The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Saturday declared results of the prestigious Civil Services examination. All the four top ranks have gone to women candidates, two of them from the national capital.
>Ira Singhal from Delhi who topped the examination this year became the first physically challenged woman to top the Civil Services examination in the general category. >Renu Raj stood second and >Nidhi Gupta , who is also from Delhi, secured the third position. Vandana, who got the fourth rank, is the topper in the Other Backward Class (OBC) category.
Ira and Nidhi are Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) officers in Hyderabad, whereas Renu Raj is a doctor, hailing from Kerala.
Ira Singhal told The Hindu on the phone from Hyderabad: “I am extremely happy… I had just prepared for the examination and was hoping for the best to happen but this result is just elating. It is yet to sink in that I have topped the examination.”
A total of 1,236 candidates, including 590 in the general category, 354 belonging to the Other Backward Class, 194 of the Scheduled Caste and 98 of the Scheduled Tribe, have been recommended for appointment in various services, the UPSC said.
A total of 1,364 posts are to be filled through the civil services examinations. Out of this, 180 candidates have been selected for the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), 32 for the Indian Foreign Services (IFS), 150 for the Indian Police Services (IPS) and 1,002 for the Central Services Group A and B.
“It is the first time that the Commission has declared the final results on the fourth day of the closing date for the personality tests or interviews,” a senior UPSC official said.
The civil services examination is conducted every year in three stages — preliminary, mains and interviews.
4.51 lakh appeared The preliminary examination was held on August 24 last year at 2,137 venues in 59 centres. About 9.45 lakh candidates had applied, but 4.51 lakh appeared for the examination. Of these, 16,933 were declared qualified for the main examination, the official said. The main examination was held in December last, with 16,286 having appeared for it, he said. The result of the main examination was declared on March 13 this year. As many as 3,308 candidates were declared qualified for the personality test, and 3,303 appeared for the test held from April 27 to June 30.
“In terms of the number of candidates and the number of centres or sub-centres, this was the biggest examination ever conducted by the Commission,” the official said.
