Aditya Srivastava from Lucknow topped the prestigious civil services examination 2023, with Animesh Pradhan and Donuru Ananya Reddy getting the second and third ranks respectively, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) announced on Tuesday.
Before becoming a civil servant, Srivastava worked with Goldman Sachs in Bengaluru and earned around ₹2.5 lakhs a month. However, he left it and decided to try his hand at civil services. In a video shared on YouTube by Rau's IAS academy, the topper explained why he left such a high-paying job. (Also Read: Aditya Srivastava, UPSC civil services topper: Video shows his first reaction. Watch how his friends celebrated)
The clip shows Srivastava in the middle of an interview by a panel. As the interviewer talked about his academic achievements, he asked, "What made you leave Goldman Sachs and a career in that domain…what made you drop all that?"
To this, Srivastava replied, "Sir, I would say there are majorly two reasons. Firstly, if you see that coming from the area that I come from, even the blessings are of the form, that you become a collector, so there was some kind of knowledge about civil services I had from the beginning, but the final change where I took it seriously was when during my job days. I had a volunteering experience where I realised that just going and feeding the children is not enough to have a meaningful impact on their lives. Thirdly I would say that there is also an element of social prestige associated with it." (Also Read: Aditya Srivastava: Goldman Sachs job in Bengaluru to UPSC Civil Services 2023 topper: 5 points on him)
{{/usCountry}}To this, Srivastava replied, "Sir, I would say there are majorly two reasons. Firstly, if you see that coming from the area that I come from, even the blessings are of the form, that you become a collector, so there was some kind of knowledge about civil services I had from the beginning, but the final change where I took it seriously was when during my job days. I had a volunteering experience where I realised that just going and feeding the children is not enough to have a meaningful impact on their lives. Thirdly I would say that there is also an element of social prestige associated with it." (Also Read: Aditya Srivastava: Goldman Sachs job in Bengaluru to UPSC Civil Services 2023 topper: 5 points on him)
{{/usCountry}}Then the interviewer asked him if he wanted prestige; he could have climbed the ladder at Goldman Sachs and could even have moved to the United States. To this, he simply replies by saying that society is much more prestigious. "No one remembers who worked as a partner at Goldman Sachs, but everyone knows who Mr. TN Seshan is."