IIT-Bombay graduate tops Civil Services exam

Ranks 3 and 21 went to sisters Ankita and Vaishali

Civil Services Examination 2020 topper Shubham Kumar. Photo: Special Arrangement

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday announced the results of the Civil Services Examination 2020, in which 761 candidates were recommended for appointment to various services.

Shubham Kumar, a B. Tech (Civil Engineering) graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, topped the list. He qualified with Anthropology as his optional subject, a UPSC press release said. Mr. Kumar was followed by Jagriti Awasthi in the second place. Ms. Awasthi, who had Sociology as her optional subject, was a graduate of B.Tech (Electrical Engineering) from MANIT, Bhopal, it said. Ms. Awasthi, who is from Bhopal, quit her job and took a year to study for the exam, her brother said.

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Mr. Kumar, who is from Bihar, told

The Hindu that this was his third attempt. Having secured rank 298 in 2018, he was undergoing training as an Indian Defence Accounts Service officer in Pune while preparing for the exam and remaining confident was one of the keys, he said.

Rank three, Ankita Jain from Delhi, was undergoing training as an Indian Audit and Accounts Service officer after having being selected in 2018 when she was preparing for the 2020 examination. She said she managed to focus on her studies while balancing training and despite contracting COVID-19 a month before the Mains exam. Her sister, Vaishali Jain, also cleared the exam, securing rank 21, said Ms. Ankita Jain.

Thirteen men and 12 women comprised the top 25, the UPSC said. Out of the 761 candidates selected, 545 are men and 216 women. The top 25 candidates have a range of educational qualifications in Engineering, the Humanities, Commerce and Medicine from some of the top institutions in the country. The selected candidates include 25 persons with benchmark disability.

Ankita Jain, who secured third place in Civil Services Exam 2020. Photo: Special Arrangement

 

Of the 761 successful candidates, 263 belonged to the general category, 86 to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), 229 to the Other Backward Classes, 122 to the Scheduled Castes, and 61 to the Scheduled Tribes.

The UPSC said the result of the examination would be subject to the outcome of two writ petitions pending before the Delhi High Court.

Over 4.82 lakh candidates had appeared for the Civil Services (Preliminary) exam on October 4, 2020, out of which 10,564 had qualified for the written (Mains) exam that was held in January.