For Niranjan Kumar, 28, the leap is phenomenal. From selling khaini (raw tobacco) at his father’s small time shop in Nawada district, he has made it to the coveted civil services, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
Belonging to a small village, Pakri Barawan in Nawada district, 100 km south of Patna, Niranjan is not ashamed of his humble background.
“I used to sit at my father’s small shop and sell khaini when he would go out. My father still runs the shop, even as I tell him he doesn’t need to anymore for a monthly earning of Rs 5,000,” says Niranjan.
Niranjan remembers the struggles he had to overcome in life to achieve what he has.
“Coming from a poor background, my father did not have enough money for the education of his children – three sons and a daughter. I successfully took the written test for admission to the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Nawada, for the simple reason that education was free there,” he recollects.
Having done his matriculation from Nawada in 2004, he moved to Science College, Patna, for his intermediate level education in 2006.
{{/usCountry}}Having done his matriculation from Nawada in 2004, he moved to Science College, Patna, for his intermediate level education in 2006.
{{/usCountry}}“Even to pay the tuition fee of Rs 1,200 for two years was not easy for me. I used to walk 8-10 kms every day for my coaching classes. Later, after one-and-a-half years, I bought a second hand bicycle with Rs 600, which I saved by imparting tuitions to children, while staying with my uncle in Patna to pursue my intermediate studies,” he recalls.
Niranjan went on to compete in IIT-ISM, Dhanbad for mining engineering course. He took an education loan of Rs 4 lakh from bank that he repaid after joining the Coal India Limited as an assistant engineer (mining) in 2011.
Married to Nupur Gupta, an illustrator and digital designer, with whom he fell in love with, they have a one-month old daughter, Shaanvi. His father, Arvind Kumar, 60 and mother, Yashoda Devi, 55 are proud of their son’s achievement.
Niranjan is not satisfied with his 728th rank in civil services. “I will get Indian Revenue Service (he belongs to the OBC category), but will write the UPSC civil services exams next year again because my target is to make the IAS,” he signs off.
Niranjan is among the 35-odd from Bihar who have made the cut in the civil services-2016 exams. Six of them — Utsav Kaushal (14th rank) Somesh Kumar Upadhyay (34th), Prema Dikshit (57th), Soumya Jha (58th), Aarif Ehsaan (74th) and Shashi Prakash Singh (75th rank) are in top 100 in the list of 1099 successful candidates pan India.