NEW DELHI: Women once again bagged the top positions in the prestigious Civil Services 2022 exams announced by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday.
Delhi University graduate Ishita Kishore secured the first spot. She was followed by Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N and Smriti Mishra, who secured the second, third and fourth ranks, respectively.
Lohia and Mishra are also Delhi University graduates, while Harathi N is a BTech degree holder from IIT-Hyderabad.
This is the second successive year in which women candidates have dominated the civil service examinations. Last year, Shruti Sharma secured the No.1 rank. All the top three positions then too were secured by women.
Around 2,529 candidates qualified for the Personality Test of the examination. The interviews were concluded on May 18.
The commission said that as many as 933 candidates - 613 men and 320 women - have qualified for the civil services examination 2022.
The top 25 candidates comprise 14 women and 11 men, it said.
As soon as the results were announced, an excited Ishita Kishore opened her Twitter account. Her first tweet was: "The best moment of my life. This is a big achievement for me and my family."
Tweeting that she credited her parents for her success, she said, "I was confident about qualifying for the UPSC exam but topping the merit list was a surprise. I want to serve the country by joining the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). I am so happy today."
She cleared the examination in political science, with international relations as her optional subject. She has graduated in Economics (Hons.) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.
Lohia, who bagged the second position, is a graduate of commerce from Kirorimal College. Accountancy was her optional subject. Harathi N, a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT, Hyderabad, stood third with anthropology as her optional subject. Mishra, who stood fourth, graduated from Miranda House College, DU. She had zoology as her optional subject.
The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages - preliminary, mains, and interview - by the UPSC to select officers of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
The educational qualifications of the top 25 candidates include degrees in engineering, humanities, science, commerce and medicine from premier institutions of the country such as IIT, NIT, University of Delhi, Gujarat National Law University, Jadavpur University and Jiwaji University among others, the UPSC said.
It added that the top 25 successful candidates have opted for subjects like Anthropology, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Law, History, Mathematics, Political Science & International Relations, Philosophy, Sociology, and Zoology as their optional choice in the written (main) examination.
The recommended candidates include 41 Persons with Benchmark Disability (14 Orthopedically Handicapped, seven Visually Challenged, 12 Hearing Impaired & 8 Multiple Disabilities).
Out of the total qualified candidates this time, 345 are from the General Category, 99 from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS), 263 from Other Backward Classes (OBC), 154 from Scheduled Caste (SC) and 72 from Scheduled Tribe (ST).
It said 178 candidates had been put on the reserve list as well.
There were 1,022 vacancies reported by the Centre to be filled through the civil services examination.
The UPSC said it included 180 IAS officers, 38 IFS, 200 IPS, 473 in Group A central services, and 131 in Group B services.
The civil services preliminary examination 2022 was conducted on June 5 last year.
A total of 11,35,697 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 5,73,735 appeared.
A total of 13,090 candidates qualified for appearance in the written (main) examination, which was held in September 2022.
UPSC has a 'facilitation counter' near the examination hall on its campus. Candidates can obtain any information/clarification regarding their examinations/recruitments on working days between 10 AM and 5 PM in person or over telephone nos. 011- 23385271/23381125/23098543, it said.
Results will also be available on the UPSC website. "Marks will be available on the website within 15 days from the date of declaration of results," the UPSC said.