24 from state crack civil services exam

BHUBANESWAR: The state's performance in the civil services examination has improved this year with 24 in the merit list of 1,236. This is the best in the last many years.
Last year, around 15 aspirants from the state had cracked the exam.
Six candidates from the state, including three from the twin cities of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, are within the 100 rank.
Muhammed Abdaal Akhtar, a native of Korei in Jajpur district, has secured 35th position in the examination for the year 2014, results of which were published on Saturday.
"I am very glad to have found an opportunity to serve the people of my county. I was devoting around one hour a day to prepare for the exams. The blessings of God, my parents and well-wishers helped me crack the test," said Akhtar, son of a Railway Board employee and the first Muslim in the state to crack the civil services examination.
Lingaraj Panda (38th rank), a native of Nuapada (Balisahi) area of Cuttack, got the news on a day he lost his grandmother in Puri and was busy getting things ready for her cremation.
"Getting into the civil services was a childhood dream that came true for me. It comes on a day when I lost my grandmother, who has been a great source of inspiration for me," Panda said.
Kranthi Kumar Pati (50th), Pamela Satpathy (51st), Prabhat Malik (68th) Smrutiranjan Mohanty (87th) are others within the 100 rank while Sandeep Kumar Malik (102) and Abhisek Tripathy (151st) are within 200. Pamela Satpathy, Smrutiranjan Mohanty and Abhisek Tripathy are from Bhubaneswar.
"I will give the credit for my success to my supportive husband (Deepankar)," said Pamela, trained as a software engineer who previously worked with Infosys and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
Pamela, who had done her early education from Sunabeda in Koraput district, got through in her fourth attempt and third interview. "I am happy that many students from our state have cracked the exam this time," she said.
Abhisek, an alumnus of BJB College who did his LLB from Kolkata, said he considers public service as a great opportunity to serve the country.
Educationists see the results as a positive sign.
"It seems a good number of aspirants from the state have done well this time. However, more institutionalized attempts should be made so that our aspirants do well in the national level examinations," said Pritish Acharya, a professor at Regional Institute of Education here.
Last year, around 15 aspirants had cracked the examination.