Mumbai: An engineer by training, Pranav Nerurkar had no knowledge of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination or how to prepare for it. But that didn’t stop him from trying. In 2012, in his final year of his engineering, the 25-year-old decided to appear for the examination. And that’s when he hit a wall. “I realised that there is low awareness about this exam in Mumbai,” he says. “I had to rely heavily on the Internet for any information. But the content on most websites was not exhaustive.”
Going to cities like Delhi or Hyderabad, the more popular preparatory centres for the examination, was not feasible either in terms of finances or time. Mr. Nerurkar secured a job as a lecturer at a Borivali institute to make ends meet, while he appeared for the examination. He appeared four times from 2013 to 2016, but failed each time.
He decided then that he wouldn’t try a fifth time. Instead, he decided to channel his energies into spreading awareness about these examinations in Maharashtra and provide exhaustive study material, free of cost.
A resource for good
Mr. Nerurkar believed that the best way to accomplish the task was to start a blog. “I felt that I could blend my experience as a teacher, an aspirant, and an engineer to build a valuable resource, to solve problems aspirants everywhere faced, like cost, ease of access, comprehensiveness and reliability.” But Madhav Murkute (26) and Gopal Murkute (24), his collegemates from Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, Bandra — where he was pursuing his Masters of Engineering — felt a web portal would be more useful.. They had appeared for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering in 2012 and 2013, and were aware of the problems aspirants faced.
In 2016, the trio set to work. “Our main aim,” says Mr. Nerurkar, “was to target rural areas where the website has to be available offline and on low bandwidth connections.” He had already spent three years collecting and making notes as a part of his preparation, so he began by digitising those. The Murkute brothers each had three years of work experience in the information technology industry behind them, and they concentrated on the website development. They studied some of the best-known education websites in India and abroad and incorporated their features. “We wanted to have all of their strengths and none of their weakness,” Gopal Murkute says. The first version of the site went live in September 2016. They named it UPSC Fever: “We added ‘fever’ to the name as people said we were mad to make something like this,” says Madhav Murkute, grinning.
Ups and downs
Since Mr. Nerurkar had not cleared the exam himself, it was difficult to find sponsors who were willing to believe that the website could actually help others. So they funded in from their own savings. The limited funds got in their way, because the resource persons they were using needed to be paid.
Then, there was their inexperience. “During the initial months we went to different colleges and tried to convince their faculty members to support us by passing on this information to their students,” says Mr. Nerurkar. This was something they could only do on Saturdays, as their weekdays were spent earning a living. None of them had any experience in digital marketing or making a business model, and they found it difficult to market the product.
There was another pressure point. Mr. Nerukar was simultaneously working towards a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering from the Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute. Most of his former classmates were either abroad or in good jobs in multinationals, and he was facing pressure from family and friends to abandon the project and focus on joining the gravy train himself.
Their first big break came three months after the launch, when S.G. Bhirud, Head, department of Computer Engineering, VJTI, agreed to help with disseminating information. “When I looked at their work, I found that their website offered complete information about almost all the competitive exams under one umbrella,” Dr. Bhirud says, “This initiative, I felt, would go a long way in solving the problems faced by student community, especially in remote areas.”
On Dr. Bhirud’s suggestion, they visited KJ Somaiya Institute of Technology, Sion, and Atharva College of Engineering, Malad. The authorities there then referred them to various other institutions across the nation. And since then, things have gone smoothly.
The portal is being used by 10,000 students from six states every day. “Close to 500 education websites refer their students to this portal,” says Mr. Nerurkar. He has given seminars to spread awareness about his work in many of Mumbai’s colleges, and works with an NGO, Modern Educational Social and Cultural Organisation, and Dhirajlal Talkchand Sankalchand Shah College of Commerce, Malad, to convert the resources on his website into a book for students who don’t have access to the Internet. Along with this, he provides resources, like a digital library, study material, test series, and newspaper clippings, to self-study centres in Mumbai.
All the answers
The website provides exhaustive information for 10 competitive exams. Among other things, it has question papers, answer keys and cut-offs from 2014 to 2017; it also has video tutorials, tests series; interviews with exam toppers, a digital library, an exam calendar, and current affairs journals.
“The current affairs section is updated every day,” the younger Murkute says. “At least 50 new multiple choice questions are added on the website for practice every day. Together, we spend three to five hours each on the website and 14 hours on weekends.”
Reviews and praise have come in from all over. Says Feby Matthew from Cochin, “The website is a one-place destination for UPSC preparation.” Mahima Mangal from Gujarat found the website “exhaustive”. From Mauritius, Rajesh Karunakaran says, “Proud that our country has strong individuals like you who are working for the betterment of many needy UPSC aspirants.”
Margi Trivedi, who is in charge of the Competitive Examination Guidance Cell at DTSS College, says the students are satisfied with the exhaustive content on the website. She suggested that a column on job and exam notifications could be added. Dr. Suresh. K. Ukarande, Principal, KJ Somaiya Institute of Technology, says the website has become popular with students at his institute who aspire to join the public services. Prof. Makba M. Farhaan, Chairman, Education Portfolio Committee, MESCO, (Modern Education, Social, Cultural Organisation), Mahim, on the other hand, appreciated that the study material was available for free. “Such an initiative will go a long way in transforming Maharashtra and our nation.”
More to come
The team now plans to resume the video tutorials (they had had to stop because they couldn’t afford to do them).
Up on the to-do list: upload content for the International English Language Testing System, Pearson Test of English and the Central Teachers’ Eligibility test. “After that we will focus on school-level scholarship exams,” says Mr. Nerurkar. The older Murkute says, “We also want to launch a discussion forum where students can interact. We are working on providing content in Hindi and Marathi from this month. Our application for Android phones will be available for free download and use from April 10, 2017. We shall soon start work on the mock test drill for all the government examinations.”
upsc fever
Founders: Pranav Nerurkar, Madhav Murkute and Gopal Murkute
Founded: 2016
Website: upscfever.com
