Success Story

Govind spent his childhood in a 12x8 ft rented room shared among his parents and three sisters. But, now at the age of 23 he is expecting to be an IAS officer, still found room for dreams. And the will to realize them. Govind has achieved 48th rank in this year’s civil services results. Born in abject poverty to a rickshaw-puller father, Govind got a head start in life when his father made sure he sent his children to school in Varanasi’s Usmanpura area. But his father Narain Prasad had to stop pulling rickshaws when a leg injury restricted his mobility. He now repairs and rents out rickshaws, earning Rs 5,000 per month. “A large part of what I earned went into educating the children,” he said over the phone. Govind making it to the IAS has made Narain happy, but he can’t grasp what it means. “My father believes one has to bribe his way into a government job and I got one without paying anything,” Govind said. Through school, Govind wanted to appear for the civil services exam but IAS seemed out of reach. And the financial back-up was thin. “So I told myself I had to clear the exam in the first attempt,” he said. And clear it he did. So how does he feel? “I want to tell all those youngsters living in deprivation that anything is possible if they have the will.”