Children from Poor Families Becoming District Collectors: In the UPSC examination, numerous candidates hailing from poor and underprivileged backgrounds are achieving success and emerging as winners, powered by their sheer willpower, hard work, and smart study strategies. The fact that sons of auto-rickshaw drivers, children of labourers, and youths from rural areas have successfully qualified as IAS or IPS officers—often without formal coaching or with limited academic degrees – proves conclusively that financial hardship poses no barrier to the pursuit of one’s dreams.
The success stories of these individuals demonstrate that securing a job requires not wealth, but rather merit, diligence, and sustained effort directed in the right direction. Many of these young achievers, who have triumphed through hard work and perseverance, hail from impoverished and rural families. This makes it abundantly clear that the children of many poor parents are destined to rise to become Collectors (District Magistrates) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) in the future.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of candidates—nurturing the dream of becoming IAS, IPS, or IFS officers – appear for UPSC Civil Services Examination. This examination is widely regarded as the most challenging competitive examination in the country. Through the UPSC Civil Services process, candidates are selected for various services, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Railway Group ‘A’ services (such as the Indian Railway Accounts Service), the Indian Postal Service, and the Indian Trade Service, among others.
The UPSC Civil Services Examination is conducted in three distinct stages: the Preliminary Examination, the Main Examination, and the Interview. The final merit list is compiled and released based on the candidates’ performance in the Main Examination and the Interview.
Shikha hails from Bulandshahr in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Premchand, works as a Class IV employee at the Gandhi Kanya Inter College in Siyana. Although her father works as a peon, he wholeheartedly supported his daughter’s education. For her part, by achieving success in the UPSC examination, Shikha ensured that her father’s hard work and sacrifices did not go in vain. Shikha faced failure in her very first attempt. However, undeterred by this setback, she neither abandoned her path nor allowed herself to lose heart.
In her second attempt, Shikha successfully cleared the UPSC examination, securing an All India Rank (AIR) of 113. Shikha is one of five siblings, and she is the third child in the family. Meanwhile, Harsh Nehra—who comes from a farming family in Bahadurpur village, located in the Sardhana region of Meerut district—has secured the 74th rank in the examination. Harsh Nehra’s mother, Anita, is a teacher, while his father is a farmer. Harsh is the eldest son in the family. His mother, Anita, says, “His father and I wanted him to become a doctor, but after completing his intermediate studies, he became adamant about becoming an IAS officer.”
Ritika Pandey, a resident of Panchu—located within the Hisua Nagar Parishad area of Bihar’s Nawada district—has brought glory to her district by securing the 185th rank in the Union Public Service Commission’s (UPSC) Civil Services Examination 2025. She achieved this milestone through sheer hard work and self-confidence, despite having access to limited resources. Her success has created an atmosphere of joy and pride throughout the entire region. Ritika Pandey’s father, Sanjay Pandey, is a native of Panchu in Hisua and runs a modest business; he works by supplying carry bags to shops, yet providing a higher education to his children has always been his dream and passion. Ritika drew inspiration for her own life from her father’s struggles and unwavering dedication.
itika achieved this success on her third attempt. In her first attempt, she cleared the Preliminary Examination; in her second attempt, she reached the Interview stage, but she was not selected in the final results. Undeterred, she persevered in her third attempt and ultimately achieved success. Vipin Chaudhary, the son of a farmer from Bulandshahr district, secured the 538th rank. In 2017, Vipin had topped the district in the CBSE Class 12 examinations and secured the second position across the entire division.
On June 21, 2017, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath felicitated him in Lucknow. Similarly, the story of Vimal Kumar—who emerged from Chandemau, a small village in Raebareli, to conquer the UPSC, the country’s most arduous examination—stands as a remarkable testament to struggle and unwavering resolve. Raised amidst brick kilns and agricultural fields, Vimal’s father—despite living in poverty and deprivation—toiled as a daily wage labourer to provide his son with an education.
On the strength of his extraordinary talent, Vimal not only secured a place at a Navodaya Vidyalaya but also completed his degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi. However, his passion for serving the nation was so profound that he turned down campus placement offers to pursue the path of becoming an IAS officer. Through sheer determination and arduous effort, Vimal secured the 107th rank in the UPSC examination, emerging today as an inspiring role model.
Success demands a price; it necessitates struggle and calls for sacrifice. While some candidates may be the sons of labourers, others may come from family backgrounds where financial circumstances were simply too precarious to support preparation for such an examination. Yet, as the saying goes, gold only transforms into its purest form – Kundan – after enduring the heat of the furnace. Indeed, this examination has brought forth many such individuals of pure mettle.
Civil servants are widely regarded as the backbone of the administrative machinery; however, for quite some time now, instances of civil servants engaging in corruption have cast a shadow of doubt upon their integrity. Cases involving corruption among bureaucrats—often in collusion with politicians—surface frequently. It is crucial to recognise that the misconduct of corrupt civil servants tarnishes the reputation of their honest and dedicated counterparts. Therefore, it is imperative that the government establishes a system to ensure that strict punitive action is taken against corrupt officials, while simultaneously encouraging and rewarding those who perform their duties with integrity and diligence.
