Kashmir boy tops civil services exam

NEW DELHI - Shah Faesal, a doctor from Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, has topped the civil services examination 2009, it was announced Thursday. He is the first Kashmiri to achieve the distinction.

A total of 875 candidates - 680 males and 195 females - have been recommended for appointment to the prestigious Indian Foreign Service, Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and other central services, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said.

Faesal, who has done his MBBS from Srinagar, cleared the examination in his first attempt.

“I am very happy and want to serve the people of the country. I want to set an example by providing corruption-free administration to the people,” a confident Faesal said.

Prakash Rajpurohit, a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, has bagged the second position while Iva Sahay from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has secured the third position.

“I want to improve bureaucracy so that I can help people who are running from one office to other with files,” Sahay, the topper among female candidates, told IANS.

The top 25 candidates comprise 15 males and 10 females, the UPSC said.

A total of 409,110 candidates applied for the civil services examination in 2009. As many as 193,091 candidates appeared for the preliminary examination and 12,026 candidates qualified for the main examination.

A total of 2,432 candidates were shortlisted for the personality test conducted in March-April 2010.

As many as 15 of the 25 toppers belong to the national capital.

Of the 875 candidates who cleared the exam, 30 are physically differently abled.