Ahmedabad: At the point when Kartik Jivani (26) saw his name blazing on TV as the eighth ranker in the as of late announced UPSC Mains result, he tried to avoid panicking however realized his persistent effort had paid off.
After all, he came a long way and bettered his score with each successive attempt — from an unimpressive first attempt in 2017, then securing the 94th rank in 2018, 84th rank in 2019 and finally realising his dream of becoming an IAS officer by taking a spot in the top-10. His four consecutive attempts at the coveted UPSC Mains, he has set an example of how determination, perseverance and self-belief make things happen.
Born and brought up in Surat and fondly called Lala, Kartik Jivani pursued the UPSC exam with the single-minded goal of getting into the IAS. But he had to brave health challenges along the way, fell short to qualify for IAS just by one mark, twice, in 2018 and in 2019. This, however, did not demotivate him.
“Just before my first attempt at UPSC Mains in 2017, I got dengue and I did not make it in the final list. In 2018, I missed the IAS seat just by one mark when I ranked at 94th position. In 2019, even when my score improved to 84th rank, I again missed IAS rank by one mark as it was the year when EWS seats were included. I got the IPS rank and I accepted it, but deep down I knew that I did not want to give up on the IAS pursuit,” said this IIT-Bombay graduate in Mechanical Engineering. Kartik’s father is a doctor and mother a housewife.
Successive attempts at the exam and missing the mark by a hair’s breadth twice did create tremendous pressure on him. “But I analysed my score card and saw where I did not do well. I worked on two such areas, General Studies and Personal Interviews. Also, my parents kept encouraging me to not stop the UPSC attempts as it was just a matter of one mark,” he said.
Kartik is currently taking training at the IPS Academy in Hyderabad. He has completed nine months of training and will complete the rest of the 1.5 months. Taking the exam while taking IPS training was not easy. “The training sessions start at 5am and end at 7pm. After these, I used to ensure three-four hours of study a week on my weaker areas. Our faculty often says that all we have to do is our best, and the universe will conspire in helping us get what we want. And the universe has conspired this time,” he said.
Ask him why he wants to be an IAS and nothing else, and Kartik will tell you that it is because of the limited work profile of an IPS. “In a district, there are 30-40 departments and an IPS officer has only policing work to do. An IAS officer has a larger work profile and can work in a diverse work profile,” he said.
After completing the IPS training, Kartik Jivani will spend some time with his parents in Surat before starting IAS training.