By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net
New Delhi: A boy from a backward district of Deoria in Uttar Pradesh is raised and educated in Arunachal Pradesh. From humble background in the Hindi heartland the boy gets his education – primary to Masters – through English medium in the North-East state where his father is posted as a government school teacher. He moves to Delhi and does M. Phil. and Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University. That boy is Basir Ahmed who has cracked Civil Services Examination 2008 in first attempt.
Ranked 257 among 791 candidates who have cleared UPSC 2008, Basir gives credit for his success to his father who, he says, has been his guiding light all through the years. His bitter experience of difficulties faced by common people at the hand of bureaucrats was the turning point for him to decide to become an IAS.
Basir Ahmed (Rank: 257)
Credit for success: To my father who has been a guiding light for me all through the years.
Inspiration: I take my father as my ideal because he is the most hardworking and honest man. So I got inspiration from him.
Basir Ahmed in his JNU hostel room with the book written by him
Why Civil Services? This is very important not only because it gives a chance for nation building and serving the society but it also makes one to grow. You can contribute a lot by becoming a civil servant because you get a lot of opportunity where you can do better as a bureaucrat. It is the most important medium to serve the society, nation and the self.
State: Deoria, Uttar Pradesh
Education: Primary to Masters in Arunachal Pradesh. My father was posted there as a government teacher. Primary education in a government primary school. Intermediate from a government college in West Kameng district. Graduation and Post-Graduation from Arunachal University in Itanagar. Then moved to Delhi. M. Phil. from Jawaharlal University and pursuing Ph.D. from the same university.
Family: Father is a government teacher, mother homemaker. Two brothers and two sisters. Eldest sister is married and a teacher, the younger doing graduation.
Turning point: I recall a moment when I witnessed the hardship faced by the common people. I had gone to SDM office to get my OBC certificate. To get it I had to do a lot of lobbying and many things. At that time I thought: Why don’t you become a change that you want to bring? Seeing the difficulty of the common I thought I should become a civil servant.
As civil servant your guiding principles: Honesty, integrity, and work for the progress of the country
Message to the youth of Muslim community: Muslim youth can play a very important part in nation building. They constitute a good chunk of the Muslim community. If they decide to come to civil services, a lot can happen.