After 3 years, a male Civil Services topper

IITian Gaurav Agrawal has topped the Civil Services Examination 2013, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission, reclaiming the top position for men after a gap of three years.

Gaurav, a computer engineer, worked as an investment banker in Hong Kong for four years before returning to pursue Civil Services.

More than 3.23 lakh candidates appeared for the prestigious examination spread over almost a year. Of these, 1,122 candidates, including 261 women and 30 disabled, have been recommended for appointment to the IAS, IFS, IPS and other central services against 1,228 reported vacancies. There are 180 vacancies in IAS, 32 in IFS and 150 in IPS.

The first four ranks were secured by men while the fifth was bagged by a Delhi-based doctor, Bharti Dixit. Besides Bharti, there are nine other women in the top 25.

Gaurav (29), who is from Jaipur, also has a postgraduate diploma in management from IIM, Lucknow. Though he is an engineer, he had chosen Economics as his optional subject for the examination. Last year, he was selected for IPS with a rank of 244. 

“IAS is my first choice. It is a field job. You can meet people, understand their problems and then try to solve them,” Gaurav, who is undergoing training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad, was quoted by agencies as saying. He, however, admitted that he had slipped up after making it to IIT, Kanpur.

“I had failed and my degree had to be extended. That was a lesson for me. I then started focusing on studies,” he said.
Delhi-based biochemistry graduate, Munish Sharma, bagged the second spot while Rachit Raj, also from the national capital, secured the third rank. 

Among the top 25 candidates, 24 took the examination in English while one took it in Kannada. The 25th rank was awarded to Gurudatta Hegde. Moreover, five of the top 25 have made it to the merit list in the first attempt, 11 in the second attempt, 7 in the third and two in the fourth attempt.

The result also showcased a pan-India distribution, with the top 25 hailing from Bihar, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Of the top 25, nine are engineers, three are doctors while four have degrees in the science stream. Nine candidates have studied commerce, humanities and other social sciences.