VELLORE: Three alumni of VIT University here have cleared the civil services examination, the results for which were released on Thursday. While two of them belonged to Jharkhand, one is from Vellore.
Rachit Raj, who studied B Tech biotechnology between 2008-2012, secured the third rank at the all-India level while another student Shashank Shubhankar, who studied mechanical engineering in B Tech during the same period, secured 60th rank.
C Damodaran from Vellore, who studied Bio Informatics at VIT between 2004-2008, secured 735th rank. All the three had good academic records from VIT during their degree programme, while the first two had the cumulative grade point average (CGPA) of above 9, Damodaran had above 8.
While the other two were not available when contacted, Damodaran, who spoke to Express on Friday, said he had decided to take up civil services as he was not too keen to continue with the placement offer he had received on the university campus after his studies. Motivated by his father, who is a vegetable merchant based in Dharapadavedu near here, he has so far made four attempts and emerged successful in the fifth.
According to Damodaran, more than the interview, the written examinations were tougher and each time he failed, he could learn the art of fine-tuning the technique of better presentation.
“The focus should be on how to impress the examination evaluator and I took time to learn from my failure,” he noted. After his success, his ranking would help him bag a job in the Indian Revenue Service. But as he is determined to become an IAS officer, he is planning to attempt again in August this year.
“None from our family has been in a high-ranking government job and my father always inspired me to become a civil servant,” Damodaran said adding that his family was very happy over his success.
What would be his advice to youngsters from rural pockets? “From what I have learnt, commitment, perseverance and smart work are the basic ingredients that youngsters must imbibe if they are serious about tackling the civil services examinations,” he said. The mind should be relaxed and the focus should be on facing competition, he added.
Damodaran suggested that aspirants should take to reading newspapers, netsurfing and keep their ears open for information. He said educational institutions should create more awareness on various aspects of civil services and motivate students in evincing interest to become civil servants.