By IANS
Jajpur (Orissa) : The son of a poor landless Dalit in Orissa has done his family and village proud by securing 11th position in the latest civil services examination.
Jaladhar Mallick, a resident of Thalakodi village in the coastal Jajpur district, 120 kilometers from state capital Bhubaneswar, lives in a thatched house along with his family. He wanted his son Bishnu Charana Mallick to be a teacher in the village school.
However, his son surpassed his expectations and got selected for the Indian Revenue Service two years ago. Bishnu Charana Mallick is at present posted as assistant income tax commissioner at Nagpur in Maharastra.
He appeared for the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) again this year and was selected for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) out of more than 200,000 aspirants.
"We had very high hopes from him after he got Indian Revenue Service. He is more than what we think of him," Jaladhar Mallick told IANS.
"I had five acres of agricultural land. But I sold most of them to maintain my family and finance the education of my children. I never neglected Bishnu's studies," Jaladhar said.
Bishnu studied at local government schools and graduated from Cuttack's Ravenshaw College. He went on to complete his post graduation and M. Phil in Sociology from New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University.
"My hard labour has borne fruits. These days a large number of IAS aspirants attend coaching classes and pay hefty amount but I never joined any coaching classes. It is also a myth that only English medium students will get the coveted job", Bishnu said.
"We are proud of him," said Anadicharana Patra, a retired teacher of Khananagar M.E. School where Bishnu studied.
"At a time when government schools conjure up images of barren classrooms, poor results and absent teachers, Bishnu has done an amazing turn around by getting the most cherished IAS job", Patra added.
The villagers distributed sweets and celebrated Bishnu's success when he visited his village recently. Some elderly villagers garlanded him.
Talking to the villagers, Bishnu said poverty cannot be a hurdle in the face of determination and hard work, so everyone should pursue his or her dream.