Studied in public library to clear IRS
Tribal youth from a village in Bagalkot has cleared the civil services exams. He worked as postal assistant to save up for study
Umesh Rathod , 26, grew up in his village of Sunag, Bagalkot district, hearing tales of Shivanand M Jaamdhar , who retired as the principal secretary (revenue) for the Government of Karnataka. Jaamdhar, who is from a village about 100 kilometres away from Umesh’s – brought about many changes in and around Bagalkot.
All through the 1990s, up to the early 2000s, Jaamdhar oversaw the building of New Bagalkot and ensured the resettlement of the thousands who lost their homes in the swirling aters when the Almatti dam was built across the river Krishna. The rehabilitation was overseen by the World Bank which ensured that Jaamdhar stayed in the post of rehabilitation till it was completed. There is even an arch put up by the citizens in that city which commemorates him.
Lambani scheduled tribe , decided that he wanted to become an IAS officer just like Jaamdhar. His tale is even more inspiring as Jaamdhar, though from a village, belongs to the Lingayat community and has cousins who are IAS and KAS officers .
‘’My parents are farmers in our village, and when I told them that I wanted to become an IAS officer, they asked me what that meant,’’ Umesh recalled.
Umesh has partially fulfilled his dream by clearing the civil services exam this year, after an inspiring journey to the goal. He studied at aBruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike E-library in Jayanagar, worked as a postal assistant in Bagalkot, saved up to study, and has proved that even a poor tribal boy with no support can do it. He is currently waiting to go for training to begin his service as an IRS officer. But he will take a crack at the exams again, next year, to improve his rank and get to the IAS cadre.
“I had completed my Masters in Political Science in my hometown. After that, I got a job as a postal assistant in the postal department at Bagalkot. I worked there for six years and saved all my salary. My parents did not understand why I was doing that, but they supported me nonetheless.”
Umesh did not have proficiency in English and that was a huge problem for him when he began studying for the civil services exam. “I would take leave for two or three months and come down to Bangalore to prepare for the exams. While I cleared the preliminary exams in 2011, I cleared the mains this year in my third attempt. The first thing that I had to learn was English and after that Mathematics. Since I was a Political Science student, I wasn’t very proficient in Mathematics and theaptitude test in the preliminary examination was quite difficult for me,” he added.
After a second attempt at cracking the mains in 2013, Umesh resigned from his job in Bagalkot and came to live in Bangalore to prepare for the exams. He said, “I was having difficulties managing my job and trying to prepare for the exams. On top of that, there were times when the office refused to sanction leaves. So I quit. In Bangalore, while we were studying in South-End library, a student told us that theBBMP E-Library in Jayanagar 5th Block was better stocked. So we shifted to this library and thanks to course materials available here, I have been able to clear the exams this year.”
Umesh would enter the library as early as 8 in the morning and study till late in the evening. While he found the atmosphere peaceful and convenient for his studies, he would also make efforts to enhance the library’s stock of books. BN Vijaya Kumar, MLA, Jayanagar said, “The idea of the library was to help kids like him achieve their dreams. We are proud that Umesh he has made it thus far.”
All through the 1990s, up to the early 2000s, Jaamdhar oversaw the building of New Bagalkot and ensured the resettlement of the thousands who lost their homes in the swirling aters when the Almatti dam was built across the river Krishna. The rehabilitation was overseen by the World Bank which ensured that Jaamdhar stayed in the post of rehabilitation till it was completed. There is even an arch put up by the citizens in that city which commemorates him.
Inspired by the tale, young Umesh, who belongs to the
‘’My parents are farmers in our village, and when I told them that I wanted to become an IAS officer, they asked me what that meant,’’ Umesh recalled.
Umesh has partially fulfilled his dream by clearing the civil services exam this year, after an inspiring journey to the goal. He studied at a
“I had completed my Masters in Political Science in my hometown. After that, I got a job as a postal assistant in the postal department at Bagalkot. I worked there for six years and saved all my salary. My parents did not understand why I was doing that, but they supported me nonetheless.”
Umesh did not have proficiency in English and that was a huge problem for him when he began studying for the civil services exam. “I would take leave for two or three months and come down to Bangalore to prepare for the exams. While I cleared the preliminary exams in 2011, I cleared the mains this year in my third attempt. The first thing that I had to learn was English and after that Mathematics. Since I was a Political Science student, I wasn’t very proficient in Mathematics and the
After a second attempt at cracking the mains in 2013, Umesh resigned from his job in Bagalkot and came to live in Bangalore to prepare for the exams. He said, “I was having difficulties managing my job and trying to prepare for the exams. On top of that, there were times when the office refused to sanction leaves. So I quit. In Bangalore, while we were studying in South-End library, a student told us that the
Umesh would enter the library as early as 8 in the morning and study till late in the evening. While he found the atmosphere peaceful and convenient for his studies, he would also make efforts to enhance the library’s stock of books. BN Vijaya Kumar, MLA, Jayanagar said, “The idea of the library was to help kids like him achieve their dreams. We are proud that Umesh he has made it thus far.”
