SRIKAKULAM: lladapeta, a tiny village located in Jalumuru mandal of Srikakulam district hogged the limelight with Bana Venkatesh, achieving All India Rank (AIR) 15th in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2024 conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Venkatesh, is the eldest son of Banna Chandra Rao and Rohini, a middle class family relying on agriculture. He studied up to Class-V at an English medium convent at his home town and was later shifted to a private school in Srikakulam district headquarters where he completed Class X. He then moved to Visakhapatnam where he studied Intermediate MPC group. Venkatesh did his engineering (B.Tech) at National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu, and got a job through campus selection in the final year. He was not happy with the software job as an engineer as it was not suitable to his attitude to do service to people. After number of brain storming events and discussions with his friends finally Venkatesh took a firm decision to appear for UPSC examinations and resigned his job in 2021.
In the first attempt in 2022 Venkatesh failed in UPSC preliminary examinations, but gained lot of experience, learned tips, estimated preparation levels and finding backdrops through self-introspection. By overcoming all the draw backs again attempted second time in 2023 and secured all India level 467 rank and got selected for Indian Police Service (IPS).
Now he is on training at Sardhar Vallabha Bhai Patel National Police Academy (SVBPNPA) at Hyderabad. Venkatesh was not satisfied with his IPS selection. His ultimate goal was to become an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. To achieve his dream Venkatesh appeared third time in 2024 for UPSC examinations and secured all India level 15 rank and selected for IAS. He wants to serve his people by providing quality education, health care and to arrest migrations in seeking livelihood as he witnessed all the above three aspects from his childhood.
“I was inspired by my parents as both are service oriented and they encouraged me and my brother to learn quality studies and inculcated positive thinking. My brother Banna Vamsi is working as the ISRO scientist at Sriharikota.
Preparation for CSE examinations is too difficult and while preparing for the examinations most of the candidates are facing tremendous pressure, felt isolation and sometimes went into depression, rightly at this movement one should need support from parents, family members and friends, luckily I have good parents, only brother and three best friends Hemanth Patruni, Divya.S, Konda Madhusudhan Reddy who encouraged me every day till I achieved my goal,” he said.
Furthermore he added, “To clear CSE examinations firm decision, commitment and hard work is essential coming to my experience I have decided firmly in 2021 to achieve my dream as an IAS officer and resigned the lucrative software job where I did not find self-satisfaction as it was totally different from ideology and attitude, my aim and attitude is to serve people by receiving responsibilities with pleasure,” Banna Venkatesh shared his journey with TNIE.
Venkatesh elaborated tips for success, “I have prepared for the CSE examinations through online coaching from Hyderabad based Forum IAS academy, my optional subject is Geography and I have gained lot of confidence, knowledge and learned more tips for preparation. I learned about proper utilisation of precious time too as these are key points for success of any person. IAS aspirants should sacrifice other things like passing the time with friends, watching TV, going to movies, attending functions, sports and games.”
