Skip to main content

How a Class-XII dropout became IAS officer after 19 years

How a Class-XII dropout became IAS officer after 19 years !


Every year, lakhs of students appear for the Union Public Service Commission civil services examination, having prepared extensively to become IAS officers. However, only a few hundred get to achieve their dreams.
Ranipet Sub-Collector K. Elambahavath recalls being one of those applicants. Frustrated about being turned away at government offices, Elambahavath single-mindedly toiled for 19 years and eventually, became an IAS officer.

Elambahavath dropped out of school after his father's death. Elambahavath was a regular class 12th student when in 1997, life took a different turn. His father, a village administrative officer, passed away. Elambahavath, born in 1982 in Cholagangudikkadu (Tamil Nadu), quit stuides due to financial constraints and assisted his mother in farming.

 BACKSTORY :-

He applied for government jobs but failed repeatedly. 


Elambahavath told that he was clueless about his future, but knew that farming wasn't lucrative.
He applied for a Junior Assistant (LDC) position under compassionate grounds, accessible to family members of deceased government servants.
However, the District Collector's office rejected his application, citing administrative reasons. 15 fellow candidates met the same fate, while others bypassed the waiting list, he said.

For 9 years he circled government offices to find jobs. 

Elambahavath and the other candidates, approached multiple authorities, to no one avail. He said his typical day included working in the fields till afternoon and then requesting for jobs at government offices. " I fought this battle for nine years and yet nothing happened," he said.

CHANGING COURSE OF LIFE :-


'I wanted to change the situation for good,' says Elambahavath

After repeated failures, Elambahavath resolved to return to the District Collector's office as an officer.
"The bureaucratic apathy didn't allow many senior IAS officers to hear our voices," he said. "I wanted to change the situation for good,"
Elambahavath then completed Bachelors in History from Madras University through long-distance learning and prepared for UPSC civil services; without any extra coaching.

PREPARATION

Elambahavath started preparing for UPSC, studying at public libraries.


Elambahavath studied at a public library which helped IAS candidates. "We were a group of 10 civil services aspirants in Pattukkottai. Our retired Headmaster Mr. AT Panner Selvam and many well-wishers were helpful," he said.
Eventually, he became eligible for free civil services coaching by TN government by clearing an exam.
He failed three UPSC attempts but cleared several TN Public Service Commission exams.
• Even after finding a job he continued preparing for UPSC.

" I joined state government Group 1 which includes Assistant Director (Panchayat), DSP etc. I continued preparing UPSC while working" Elambahavath said. He appeared for five mains and three interview rounds, but failed each time, exhausting his maximum attempts. 

 LAST NAIL IN THE COFFIN

With all attempts exhausted, he was given a last chance

"I joined the state civil services. In 2014, the Central Government provided two more attempts for those who had been adversely affected by the Civil Services Aptitude Test. I grabbed the opportunity and appeared again," Elambahavath told TBI.
He made the final attempt for civil services in 2015 and secured an All India Rank 117, getting into IAS in state cadre.

FINAL MESSAGE

In 2016, Elambahavath became a Ranipet Sub-Collector.




Elambahavath became a Ranipet Sub-Collector in 2016, of which, he said, "I could perceive the grief of the people whose voices are not heard," adding he directs his staff to tend to those waiting in government office corridors.
However, he also urges people to stop judging government jobs as apathetic.
Lastly, he said, "There is no substitute for hardwork. Never give up your dreams."

 Source- The Better India.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Meet Pratyaya Amrit, the Inspiring IAS Officer Who Has Placed Bihar Firmly on the Road to Success

Meet Pratyaya Amrit, the Inspiring IAS Officer Who Has Placed Bihar Firmly on the Road to Success ! A bly guided by its power secretary Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar has just completed its target of 100% electrification of willing households in the state. This will be almost two months ahead of the national deadline of December 31, 2018, fixed by the Centre for completing the target under the Saubhagya scheme. T he walls were dank, the chairs broken and the curtains tattered. By no stretch of imagination did the place look like it was the office of a major state corporation about to embark on the onerous responsibility of creating a bridge infrastructure in one of the poorest states in the country. “It did not look like an office at all. I did not know where to begin,’’  Pratyaya  Amrit  recalls." When the reticent IAS officer took over as Managing Director (MD) in 2006, the turnover of the  Bihar   Rajya   Pul Nirman  Nigam ...
Post a Comment
Read more
  This man!!! Alphons Kannanthanam IAS I was a dumb child in school: I was the dumbest. I never won a prize in school. I scored a brilliant 42 percent for my matriculation. Everybody said I was good for nothing. I looked up into the skies and said ‘the sky is not the limit’. I began to dream. I made those dreams possible. It worked. I am not brilliant. I have no special capabilities. But I get whatever I dream. I dream a lot. whatever I have to done, others can do better. But they should want to do it. Alphons’s life is nothing short of a miracle. Having passed his high school with 42% from a non electrified village Malayalam medium school, he became one of the toppers of the 1979 batch of the IAS. He vowed that he would never be a door mat for the politician, but would be a voice of the hapless citizen. For 27 years he was their voice, running pitched battles against the corrupt system. He was rated to be one of the most competent officers in the history of the civil se...
Post a Comment
Read more

This IAS Officer Would Have Been Repairing Cycles If Not for the Kindness of Strangers

This IAS Officer Would Have Been Repairing Cycles If Not for the Kindness of Strangers ! This is the journey of a boy who lost his father at a young age and decided to stop his education. But the generosity of some people around him eventually led to his becoming an IAS officer. V arun Baranwal a young boy from the small town of Boisar in Palghar district of Maharashtra, always dreamt of becoming a doctor. His father, who ran a cycle repair shop, worked hard to give a good life to Varun and his sister. But in March 2006, just four days after Varun’s 10 th  Board exams, his father had a heart attack and passed away. Though the cycle repair shop had been doing well, the hospital bills left Varun’s family in huge debt. His older sister was a teacher but her salary and tuitions were not enough to pay off the loans and fulfil the family’s daily needs as well. So Varun had to make the hard decision of stopping his own education and carrying on his father’s business. He s...
Post a Comment
Read more