Keralites corner glory in civil service exams

For the first time since 1991, a Keralite has come first in the Civil Services Examinations while the second and fourth positions have also been bagged by people from the state.

Haritha V. Kumar secured the first rank in the joint examinations.

V. Sriram came second while a doctor, Alby John Varghese, came fourth in the all-India ranking.

This was Haritha Kumar's fourth and last attempt.

Speaking to the media here from Faridabad near Delhi, where she is undergoing training as an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official, she thanked her teachers and her family for her performance.

"I did not pass in my first attempt. In the second attempt, I got 179th rank and got selected for Indian Police Service, but I opted for IRS. In my third attempt, I got a rank of 290. This time I got what I aimed for as I was very keen to become an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official," said haritha Kumar, an engineer by profession.

For the examination, she chose economics and Malayalam literature as her optional subject.

"It will take me another three weeks to return to my home in Thiruvananthapuram as I am undergoing a training programme," she said.

Fourth ranked Varghese is a medical officer in the Kerala government service in Ernakulam district.

"This was my first attempt and I started preparing in January last year. I took medicine and Malayalam literature as my optional subjects. This is one examination where mugging will do no good. Instead, one has to work really hard and my childhood ambition to become a civil service official has been accomplished," said Varghese.

Raju Narayana Swamy, a Kerala bureaucrat in Kerala who secured the first rank in the same examination in 1991, said that he was pleased that the myth that Keralite's cannot perform well in the Civil Services Examinations is broken.

"The performance of Keralites this time has been exemplary. It is a fitting reply to people who say that Keralites can't do well in this examination," said Swamy.