UPSC Results 2019: In his last attempt, ITS officer Harpreet secures AIR-19

Belonging to the small town of Doraha 22 km from Ludhiana, 27-year-old Harpreet Singh did not leave hope and finally secured All India Rank (AIR) -19 in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams 2018 in his fifth attempt. The result of UPSC 2018 was out on Friday evening.

Singh had secured 454 rank last year and had become an Indian Trade Service (ITS) officer, serving as an assistant director general of foreign trade under the department of Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) but he was aiming to become IAS and worked harder to improve his rank this year.

“It was my fifth and last attempt and I have put in all my energy and efforts to achieve this rank. In my first attempt I cleared the preliminary examination but failed to clear the main exam. Then in next two attempts I reached till Interview stage but the points were not sufficient to clear the exam. In fourth attempt, I had improved more and achieved 454 rank but I was not satisfied with this rank therefore, I went for my last attempt,” he said while adding, “It is true that the fruit of your hard work is sweetest.”

After completing his bachelors in electronics and communication engineering from Thapar University, Patiala, Singh started working with IBM, Gurgaon in 2014. He worked there till mid 2015 and then joined Border Security Forces as assistant commandant and served for two and half years before becoming ITS officer.

Singh said that he decided to go civil exams in 2014 during his job in IBM. “I have not joined any coaching centre. I used to devote sometimes around 10-12 hours a day or sometimes just two hours on self preparations,” he said.

Harpreet’s father Malwinder Singh is a businessman who market cattle fodder while his mother Gurpreet Kaur a school teacher who teaches General Science to primary classes in a private school and his younger sister is pursuing bachelors in nutrition and dietetics from PAU.