A constellation of the senior-most officials of the Bengal bureaucracy attended the inauguration of the training course for the 2022 UPSC civil services examination. From the chief secretary and the immediate past chief secretary to the police commissioners of Kolkata and Bidhannagar, along with a host of principal secretaries of various departments, were there to welcome and encourage the 200 aspirants who have been selected to get trained at the Satyendranath Tagore Civil Services Study Centre, housed at the Administrative Training Institute in FC Block, to clear what some of the speakers described as one of the toughest selection processes in the world.
Though the centre has been running since 2014, 2021 saw additional budget being allocated for it and retired director general of police Surajit Kar Purkayastha being assigned to lead the training.
At the programme at the Bidyut Bhavan auditorium, it was announced that the centre had tied up with Shankar IAS Academy and Khan Study Group, two private coaching centres known for guidance in all India civil services selections.
“Teachers from Shankar and Khan will fly in from Chennai and Delhi respectively, bringing their study material for our students,” said Rajanvir Singh Kapur, an IAS of the 2012 batch, who was course director of the centre and member-secretary, Centre for Excellence in Public Management (CEPM), till December 31.
Chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi pointed out that the course was a highly subsidised one. “We spend over a lakh for each student while the tuition fees are Rs 1,000 per month for general category students and Rs 500 per month for scheduled castes and tribes. There is a committee to look into the case if a student cannot pay even that much. Meritorious students from outside Calcutta can apply for accommodation at the hostel of the Administrative Training Institute (ATI),” he said.
The centre had organised an online crash course to prepare examinees who were to appear in the Prelims examination for 2021, “Of them, 24 candidates have cleared the Prelims to sit in the Mains which will take place in January,” said centre chairman Kar Purkayastha, who described the centre as a unique initiative by the government which can compare with any national level coaching facility. “You do not have to go to Delhi for UPSC exam coaching any more,” he said.
He debunked some of the myths that discourage civil service aspirants in Bengal. “Do not think that if you are not adept in English you are at a disadvantage. This is a marathon race but the last lap will be a 100m dash. The journey is like a pyramid. There are reservations at various stages. The closer you reach to the top, the tougher will the competition be,” he said.
Former chief secretary and ATI director-general Alapan Bandyopadhyay placed the centre’s foundation in perspective. “The centre has been named after the first Indian ICS (Imperial Civic Service) Satyendranath Tagore, Rabindranath’s elder brother. There was a time when Bengalis dominated the IAS cadre. Then with the rise of far left movements like Naxalism, our youngsters started turning away from civil services. School service commission or banking became preferred jobs. Every year, there are nine vacancies for IAS recruits in Bengal of which the rule demands one-third to be filled by officers from Bengal. But things have come to such a pass that we find it difficult to find even three local officers. This leads to the service lacking local connect,” he said.
As a journalist preparing for the civil service entrance, he remembered spending Rs 750 on books for general studies. “Then a friend bought Rao’s Study Circle correspondence course material for Rs 3,000. I was delighted to get some notes from him,” he said, underlining that it was the government that would now be spending to provide them the best intellectual inputs.
Priyanka Singh and Avinash, IAS and IPS recruits respectively from the 2019 batch, also addressed the new batch. “I got demotivated after missing out in the interview round in 2016, so much so that I could not clear the prelims in 2017. So in 2018, I put all my energy as if it was my first attempt and succeeded. Not losing focus is a key to success,” Singh said.
The chief secretary said the government would raise awareness among the youth in the districts about a career in civil services. “Do not decide one morning after completing post-graduation that you want to sit for UPSC. You might find that your subject of choice for graduation is not promising in the exam. Students should decide right after passing Class X or XII if they want to try for IAS,” he said.
Recent recruits in various cadres of the civil services also answered questions from the aspirants.