The Hindu Education Plus Career Counselling event held at Bidar

Pointing to the massive number of candidates aspiring to crack the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) and become civil servants, Lavish Ordia, Assistant Commissioner asked the students to understand the reality before taking up the preparations for the competitive examinations.

Pointing to the massive number of candidates aspiring to crack the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) and become civil servants, Lavish Ordia, Assistant Commissioner, asked the students to understand the reality before taking up the preparations for the competitive examinations.

“Around ten lakh students take UPSC examinations and compete for around 1000 total posts of Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Services and Indian Forest Service, Indian Revenue Service and other services. It means that just less than 0.01% of the candidates can crack the UPSC examinations. I am not discouraging or demotivating you. I am just bringing it to your notice that you can better understand the reality and be better prepared for the tough competition. If you are confident of working hard and being one among the 1000 selected candidates, you can go ahead and prepare for UPSC examinations,” Mr. Ordia said after inaugurating The Hindu Education Plus Career Counselling programme at Sri Poojya Channa Basava Pattaddevaru Ranga Mandir in Bidar on Saturday.

“Competitive examinations are different from Board examinations. The former signifies that you are competing with somebody and the latter you are competing with none. In Board examinations, you get the marks for your hard work and pass. What matters in competitive examinations is how many people are ahead of you. Because competitive examinations are held to fill the limited posts. The huge gap between the number of available posts and the number of applicants makes the competition brutal,” he said.

Mr. Ordia adopted the interactive method to understand the students’ aspirations and guided them on their specific choices. When a student stood up and said that he wanted to become a successful investor in the stock market and make lot of money, the officer said that there was nothing to aspire to become rich through legitimate means.

“Wants and needs are different from person to person. Some are complacent in commuting in train and some others feel that air travel is a basic requirement. Some are satisfied with bikes and some others feel that a car is a basic need. I don’t think that aspiring to meet one’s own wants is not a bad thing. I don’t think aspiring to make money through legitimate means is not a bad thing. The dreams of many people in the middle class are also middle-class. We need not restrict our dreams to our present physical conditions. We can have bigger dreams and work hard to realise them. If you are passionate about your job, you will do it well and you will enjoy it,” Mr. Ordia said.

Abdul Qadeer, an educationist and the Chairman of Shaheen Group of Institutions, who was the guest of honour, motivated the students with his inspirational advice for them to become good human beings before aspiring for other lucrative jobs.

“I have seen an IAS officer who was torturing his wife publicly. I have seen many doctors who are arrested for their malpractice. If you cannot become a good human being, you cannot become a good officer or good doctor. Being a good human being must be prioritised over getting a high-paying job. Younger generation has a greater role to play in changing the future of the country and you all have a greater responsibility to change the society for the better,” Mr. Qadeer said.