CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu candidates have performed better in Civil Services Examination (CSE) compared to last two years with five of them featuring in the top 100 as per the results declared by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday.
While Aditya Srivastava, a trainee Indian Police Service officer, has topped the exam, Animesh Pradhan, Donuru Ananya Reddy, P K Sidharth Ramkumar, and Ruhani have secured second, third, fourth and fifth rank, respectively.
Top ranker Srivastava (27), who hails from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, had completed his BTech in electrical engineering from IIT-Kanpur.
A total of 1,016 candidates — 664 men and 352 women — have qualified in the exam and have been recommended by the UPSC for appointment to various services.
Though the state-wise candidate figures are still being awaited, data compiled by former IAS officers and coaching centres show that of the 1,016 successful candidates at least 45 are from Tamil Nadu. The numbers may rise as TN candidates had appeared for the exam from centres outside the state too, they said. Last year, not a single candidate from Tamil Nadu made it to the top 100.
Congratulating the successful candidates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said their efforts will shape the future of the nation in the times to come. In his posts on X, the PM also reached out to the unsuccessful aspirants, saying they have chances ahead to succeed while noting that India is rich with opportunities where their talents can truly shine.
39 from state cleared UPSC exam last year
While 39 TN candidates had cleared the exam last year, the topper from the state had bagged 107th rank. In 2021, only 27 candidates had cleared the exam and two had featured in the top 100 list.
“Last year, we had one of the worst performances of the decade as not a single person from the state had bagged a rank within top 100,” said Israel Jebasingh of Officer’s IAS Academy.
S Chandru, academic head of Shankar IAS Academy, pointed that the figures are quite encouraging as over the past few years there has been a steady decline in the performance of TN in the UPSC services.
“Whenever candidates from the state perform well in UPSC or any All India Services examination and their success stories are highlighted, it encourages many more from the state to write the exam,” he said.
However, he strongly felt that the state’s performance could be much better. He cited that in 2014, of the 1,126 candidates who cleared the exam, 119 were from Tamil Nadu.
Experts said better pay packages and lucrative job opportunities in the private sector have taken the sheen off civil services, but now students are again turning their attention to the coveted exam. S Boominathan, managing director of KingMakers IAS Academy, said that many candidates who have secured ranks this year are already in service and this helped them to put up a better show.
TN topper gets 41st rank
T Bhuvaneshram, a native of Tiruvallur who bagged 41st rank, has emerged as the state topper. Currently serving as an assistant manager at NABARD in Thiruvananthapuram, Bhuvaneshram has cleared the exam in his sixth attempt. Dr S Prashanth (25), who holds the record for passing out with 36 medals from MMC, has cleared CSE in his first attempt