The Civil Services Examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), is definitely one of the toughest examinations in India. Candidates have to study in the right way with the right strategy to crack the exam.
It takes several attempts and years of preparation to crack the UPSC exam. Only candidates who are able to successfully qualify in all three stages of the Prelims, Mains, and Interview round become IAS, IPS, IFS, and other civil servants.
In this article, we will learn about an IAS officer who failed in the UPSC Civil Services Examination twice. But, he did not give up and was successful in his third attempt. The name of this IAS officer is Hitesh Meena who is popular for one of his dialogues.
In an interview, IAS Meena said, “Show me the book, exam date, and how many books I have to read. Then you can change my name if someone performs better than me.”
Son of a farmer, IAS Hitesh was a brilliant mind since childhood. He was among the toppers in his school and in Class 12. After completing his intermediate, he easily cracked JEE and went on to pursue his B.Tech (Civil Engineering) degree from IIT BHU, Varanasi, as per News 18.
Later, he went on to pursue M.Tech (Transportation Engineering) from IIT Delhi. However, he changed his mind and decided to start his preparation for the Civil Services exam. The multi-talented lad cleared both Prelims and Mains examinations in his first two attempts (2016, 2017).
Unfortunately, he was rejected both times in the interview round and could not make it to the final list. However, Instead of giving up, he continued to try harder for the exam and his hard work finally paid off.
He successfully cleared all the rounds on the third attempt and achieved All India 417th rank in the year 2018. He got 977 marks in the final list.
An IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, Hitesh is currently posted as Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Citizen Resource Information Officer, Gurugram. He is happily married to IAS Renu Sogan, an officer of the 2019 batch.