Jul 3, 2020

What did the field of Civil Services mean to the starry-eyed youth of Kashmir Educational Initiative (KEI)? Rasikh Altaf Bhat said, “I was awestruck to see the interview of Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah (IAS), Deputy Commissioner of Pulwama District. He had the power to bring about a positive change in society. I wish I could have that power too. Especially, since there had not been a single person joining the Civil Services department from my neighbourhood!” Nida Tariq explained, “I wish to follow the footsteps of Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar, a medical doctor and an IAS officer and Kashmir’s only woman Deputy Commissioner from District Budgam. I’ll become an IAS officer after completing my MBBS and help the under-privileged youth find jobs and make better health facilities for women.” And then, on 3rd July, more than 100 eager scholars of KEI gathered on a virtual platform to learn from and interact with Dr Sheikh Khursheed Ul Islam, the Associate Professor, Institute of Management and Rural Development about the scope of a career in Civil Services! Dr Khursheed opened the discussion on an encouraging note that all graduates from the age of 21- 32 years irrespective of their academic backgrounds were eligible to apply to the Civil Services. He shed light on the glittering perks of belonging to the world of Civil Services- from staying in lavish bungalows to monetary allowances to round the clock supporting staff to medical privileges and official trips around the world. He also elaborated on the Post Retirement work scope of the Civil servants- from becoming Ambassadors to serving as Chairpersons of Constitutional Bodies like UPSC. As dignified bridges between the public and the government, Dr Khursheed emphasized that the civil servants were in a privileged position to influence key decision making at highest state and national level. He spoke about the different types of Civil Services- like that of the Foreign (IFS), Police (IPS), Revenue (IRS), Railways (IRS), Forest (IFS) and so on and what they entailed. He added that it was the Interview round during the Examination process that would determine the service allocation. Giving the examples of the renowned Civil Servants who hailed from the Kashmir Valley region, Dr Khurshid listed down some of the key attributes of these personalities- that they were all intelligent, hard-working, great all-rounders with interest in various subject matters and a strong hold on more than one language (in addition to their own native tongue). He then went on to guide the youth on the various stages of the exam preparation for the IAS: the Prelims, Mains and the Interview, mentioning the required cut-offs at each stage, the qualifying percentage of the candidates and the study material and topics essential at each step. As a trainer to several students, some of whom had been selected as noted officers in different parts of the country, Dr Khurshid motivated the youth to give the Written Exams in their own mother tongues, including Urdu, Kashmiri and Hindi. Piquing the interest and the general knowledge quotient of the young audience, Dr Khurshid went on to show the pictures of the various Civil Servants from Jammu and Kashmir as well as the other parts of India. Clearly, the enthusiastic audience had already done their homework, as most of the could guess the names of the various Civil Service dignitaries from Hardeep Singh Puri (ex-IFS and current Civil Aviation Minister of India and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs) to Yasin Choudhary (SDM, Mahore and Dharmari Sub-Divisions of Jammu and Kashmir). In the end, while addressing the queries of the future Civil Service aspirants, he encouraged the Scholars to be open to working in states as well for effective running of the country. Dr Khurshid, who has previously trained youth hailing from different districts of Kashmir, including Kupwara, Poonch, Shopian, etc, from Government and Private schools stressed on the importance of coaching. In spite of the shortage of coaching centres, he motivated the youth to visit the Kashmir Administrative Service officers in every tehsil and mohalla and request them for guidance. He provided them with an additional option of going to the national capital, Delhi and enrolling oneself in a coaching centre to prepare better for the Exams. It was certainly a treat for the KEI Scholars when Dr Khurshid agreed to volunteer his services to aid the students for their Civil Services exam preparation journey in future. “Who knows?”, as he told the Scholars, “It might be one of your faces adorning my Civil Servants PPT Gallery that I might be showing to new aspirants, a few years down the line!” and the Scholars cheered in delight!