Odia girl secures 10th rank in civil services exam

BHUBANESWAR: Amidst corona pandemic civil services results 2019 has brought cheers in the state on Tuesday. Odia girl Sanjita Mohapatra has secured 10th position in the exam while more than 20 from the state qualified for the coveted examination conducted by the Union Public Services Examination (UPSC). The successful candidates recalled how they appeared in the interview wearing face shields, masks and gloves amid the fear of the virus.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik congratulated all successful candidates from Odisha who have cleared UPSC examinations. “May they work with dedication to take welfare initiatives to grassroots bringing visible changes in people’s lives. Wish them bright careers,” he tweeted.
Sanjita Mohapatra and Manas Ranjan Sahoo (567 rank) both residents of Rourkela city, brought laurels for their city, by cracking the UPSC examination, the result which got published on Tuesday. Both the qualifiers had done their schooling from Rourkela and both are technocrats.
Sanjita had done her B Tech in Mechanical Engineering from CET Bhubaneswar. She had joined as a Management Trainee (Technical) in SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant in 2013 and had served till 2018. She had left the job to prepare for the civil services examination. Sanjita had cracked the Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) examination last year and had secured second position in the state, but had not joined the job, again for concentrating in her IAS preparation.
“Willpower, consistency and dedication is the success mantra. I used to fix my daily study targets and try to cover them by the end of the day. Preparation for civil services requires lots of patience. Several times you may feel like quitting but always remember why you have decided to appear for the exam and continue your efforts,” said Sanjita, who thanked her parents, in-laws, husband, teachers, friends and colleagues for their support. She said it was an unique experience to appear the examination wearing PPEs and maintaining social distances.
Anup Das, a postgraduate student in zoology at Delhi University, who belonged to Jagatsinghpur has scored 120 rank in the civil services. Son of a railway officer, Anup said, answering questions without seeing the reactions of panellists in the interview was a unique experience as all were draped in masks and face shields. “Having a strategy and giving direction to your goal is the main way to crack civils. He suggested aspirants not to be bookworms but also to have hobbies, which help in relaxing and also in study. I do paint and the panellists asked me several questions on modern art,” Anup.
Kumar Biswaranjan, who hailed from a humble background as her mother is a tailor and father is a small-time vendor in the capital city, secured 182 ranks in his third attempt. “Hard work, will power and learning from your failure are the three mantras of success. I chose to be a civil servant as it provides an unique opportunity to serve people, frame policy and implement them at the ground level,” said Biswaaranjan.
Manas Ranjan Sahoo, a 2017 batch OAS, who is presently working as Tehesildar Rourkela, had completed his B Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 2014. Manas is a native of Jaraikela, Bisra block of Sundargarh district and his father was a former sarpanch of the village. “Last year, I had qualified for preliminary and main examination and had appeared in the interview, but had tasted success," said Manas who is serving as Tehsildar after qualifying OAS last year.
Among other successful candidates include Anshuman Raj (107), Nabal Kumar Jain (125), Rahul Goel (168), Sailaja das (291), Ankit Shankar Mishra (294), Sonali Mishra (300), Dibya Mishra (312), Arghya Patnaik (361), Jubin Mohapatra (379), Samir Ranjan Jena (441), Sivam Mishra (712), Om Prakash Mohanty (715), Bibhuti Bhusan Nayak (819).