Author: Root

Our website underwent a major database crash on midnight of 29th July. It resulted in us losing our content from January 2017 till date.

We were shattered and along with us, the majority of CD community was also in shock.

Let us tell you a very short story. A mythological one.

In Greek mythology, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn.

Associated with the Sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

According to some sources, the Phoenix dies in a show of flames and combustion, although there are other sources that claim that the legendary bird dies and simply decomposes before being born again.

We could relate ourselves to phoenix and were determined to come back more stronger than ever. Our content and tech team put in day-night of hard work to bring current affairs section back in order. The work is still in progress and all data will be up on the website very soon.

We will not be able to extend our gratitude to all our community members who came ahead with all resources available at their helm and helped us in this hard phase. We will always be indebted to you all for this support.

There are many more such heroes who came ahead to help. All names cannot be shared for now but we will definitely remember your help and have a surprise for you all.

The current affairs are being updated. June is done and all other month’s are a work in progress. We assure you it will be completed in a week.

This is the time to come together and revive some activity, lets get some great conversations going on on the forum – prelim results, strategy for this year, anything you can think of.

We really can’t thank the well wishers of CD enough. Just like you guys have been with us every step of the way, we are with you in your journey towards your goal.

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Background:

Ramesh Gholap is known as Ramu in his village Mahagoan in Barshi Taluka, Solapur district of Maharashtra. He was a bright child. His father Gorakh Gholap ran a cycle repair shop, enough to provide an income for his family of four, but the business did not last long as his health suffered from constant drinking.

It was then that Ramu’s mother Vimal Gholap started selling bangles in nearby villages to support the family. Though Ramu’s left leg was affected by polio, he and his brother joined their mother in her little venture.

Mahagaon had just one primary school, so Ramu later went to stay in Barshi with his uncle to study further. He knew education was the only way to bring his mother and family out of poverty they were facing, so he worked as hard as he could.

In the year 2005, when he was in Class 12 and his college model exams were going on, he got news of his father’s death. The bus fare from Barshi to Mahagaon was Rs.7 those days. And since he received a bus pass for the disabled, the fare for him was just Rs. 2. But Ramu did not even have that! His neighbours helped him with the money and then Ramu could go for the last rites of his father.

Just four days after his father’s death, Ramu had a chemistry model exam in his college. On his mother’s insistence he went and appeared for the exam but, after that, he skipped the other model exams. He did not even submit his journals. The final exam for Class 12 was just a month away when he received a letter from his teacher that he had scored 35 marks out of 40 in chemistry. The teacher wanted to meet him. With help and encouragement from his teacher, Ramu took his final exams and scored 88.5%.

Ramu chose to do D.Ed (Diploma in Education) in spite of scoring so well, because this was the cheapest course he could afford to do to get a job as a teacher and support his family. He completed his D.Ed and also pursued a graduate degree in Arts from an open university simultaneously. And finally, he was able to start working as a teacher in 2009. This was like a dream come true for his family. But, deep down, it was not what Ramu really wanted to do.

Ramu lived with his mother and brother in a small room provided by his aunt. He would get annoyed with the ration shop owner, who sold kerosene in the black market instead of providing it to needy families like his. He had already been through the frustration of seeing his father not get adequate attention when he was admitted for tuberculosis in a government hospital. He saw his mother and other widows being manipulated by an officer who collected money from them and made false promises to get them their pensions.

Why IAS:

During his college days, Ramu had been a member of the student’s union and consequently had to go the tehsildar’s office often to get approval for various college issues. He saw the tehsildar as being the most influential and powerful government official he had ever come across. And so Ramu decided he wanted to become a tehsildar too in order to solve all the problems he and his family faced.

Preparation journey:

In September 2009, he took the first step towards his dream. Using the loan that his mother had taken from a self-help group in his village, Ramu went to Pune to prepare for the UPSC exam, taking a leave of six months from his job.

He says: “I did not even know the meaning of MPSC and UPSC since I had always lived in small villages. I did not have money to take coaching classes either. So, the first thing I did was to meet one of the teachers of these coaching classes, just to understand if I was eligible to take the UPSC exam. The first teacher who met me was Mr. Atul Lande. I requested him to write down the answers to a few of my questions, like what is UPSC, can it be taken in Marathi, am I eligible for it, etc. And he told me there was nothing to stop me from taking the UPSC. It is only because of that one statement that I finally did it.”

Ramu appeared for the UPSC exams in May 2010 but unfortunately didn’t make the cut. Meanwhile, he had also formed a political party with the help of some friends in his village of Mahagaon to fight the local panchayat elections. His mother stood as a candidate for sarpanch. The mission of the party was simple – to come to power and help the distressed. On October 23, 2010, the results of the panchayat elections were out. Ramu’s mother, Vimal Gholap lost the elections by a few votes but the loss did not break Ramu. Instead, it gave him the strength to stand up and fight back again against the system. On the same day, he announced in front of all the villagers that he was leaving the village and would come back only when he became a powerful officer.

After this, no one could stop Ramu. He left his job and cleared the State Institute of Administrative Careers (SIAC) exam – this gave him a hostel to stay in and a stipend as scholarship. He painted posters to take care of his expenditures. And finally, this son of illiterate parents, who studied in a Zila Parishad school and by correspondence with open universities, cleared the UPSC examination with an all-India rank of 287, without any coaching.

In the next couple of months, the MPSC results were also out and this time Ramu broke all records. He topped the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) exam in the year 2012, scoring the highest ever marks of 1,244 out of 1,800.

Today as an IAS officer, Ramesh Gholap says:

“Whenever I cancel the license of a PDS shop owner who has been black marketing kerosene, I remember my days when I had to turn off the lantern for lack of kerosene. Whenever I help a widow, I remember my mother begging for a house or for her pension. Whenever I inspect a government hospital, I remember my father’s words when he had left drinking and just wanted better treatment. He would ask me to become a big man and take him to a private hospital. Whenever I help a poor child, I remember myself, I remember Ramu.”

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Kuldeep Dwivedi secured the All India Rank 242 in the Civil Services Exams conducted by UPSC, paving the way for his future as an officer with the Indian Police Service. No obstacle is too great if one has strong determination and Kuldeep Dwivedi has proved that the son of a security guard at Lucknow University can too touch the sky.

Background:

Surya Kant Dwivedi works untiringly at the University of Lucknow as a security guard. Making ends meet for his family of five is a struggle on his meagre income. When his youngest son, Kuldeep Dwivedi expressed interest in attempting the UPSC exams – not once, but thrice – Surya agreed, despite the fact that his son’s pursuit would mean one less earning member in the family.

Kuldeep’s father, Surya Kant Dwivedi, who is a security guard at University of Lucknow’s works department, could not believe that his son cracked the prestigious and most toughest exam of the country UPSC exams and may become an Indian Police Service officer. Kuldeep’s mother is a homemaker.

It took Kuldeep Dwivedi nearly 30 minutes to explain to his father what it meant to score the 242^nd rank in the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission.

Kuldeep Dwivedi said, “They do not understand what IPS is all about. They just think that a sub-inspector is the most powerful person in the police department. I had to tell them that after completion of training I will be posted as Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) in some district. And when they realised that I have now become an officer. There was complete silence. Tears rolled out from their eyes.”

Kuldeep Dwivedi, a 27 year old boy is youngest among three brothers and a sister, wanted to become Civil Servant since he was a child. For him, it was his family’s acceptance and support was all the encouragement he needed to pursue a childhood dream.

“Since my childhood days, I have seen the amount of power a district collector or SSP of a particular district enjoys. It always inspired me. I always wanted to become like that. It was always there in the back of my mind. I had cracked few other examinations in the past but did not join because I wanted to crack the Civil Service Examination,” Kuldeep Dwivedi said.

Preparation:

Kuldeep Dwivedi graduated from Allahabad University in 2009 and completed his post graduation in 2011. Since then he has been staying in Delhi preparing for the Civil Services Exam. Kuldeep Dwivedi says the most difficult time that he faced was after he failed to crack the exam in his first two attempts. In 2013, he was selected as an Assistant Commandant in the Border Security Force but he did not join the training. This was his third attempt and his success has brought great joy to the entire household.

Kuldeep has proved that talent is not dependent on ones circumstances. He has fought against the odds and believed in his abilities.

It was his determination that somehow he has to crack the UPSC examination with a good rank. He kept himself engaged in academics. Luckily the family never troubled him in his pursuit. His success is a shining example of hard work and single-minded focus with determination.

This is the second batch of Flagship Prelims Course. The first batch started on November 11th and is still going on.

Click to Join the Batch 2 here

If you need any specific clarifications before joining in the course – mail us at hello@civilsdaily.com

What’s the difference between Batch 1 & Batch 2?

• Same tests,
• Same questions,
• Combined AIRs (with Batch1 and Batch2 students),
• Same syllabus &
• Same freebies but with a faster timeline so that you catch up with the advanced students by the time you write FLTs in April 2017

Read the Full Desctiption of the course – Click here

Click here to download the Syllabus & TIMETABLE 

So, nothing changes except the time table of the tests. Your tests will be conducted in 5 days gap before you finally catch up with the other students!

Broad outline of the course:

• 32 GS Paper 1 Tests of 100 questions each: 6 basic static + 10 advanced static + 8 current affairs focus + 8 FLTs
• 3 Previous Years Prelims Paper: 2013, 2014, 2015
• 12 Monthly CivilsDigest Magazines (pdfs): All the most important Civilsdaily newscards & editorial summaries from (Android App, Web News) will be published in a neat and comprehensive pdf
• 12 Monthly Target Mains Magazine (pdf): The daily Mains answer writing on the website will find its compilation in a rich pdf with Questions + Demand and Approach (DNA) methodology + Links to best answer
• 12 Monthly Prelims Daily Compilations (pdf)
• CD Explains Annual Compilation (pdf)
• Indian Economic Survey Notes (pdf)
• The Art of Tikdams (Free pdf) on How to answer intelligently in Prelims
• Titbits and Tikdams: Your explanations will be richer and more meaningful. We are known to innovate & making sure you have smart hacks and dedicated reference points for everything. To know what we mean, click to read this – Titbits for IAS Pre, Tikdams for Smart Hacks

NOTE: Once you register for the module, please go to the documents tab on the portal and download the monthly PDFs

Use this http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=154111

Background:

His journey starts with running after train at 5:30 am in morning every day. He lived in Ghaziabad but his school was almost 35 km away from his home. It was a government school (at civil lines Delhi). Every day he used to spend 5 hours in travelling, till class 12^th.

He had a dream to become a doctor but like many middle class boys it was just a dream. He got selected to BTC/JBT/ETE (TEACHER TRAINING). After training, he joined as a teacher at MCD school Delhi (September 2003), at the tender age of 19.

Then he strained his energy in the struggle for marriage – as love marriage is a taboo in Indian society, it took him almost 7 years to marry in 2008, at the age of 25. He then started thinking about taking up civil services exam.

Being a general candidate it was already late to start preparation to use all four attempts (then there were 4 attempts). He also had family responsibilities to look after. After arranging marriage for his younger brother and younger sister and after his own marriage, he thought it apt to start focussing on his dreams and needs (but it was almost March 2011 by then).

He gave one attempt without preparing well and had lost one precious attempt in 2010. He then started serious preparation for Civil Services after relieving himself from home responsibilities, with one attempt already down. Meanwhile, he had passed BA, MA, B.Ed. In addition he also did LL.B., LL.M from correspondence mode.

Inspiration for Civil Services:          

During his service as a teacher in MCD School, he joined Teacher’s Association in 2009 as a nominated General Secretary (of Shahdara south zone), there he worked for teachers’ issues and this work was one of the motivations for civil services. While working with the association he came in contact with higher officials and came to know that what a bureaucrat can do with his authority. Hence, he tried his luck in 2010 Prelims.

Preparation journey:

The great leap for UPSC started in 2011, with one attempt already down, his second attempt was lost by 7 marks in prelims (CSE 2012).  After losing, he felt bad but also got courage that if he came so close, maybe I could clear the exam in another attempt. He says:

“This is the dilemma of all the aspirants, it’s like YA TO ATTEMPT KAHATAM YA AADMI KHATAM HO TABHI MUKTI MILEGI.”

For his third attempt, he prepared well with the help of his wife and his friends. He was expecting score around 216 in Prelims and committed a mistake by exaggerating his score with friends and relatives.  This kind of mistake is being committed by so many aspirants. In this attempt he got only 206 and cutoff was 209 (CSE 2012). He lost battle for the THIRD time with only ONE attempt left to go.

Now it was the D Day moment- final attempt with ‘Zero Mains’ experience. This time he scored 232 in the prelims (CSE 2013) and was very optimistic for the mains.  But destiny had another shock for him, for the first time cutoff crossed 241 marks and it was his final attempt and hope at UPSC civil services.

Grief struck and disappointed, he came back to teaching with empty hands. Colleagues taunted him, laughed at him, and started teasing him with sarcasm. He had created a hope and hype around his civil services dream. After his failure, people around him didn’t respect him much. He was considered a non- serious aspirant because he did not even clear prelims. At that moment he thought about giving State PCS exam.

Then came the opportunity of lifetime, UPSC gave 2 extra attempts. These two attempts were a life for him. He was 31 by then.

He gave his all to this attempt and could clear not only prelims but reached upto interview level. But when the final result came, he was out of the game once again. Failure after reaching at interview level is not an easy ordeal to bear with. His Fifth attempt was over and he was a failure for 5 years in a row. (CSE 2014)

In CSE 2015, he gave another final attempt, he gathered himself for another final fight. It was do or die for him (aged 32 now). He worked hard with more focused study, proper strategy for PRELIMS, Mains and moreover for INTERVIEW, & committed to himself that “I would crack exam this time, learned from my past mistakes and worked hard”.

Finally, he was AIR 300 Rank. He proved with his result that simple middle class family boy with no formal education (all correspondence) can crack UPSC civil services.

His never say die attitude, perseverance, parents blessings and continuous effort towards his goal made him successful.

His message:

He requests his fellow aspirants that never lose your hope. Your perseverance, consistency and your passion will definitely pay for you.

Kumar Ashirwad belongs to a village where electricity is a luxury and internet connection a futuristic notion. Facing all odds, he completed his schooling from Darjeeling and Jamshedpur and graduation from IIT Kharagpur.

In 2011, he went to Mukherjee Nagar to start his civil service preparation and it took him four attempts and five years to clear the exam with AIR 35.

His journey:

During these 5 years he admits to have committed every mistake that a candidate can make in their Civil services preparation. And hence he puts forth a list of suggestions that he feels will help to avoid the same mistakes.

• You don’t have to study a lot for this exam, instead need a broad common sense and understanding of a wide variety of issues. He persuades, focus on broad understanding instead of deep understanding.

For instance, if there is some report, instead of reading the entire report read only its main features. This will save time and moreover, it’s easier to remember and write the key features. On the other hand, it is humanly impossible to remember and reproduce the entire report on answer sheet.

• The parameters for choosing an optional subject are sometimes not rooted in reality. Do not make “interest in the optional” the only criteria. You should definitely not hate the optional subject, but interest holds only the first time you read the subject. Revisions are never interesting. So while choosing an optional please also take into consideration the recent performance of the subject, length of the syllabus, etc. While studying an optional for the first time go through the previous years’ question papers frequently and see whether you can answer the questions.
• One should not read newspapers the whole day. The aim is to develop a broad understanding of important issues.
• Join a Test Series where you can get personal guidance instead of any TS, because they enroll too many students and hence the quality of checking suffers. Note down the flaws at the back of each answer sheet. Read them for at least half an hour before the next test, so as not to repeat them.
• You don’t need to study for 14-15 hours a day, 9-10 hours daily is enough. Most importantly, BE CONSISTENT. Give up the habit of studying for 14 hours a day, four days continuously, and then feeling so pleased that you give yourself a break for 2-3 days.
• We all love to gather tips for UPSC, but understand that no two people are same. Do not blindly follow tips.

Prelims Strategy:

• Reserve 2-3 months (as per your situation) exclusively for prelims. Apart from 1-2 hours for optional every day, the rest of these 2-3 months should be devoted entirely for prelims. Success rate in Prelims is nearly 1 in 40. The prelims preparation should be such that you are never in doubt about clearing prelims.

Mains Strategy:

• The importance of repeated revision in UPSC cannot be overstated. Hence READ LESS, REVISE MORE.
• Attempting the entire paper is a MUST. Check your writing speed in tests. Also try to improve your speed by giving lots of tests.
• Give up the habit of writing very long answers at the start and very short answers at the end of the test. The length of your answers should be uniform.
• Reserve 1 minute for reading the question 3 times. Read the question twice before starting to write the answer. In the second reading, circle the keywords of the question. Decide whether you can split up the keywords into subparts. Only then start answering the question.

Tips:

“During your preparation, there will come a number of instances when you will be dejected and hopeless. It is inevitable. It is exactly in times such as these that you need to remember why you are here. You are here to serve the weakest and the poorest.”