By The Editor
The road to success is never easy nor smooth but hard and rough. Only those who are strong in mind and determined to overcome the obstacles no matter what will succeed and ultimately reap the sweet fruits of success. It has often been remarked that just when success is within reach then that is the moment the difficulties are the greatest. Only those who persevere and struggle against all odds will achieve their goal and that is the occasion when all their pains and hardships will disappear into oblivion. William Arthur Ward said: “Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end street”. Results of latest Indian civil service exam that came out a few days ago showed that 933 candidates have qualified and the top four ranks have been secured by women. The topper is twenty-six year old Ishita Kishore who cleared the prestigious examination on her third attempt. She persisted in her efforts with encouragement from her family and for her success she openly expressed her gratitude to them.
Hailing from Greater Noida she graduated in Economics (Honours) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. She was a national-level football player and participated in the Subroto Cup football tournament in 2012. Her father was an Air Force officer, her mother used to teach at a private school and her elder brother is a lawyer. The state of her preference is Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre and her ardent desire is to work for women’s empowerment and uplift of the poor and downtrodden. In last year result also women candidates got top three ranks making it the second year in a row. Civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages- preliminary, main and interview – by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) to select officers of the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel father of civil service in the country addressing the first batch of administrative services referred to civil service servants as country’s steel frame.
In past decades quite a number of Khasi-Jaintia tribal candidates from the region qualified for civil services who had rendered valuable service to the country and one of them J.M Lyngdoh was Chief Election Commissioner of India whose contribution is still fresh in the memory of many. Unfortunately as years passed by it seems that the law of diminishing returns is prevailing which needs to be overturned and overhauled. Speaking at the farewell of the Class of 2020 the soon to be graduating students at Loyola College, Williamnagar on May 23 the state Education Minister Rakkam A. Sangma lamented that the Garo Hills region has so far produced only two IAS officers urging the students to take up the challenge of performing better in future in various fields. Applauding Loyola College for its services in education sector he emphasised that much more is expected from the esteemed institute.