Chennai has the facilities to prepare for the Civil Services. I graduated in 2012, and joined Qualcomm, but continued to prepare for the Civil Services Exams. It was my childhood dream to become an IAS officer, which has become a reality this year and I would love to join her home state cadre Tamil Nadu.”

Also Read: Success Story of Veditha Reddy IAS, AIR-71, 2014

Optional Paper

Charusree Thiagarajan opted for Geography as her optional subject in Civil Services Exam. She studied Geography in Shankar IAS Academy and T.I.M.E in Chennai. “I worked hard for 6 to 7 hours every day. I read only The Hindu and NCERT textbooks for general studies,” said Charusree Thiagarajan, who in her first attempt got selected for Indian Revenue Service (customs) opted to join Indian Forest Service (IFS) in Dehradun.

Attempts

IRS official Charusree Thiagarajan got into the IAS in her second attempt in the Civil Services Examination but she was surprised when she learnt that she had been ranked sixth in the list successful candidates. She had worked very hard to get into the Indian Administrative Service because it gives a chance to a person to do something for the people and the country. Last year too, Charusree Thiagarajan made the list of successful candidates but her rank was very low. She had to settle for the Indian Revenue Service and was posted in Dehradun.

“Civil services, and in particular the IAS, give a person a chance to be in the thick of things and to be able to be an agent of change,” Charusree Thiagarajan said, adding she is keen to work in the education sector to bring about improvement and reforms, particularly in villages.

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Women in Tamil Nadu

Charusree Thiagarajan said few candidates from Tamil Nadu were making it to the Civil Services, because there is a lack of exposure and also a preference for other professions could be among the reasons for this trend. As women possibly prefer cosy jobs in the IT or software sector especially in Tamil Nadu, and do not venture into the “rough and tumble of administrative work”. But the trick to write the Civil Services Examination is hard work, smart work and perseverance. To bring in reforms in the education system Charusree Thiagarajan wanted to become an IAS officer in the Tamil Nadu cadre.

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