New Delhi, Aug 4 Two Pradeep Singhs, hailing from the northern and eastern parts of the country and belonging to humble backgrounds, cracked India's prestigious Civil Services examination on Tuesday.
The first Pradeep Singh, son of a farmer and former village head of Tewri village in Sonipat district of Haryana, secured the first position in the examination. He is currently posted with the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics in Faridabad.
The 29-year-old cleared the examination in the fourth attempt. He grew up in Sonipat and completed his computer science engineering from Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram University in Murthal.
Meanwhile, another Pradeep Singh, hailing from Gopalganj in Bihar, secured the 26th position in the examination. He is a son of a petrol pump worker and had, in 2018, bagged the 93rd position in the exam. Presently, he is working as an Indian Revenue Service officer.
The Union Public Service Commission has recommended 829 candidates for the appointment to Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and Central Services.
Besides them, Jatin Kishore from Delhi and Pratibha Verma from Uttar Pradesh ranked second and third in the UPSC's list.
Out of the total 829 candidates, over 150 are women. In the top ten list, Verma ranked third, followed by Vishakha Yadav and Sanjita Mohapatra who secured the sixth and tenth positions, respectively.
The appointment has been done on the basis of the result of the written Civil Service Examination conducted in September 2019 and interviews conducted from February to August this year.
There are 304 candidates from the general category, 78 from the economically weaker section, 251 from other backward classes, 129 from the scheduled class and 67 from the scheduled tribes.
Appointment to the various Services will be made according to the number of vacancies available with due consideration to the provisions contained in the Rules for the Examination.
For this year, the Civil Services exam was scheduled to be held on May 31, but it has now been rescheduled to October 4 in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: "Congratulations to all the bright youngsters who have successfully cleared the Civil Services Examination, 2019! An exciting and satisfying career of public service awaits you. My best wishes!"
( With inputs from IANS )