Bihar brains shine in IAS exam, again

BEGUSARAI/PURNIA/AURANGABAD: Bihar brains have once again made it to the Union civil services aspirants — with a bang.

Begusarai boasts of having two sons of the soil in the elite club of top 50 successful IAS aspirants this year. While Rajiv Roshan, a native of Gaura village under Teghra subdivision, has secured 23rd rank, Shambhu Kumar of Sihma village is placed 47th.

What adds to the pride of Bihar is the fact that Rajiv did his schooling and college in his native district and, thus, breaks the myth that a Bihari has to move to a reputed institute outside the state if he aspires to score high in the toughest all-India test for the coveted job. He cracked the exam in his first attempt.

UP and Bihar India's top two IAS churners

Uttar Pradesh may still be reigning supreme as far as recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is concerned, but Bihar has emerged a not- so-surprising second, leaving civil services nurseries such as Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh far behind.
The latest personnel ministry figures for 4,443 IAS officers show that while 671 (15 per cent) of them are domiciled in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar contributes 419 (9.4 per cent) officers to the service.
Most of these bureaucrats are working outside their home states, and that is expected under the recruitment rules of the IAS, an all- India service.


Although the figures include names of state service officers promoted to the IAS towards the end of their tenure, the data convincingly shows that bureaucracy continues to be a major draw for the youth from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The total number of IAS officers in the country is more than 5,500.
Tamil Nadu ranks third with 290 officers, 129 less than Bihar, while Andhra Pradesh occupies the fourth slot with 269, followed by Delhi ( 233), Rajasthan (233), Punjab (228), Maharashtra (222), Haryana (158) and Madhya Pradesh (152).

" While Uttar Pradesh has always been on top, the swell in numbers from Bihar is mainly because of the absence of other career options in the state. In the underdeveloped Bihar, government service has always enjoyed a premium," a senior IAS officer from Bihar said.

" Bureaucracy, just as other top- notch competitive exams such as IIT- JEE, is an easy and legitimate way to gain social mobility and recognition in Bihar, a state which still carries remnants of its feudal past. Tamil Nadu has seen a rapid expansion of the private sector while youth in businessoriented Gujarat prefer nongovernment options quite early in their life," he added.

The observation is not off the mark because only 76 IAS officers are domiciled in a state such as Gujarat while ' tiny' Kerala has contributed By Ashish Sinha in New Delhi UP and India's top IAS churners 143 bureaucrats to the pack and the Left Front- ruled West Bengal accounts for only 117.
The Bengal youth used to opt for civil services in good numbers before Independence and the years immediately after, but the numbers have diminished over the years.

Besides the Hindi heartland, the sheen of the civil services has grown in other north Indian states as well. The number of IAS officers domiciled in agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana is 228 and 158. While a relatively larger Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh account for only 150 and 152 officers respectively.

Delhi is another interesting case. The number of IAS officers domiciled in the national capital is an impressive 233.
" This is expected because parents of a large number of aspiring civil servants are based in Delhi. Most of them are already in government service. Delhi also happens to be the education hub of the north," an official posted with the Union Public Service Commission said.
Experts say that 27 per cent reservation for the other backward classes ( OBCs), which was implemented in the early 1990s, has also made a qualitative difference to the recruitment trend. For instance, the number of OBC entrants to the civil services has been going up in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The benefit of reservation for the scheduled tribes ( STs) is more remarkable in Rajasthan, which has seen a good number of Meenas joining the IAS. Candidates from the North- East have also made good use of the ST quota. Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland have contributed more than 20 officers.

French film showcases Anand Kumar's Super 30 success story of cracking IIT exam

Mathematician Anand Kumar''s Super 30, acclaimed for helping students of deprived section to crack the prestigious IIT entrance examination, now features in a film made by famous French director Pascal Plisson.

The 90-minute film "The Big Day" is ready and its clips are already being shown to TV and YouTube. The movie is set to be released next month, a statement from Super 30 said here today. The film comprises four special stories from across the globe. One of them is on a girl, Nidhi Jha, a student of Super 30 and now studying at ISM, Dhanbad. She cracked JEE (advance) in 2014. Along with Nidhi, Anand Kumar and his family have been invited to attend the film release in France.

Bihar native ranks 5th to top among boys in UPSC exam

PATNA: Girls have captured the four top ranks in the Union civil services examination, but the topper among boys who has ranked fifth is from Bihar's Samastipur district. Suharsha Bhagat, 28, who made it to the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) last year, says he made a fresh attempt at the prestigious examination so that he could serve his home state as an IAS official.

"It is double joy for me as I have not just made to the IAS but also secured a rank which entitles me to get the home cadre as per my choice," said Suharsha, who was selected to Indian Audit and Accounts Service in 2011 and Indian Information Service in 2012. In 2013, he ranked 285 to get into the IRS.

IAS officers of Bihar cadre dominate Delhi

 NEW DELHI: Over half a dozen IAS officers of Bihar cadre (mostly 1975 batch) are holding the key positions at the Centre. Four IAS officers of 1975 batch are heading the department as secretaries. The key departments such panchayat Raj, rural development and urban development, defence production, youth affairs, directorate of finance services, head organisation for prohibition of chemical weapons, secrerary, central information commission are headed by Bihar cadre IAS officers.

As per the the latest gradation list of IAS officers of Bihar cadre issued by general administration department (GAD) there are 188 officers in the state.A N P Sinha (1974 batch) is currently holding the post of secretary in the ministry of Panchayat Raj GOI in the fixed pay scale of Rs 80,000 Sinha will retire in February next year.

Similarly Raj Kumar Singh is the secretary of the defence production, ministry of defence while Anil K Upadhayay is holding the post of youth affairsin the ministry of youth affairs and sports. Upadhayay is on the central deputation since April 2004. Navin Kumar who is on central deputation since March 2010 is heading the urban development department. B K Sinha who is also on deputation since December 2003 is heading the rural development department in GOI. All these four officers are 1975 batch.

Also a native of Bihar is Krishna Chaudhary, a 1979 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, who took charge as the director general of the railway protection force (RPF) on February 28 this year.

The fifth IPS officer with Bihar domicile to head a police organisation is 1978 batch Bihar cadre officer Rajiv Ranjan Verma, who took charge as the director general of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) on January 1 this year.

“The top positions they hold is because of their talent, dedication and years of hard work,” said Neelmani, a former DG of police.

Bihar officers head five top police agencies

In a rare coincidence, top five police agencies of the country will have officers hailing from Bihar as their chiefs.

Kerala cadre 1979 batch IPS officer Dineshwar Sharma, who is set to take over as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, is the latest entrant in the list of Bihar natives who have come to occupy the top posts at the same time.  Sharma, brought up in Pali village of Bihar’s Gaya district, is serving as the special director in the domestic spy agency. He will take over from IB director Asif Ibrahim, who retires on December 31.

Sharma was named for the top IB post within days of the appointment of another native of Bihar, Anil Kumar Sinha, as the director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Special Protection Group (SPG), which protects the Prime Minister, too, will have a person who comes from Bihar as its head. Gujarat cadre 1989 batch IPS officer Vivek Srivastav, selected as the new SPG chief hails from Bihar, where his father served as an IAS officer.