Farmer’s son tops IAS

Such was the determination and innate desire of Shri Mutyalaraju Revu, who proved his worth and mettle by doing unremitting hard work and withholding unshakable determination.
Born in a farmer’s family, Revu hails from Chinagollapalem village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. His two brothers and father (Narasimha Murty) are farmers at Chinagollapalem village and earn their livelihood by farming. Unlike his two brothers, he possessed a very strong aptitude towards studies and always wanted to excel in it and this fervor was throughout kept alive by his father by supporting him in his every endeavor.
Revu completed his B.Tech from Warangal and thereafter did his masters from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In the year 2003, he got selected in Indian Engineering Services conducted by UPSC and in this capacity he served the department of railways for two years. His confidence increased manifold at his first success by being selected in Indian Engineering Services and this motivated him to achieve more and the best which he had already pre conceived for himself. Fate could not support him in his first attempt in the year 2004 for Civil Services. But his will power and strong determination kept him moving non-stop towards his lofty goals. He then made it in the year 2005, by being selected as an IPS officer under Indian Police Services.
A man of focus, persistent efforts and strong determination could not satiate himself, instead he worked incessantly hard to realize his dreams and finally in the year 2006-07, all his efforts and labor was awarded when he topped the Civil Service Examination which he always dreamt off.

I credit my success to my parents, friends, roommates Vijay Kumar and Srinivasa Rao, senior Lakshmi Narayana. It is the result of hard work, perseverance and well execution of the planning.

When asked in an interview that why he wanted to opt only for civil services, his modest answer says all about him by asserting his true self of selflessly serving the humanity with heart so pure and vision so clear. He thought of qualifying civil services with a motto to empower those villages which are remote and lack the basic amenities and one of them being his own village where he lost his own sister and six of his very close friends.

I come from an island village Chinagollapalem in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. My village lacked transportation, education and even medical facilities. My own sister in December 1995 and six friends of mine in November 2000 died due to lack of transportation and medical facilities. These two incidents changed the course of my career into civil services, as civil services offer wide range of opportunities for overall development of villages like that of mine.

It was then that he took an oath to serve mankind and help those areas which are a total cut from the rest of the country and also are short of basic necessities like proper transportational, educational facilities, health services etc.

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene,
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flow’r is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

But Revu, son of a farmer, proved an exception to the above mentioned lines of Thomas Gray and emerged victorious and triumphant.
Mutyalaraju Revu, an Other Backward Class (OBC) candidate from a small village, has topped the highly competitive civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) at a time when the country debates the issue of reservation for OBCs in higher education.
Revu, 27-year-old, has surpassed 473 successful candidates including 214 general category qualifiers to top the merit list.
According to his uncle Venkanna and Director of Shrirams IAAS (centre wherein he underwent the preparation for IAS), Mr. Shri Rangam Shri Ram, industrious Revu not only possesses furious determination to revolutionize world around him but relentless efforts also to achieve that goal of his. His conviction in selfless service and his clear principles gave him enough courage and confidence and made him do extraordinary.
During the period of his ceaseless efforts, he kept his morale high up by looking up to the toppers of the previously held civil service examination and by reading loads of motivating and enriching books and one of them being Vivekananda. He was and still is a staunch believer of Vivekananda’s one of the sayings, stating – “Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is reached”.
In one of his interviews when asked how to face the final interview for Civil Services, he affirmed that one should always be honest, optimistic and confident. One need not answer all the questions to get a good score but if any answer is not known, one can politely say, ‘I don’t know, Sir’, instead of guessing the answer. One should be cool throughout the interview. He ascertains that an individual can only outshine others when he/she is genuine and true from within and consistent in his/her efforts to achieve the desired goal.
Shackled by circumstances, Revu never stopped his journey to attain his pre-determined goal and his unbreakable conviction and continual hard work made him reach the altitude with a clean attitude.

People come and people go but some make ineffaceable mark on the impressionable minds and Mr. Mutyalaraju Revu is one among them.