As a child, he watched his mother roll bidis to feed him and his four siblings, tears of worry welling up in her eyes.

Nabirul Islam, 33, from Mahendrapur village in Murshidabad’s Suti, made his mother Feroza Biwi weep tears of joy when he ranked 15th in the 2020 West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) examination, the results of which were announced on Thursday night.

Nabirul, whose birthday fell on Friday, is the third among four brothers and a sister.

An achiever by any standards, Nabirul works in the Suti-II block administration’s agricultural department as an assistant since 2019, and is a BTech graduate from Jadavpur University. Before that, he passed his Madhyamik and higher secondary exams from the Aurangabad High School in Murshidabad with 78 and 75 per cent, respectively.

But a WBCS rank of 15 is special, said the birthday boy. “I have grown up with only my mother and four siblings, and we had to work hard to make ends meet,” said Nabirul, adding that his father left the family when he was a child. “So this WBCS rank is special.”

“Their father’s departure put us in dire straits. Today Nabirul has been able to emerge from that hardship,” said mother Feroza, smiling through her tears as people gathered to congratulate the family.

Mahendrapur, a remote village, is short on resources. Its economic mainstay is the bidi industry that employs scores like Feroza.

As the news of the WBCS success reached Murshidabad, Nabirul and his mother said they were “overjoyed” considering the bright future that his ranking promised.

“This is the first time a youth from our village entered the state civil services, and that too with such a high rank,” said a neighbour.

Nabirul said he aspired to join the block and district administration.

Sources said that after his training, Nabirul’s first posting could be as the deputy collector in one of Bengal’s districts.

District Trinamul sources said the news of Nabirul’s achievement reached Jangipur MP Khalilur Rahman, who will reportedly felicitate him in Mahendrapur soon.

“He is an example of what youths, even from humble homes, can achieve with hard work,” said Rahman. “Nabirul has made us proud.”