Rural candidates shine in IAS at Rajasthan

It’s a tale of two friends who are paving their way from a nondescript village to the corridors of power as government officials. The duo — Raj Kumar Yadav and Ram Niwas Yadav, residents of Loharwada village, 35 km from Jaipur — cleared the IAS on Monday. Raj and Ram are placed in the merit list at 164 and 388 respectively, and become eligible for the A-class government service. They wanted to be IAS officers ever since they were Class XII students in a village school. “Being an IAS officer is no longer a dream for me. I was successful in my fifth attempt,” said Raj Kumar, a 26-year-old science graduate from Maharaja College. “My father always insisted on taking the exam rather than taking up any other job. Each time I failed to clear the exam in the past four attempts, he motivated me to take the challenge again,” added Raj, son of a BSNL line inspector.

The story of Ram Niwas is remarkable. From being a landless farmer living in a mud house, he has come a long way. "My family, especially my wife, helped me by supporting me through my failures. I never fulfilled any of my wife’s desires due to financial crunch. Now I am planning to take her on a holiday to Udaipur,” said an elated Ram. He recounted the struggles he had faced during his graduation. “I thank all my friends, especially Raj, who helped and supported me during my struggling years. Raj shared his books and notes with me as I couldn’t afford costly books,” said Ram, who has two children. Both of them are rejoicing and they are constantly being congratulated by their relatives and friends. Now, they want to inspire their village youth to appear for competitive exams.