BHUBANESWAR: Women have once again topped the Odisha Civil Services (OCS) Examination-2022, the results of which were declared by the Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) on Saturday.
While Swetashree Mohapatra has topped the prestigious examination, Prinkil Parbin Parida bagged the second position. It was Swetashree’s first attempt at the exams. A resident of Bhadrak, she passed her engineering degree in electronics and telecommunication from NIT-Durgapur in 2018. Although she had fared well in the examination, first rank was something she had not dreamt of. She worked for three years before deciding to give up the corporate job and devote her time entirely to prepare for OCS and UPSC examinations.
Swetashree prepared for the examinations all by herself till she cleared the prelims. “For the mains examination and the personal interview, I took the help of professional coaching,” she said.
Prinkil, the second rank holder, also cleared the OCS in her first attempt. The Nimapara native had completed her MSc in Botany with a gold medal in 2022. An alumnus of Ravenshaw University, Prinkil began preparation for OCS immediately after her MSc.
A farmer’s daughter, she appeared for the examination in October last year and only took the help of mock tests for the personal interview.
While the third rank was secured by Dipti Ranjan Pati, the fourth position has been again bagged by a woman Parjna Parangama. Among the top-10 candidates, five are women (Deepam Rout at rank 6 and Amrita Sahoo at rank 10).
One of the rank holders is Subha Kalyani Mohapatra, the assistant collector of Athagarh. This was Subha’s second attempt as she wanted to improve her rank. In her first attempt in 2022, she got 200 rank and got into Odisha Revenue Service. Around 40,586 students had appeared for the preliminary examination which was held in October last year. Of them, 8,220 qualified but 6,639 appeared for the OCS (Main) examination held this year.
The OPSC in its notification informed that after the mains examination and personality test, names of 683 candidates have been recommended in order of merit for appointment to the various posts under the Odisha Civil Services. Of these, 258 are women.
