By Mirza Mosaraf Hossain, TwoCircles.net
West Bengal: The son of a day labourer, Dilbar Hossain, is among the 19 Muslim candidates out of the total 94 enlisted candidates selected for appointment for the post of Joint Block Development Officer under the Department of Panchayats & Rural Development in the West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) examination, Group C. The results were published on the 4 September, nearly more than two and a half years after the completion of the preliminary exams.
The Preliminary Exam was held in January 2018 and the main exam was conducted in August 2018. The total of 94 selected candidates is empaneled in the six distinct departments of the State administration. Whereas, the Department of Panchayats & Rural Development has the enlistment of 9 Muslim candidates out of the total selected 47 candidates for the posts of Joint B.D.O; the rest of the five distinct departments have comparatively low participation of the Muslim candidates in terms of the total number of the candidates selected in each department.
For example, the Finance (Revenue) Department has a list of total 16 selected candidates in which only three of them are Muslims to be appointed as Assistant Commercial Tax Officers, four Muslim candidates out of the total 15 enlisted to be appointed as West Bengal Subordinate Land Revenue Service, Grade-I Officers in the Land & Land Reforms & Refugee, Relief & Rehabilitation Department; two out of the total 12 candidates in the Consumer Affairs Department.
Abdul Samir Mondal is among the three candidates selected for appointment to the post of Superintendent, District Correctional Home/Deputy Superintendent, Central Correctional Home in the Department of Correctional Administration. There is no Muslim candidate selected for the post of Chief Controller of Correctional Services under the Department of Correctional Administration.
Out of the total 19 candidates, there are only three female candidates selected in this list. Whereas Kahekashan Parveen is selected as Joint BDO under the general category, Sahina Khatun is selected as Land Revenue Officer under the OBC reserved category with a physically handicapped-low vision disability. Another female candidate, Merina Yasmin, is selected as Deputy Assistant Director of Consumer Affairs & Fair Business Practices under the Consumer Affairs Department in the OBC reserved category.
Dilbar Hossain, who hails from Kushabaria village of Murshidabad’s Domkal block, 190 km away from Kolkata, has been declared to be joining as a Joint BDO through this result. This was his third interview after 2016 and 2017 interviews for the same civil state civil services examinations. But for someone belonging to a poor family in an undeveloped locality like him, the journey to reach this doom was never so easy for him.
He is the only graduate in his family and the first generation learner.
His father, now 55 years old, a day labourer in a bag shop in another block, Beldanga, with a monthly humble income, never disheartened him for the expenses of his studies, rather always stood by him encouraging him, inspiring him to focus on his studies to do something better in life. His elder brother who works as a mason also stood by him in his studies by financial help.
Indeed, his success has sprinkled rays of betterment into his family and all are very happy with his achievements. A B.Sc degree holder in Mathematics from the nearby K.N College at Berhampore in 2014, Dilbar shared some of the worst times he has been through. “Though I had targeted State civil service exams to opt for a career just after graduation, the journey was always very cruel and difficult. Financial scarcity on the one hand and depression, mental instability at the success of my friends of Al Ameen Mission who became doctors, engineers just after the completion of their degrees made me anxious. At last, the Almighty brought that day to me and my family and we all are very happy at it,” he said.
He added that Monirul Islam, the head of a civil service study centre, namely VOICE, situated in Kolkata, helped him a lot and without whom he would not have been successful. He now aspires to be an executive officer under the Group A category of the State civil service to motivate the underprivileged children, especially from his locality, to join administrative jobs which his locality lacks.
Rakibul Islam, who hails from Sekhalipara village of Murshidabad district’s Domkal block, is empanelled as Land Revenue Officer under the Land & Land Reforms & Refugee, Relief & Rehabilitation Department in the OBC reserved category. The father of a 2.5 years old son is very happy with this success. While speaking to TwoCircles.net, he said, “I have been preparing since April 2017, but was not called for the interview. But my family, my wife always stood by me by providing mental support whenever I got depressed. This success has been made possible only because of them. Now we are happy”.
He further said that he took guidance from a local study centre of his area, namely Inspirational Study Centre, and he was immensely supported by the head of the Centre, Anuttam Karmakar, and one Humayun Kabir who helped him during the preparation of the said exams.
Sahina Khatun, with low vision disability, hailing from Laghosha village in Birbhum district’s Labour block, approx 200 km away from Kolkata, got selected as a Land Revenue Officer.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, she said, “My father always wanted me to become a civil servant from my childhood which I dreamt since then. He is a farmer but he held a graduate degree in Commerce. I always wanted to fulfil his dreams and today I have done that I can say.”
He added that if a struggler sticks to his or her work with patience, they will see success in life.
According to the merit lists after the Preliminary exam published by the recruiting authority, the West Bengal Public Service Commission, the total 11036 candidates cracked the Preliminary exam and secured their chance to sit for the main exam and only 203 of them were called for the interview which was held between February and March of this year.
Among the total candidates called for the interview, 50 Muslim candidates in the lists appeared for the personality tests. This clearly shows that the participation of the Muslim students in the administrative departments of the State is not proportionately satisfactory and it needs to be addressed consciously with extra consideration by the concerned people, NGOs, and by large the students need to be inspired to go for administrative jobs.
The participation of the Muslim female candidates in the civil services exams is also negligible and this too has to be dealt with accordingly to eradicate the proportionate difference.