State govt. rolls out scheme for civil services aspirants

Free coaching under NTR Vidyonnati will cover the poor from forward castes

Realising dream: P.V. Lakshmaiah (right) at a press conference in Vijayawada on Tuesday.

To translate its dream of grooming Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub, the government has rolled out NTR Vidyonnati, an educational scheme that envisages free coaching for civil services aspirants from not only SC,ST, BC and other minority communities but also for students who come from economically poor households among forward castes.

“Extension of the scheme to EBCs [economically backward classes] is a first of its kind move initiated by the Andhra Pradesh Government,” said P.V. Lakshmaiah, founder of Dr. Lakshmaiah IAS Study Circle.

Addressing the media here, Dr. Lakshmaiah said his institute was one of the five institutes the State was collaborating with to impart quality training to aspiring civil servants. The other four are R.C. Reddy IAS Study Circle, Brain Tree, Universal and Sriram’s.

He said free training would be given to 3,850 students aspiring to write civils in 2017-18, under various categories. The aspirants should enrol their names on the government website www.apcivilscoaching.a ponline.gov.in by June 14.

Quota

Of the total number of seats, 700 would be allocated to SC students, 300 to STs, 1,000 to BCs, 750 for Kapus, 300 for Minorities, 50 for Brahmins and 750 for the economically backward classes. The applicants will have to write an examination to be conducted by JNTU-Kakinada on June 20 and those who pass it, will be eligible for a nine-month free coaching at centres proposed to be set up in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Hyderabad.

Referring to the age limit, he said for he SCs and STs it should be not more than 37 years, for BCs 35 years, for physically challenged 42 years and for economically backward classes 32 years, as on August 1 in 2018. The trainees would also be paid a monthly stipend of ₹10,000 during the nine months.

Dr. Lakshmaiah said his institute in Hyderabad would impart, from June 1, free training to children of journalists aspiring to appear for the JNTU-K examination. To create awareness on the subject among students and their parents, the study circle would organise a workshop at the Siddhartha Academy in the city on June 1 at 5 p.m., he said.

Abhishek from the Maharashtra IPS cadre said the three most important factors in training for civil services were awareness, opportunities and guidelines and training institutes equipped the candidates with the wherewithal to achieve the goal.