This story is from August 5, 2020

60 from Tamil Nadu ace civil services exam

After a relatively poor show in the civil services exam last year, Tamil Nadu candidates reaped a bonanza this year with 60 of them making it to the final merit list released by the Union Public Service Commission on Tuesday.
60 from Tamil Nadu ace civil services exam
Photo used for representational purpose only
CHENNAI: After a relatively poor show in the civil services exam last year, Tamil Nadu candidates reaped a bonanza this year with 60 of them making it to the final merit list released by the Union Public Service Commission on Tuesday.
Of the 829 successful candidates, at least 7% were from Tamil Nadu. While seven TN candidates made it to top 100, 25 may get into IAS or IPS.
State topper Ganesh Kumar, a graduate from IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Ahmedabad, got all-India seventh rank. Balanagendran D and Puranasunthari M, two visually-challenged candidates, were among the successful ones from the state. “Tamil Nadu students performed better than last year as 60 candidates cracked the exam this year. Better performance by TN students can be attributed to their good show in optional subjects,” said S Chandru, academic head, Shankar IAS Academy, Chennai. Last year, around 45 candidates cracked the exam.
“In 2014, 150 candidates from the state cleared the exam which was more than 10% of the total successful candidates. The increase this year is mainly due to improved performance in optional subjects like public administration and sociology,” he added.
Tamil Nadu students prefer geography, public administration, sociology, anthropology, Tamil literature and political science as optional subjects. “The number of successful candidates vary according to the performance of optional subjects,” he added.
M Boominathan, director, KingMakers IAS Academy, said more students from the state got top ranks this year. “Nearly 25 candidates can get into IAS or IPS as they came within top 400,” he added.
Israel Jebasingh, director, Officers Coaching Academy, said the increase is mainly due to more students preferring civil services. “As the craze for IT industries has come down, more talented engineers and others are preparing for civil services exams from Tamil Nadu. The number will only increase in the coming years,” he said.

All the toppers from Tamil Nadu this year were engineering graduates.
Ganesh Kumar Baskar, a computer science engineer from IIT, quit his IT job as product manager to pursue a career in civil services. Cracking JEE and CAT exams gave me confidence, said Baskar who prepared on his own. Maths was his optional subject. “It is my second attempt. I want to join Indian Foreign Service,” the TN topper from Madurai said.
Hailing from Nagamalai Pudukottai in Madurai district he did his schooling and completed higher education in various states as his father S P Baskar, 57, was a central government employee.
Saranya R from Karaikkal who got 36th rank said she prefers Indian Administrative Service. The engineering graduate prepared for civil services for four years and it was her third interview. “I want to work for rural development and youth welfare,” she said.
Ishwarya R, civil engineering graduate from Anna University, had cracked the exam in her first attempt with 630th rank and got Indian Railway Accounts Service. In her second attempt she secured 47th rank. Hailing from a village near Cuddalore, she said she would focus for women’s empowerment.
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