Shopkeeper’s son from Latur cracks UPSC in 2nd attempt, says 'time to pay back society'

Rameshwar Sudhakar Sabbanwad has secured 202nd rank in the UPSC exams

Rameshwar Sudhakar Sabbanwad, a shopkeeper's son from Latur in Maharashtra, has secured 202nd rank in the UPSC exams.

A first-generation learner in his family, Sabbanwad proudly says, "I will be the first officer in my entire family. My father is a shopkeeper and my mother a homemaker. My parents are happy that their child will soon be an officer." A resident of Handarguli village in Udgir tehsil of Latur, the 26-year-old did his schooling will help of scholarships from the Jawahar Navoday Vidyalay in Latur and is a civil engineering graduate from a government college in Pune.

While Sabbanwad never dreamt of becoming an officer, his life experiences growing up in a rural setting inspired him to appear for the civil services exam. He now aims to work in the education and health sectors. Speaking of his stint working in the private sector as an engineer for a few years, Sabbanwad says," I felt like I was not contributing much in that profession. I always had a passion to be a teacher. I quit my private sector job and started taking personal coaching classes. Besides this, on weekends I used to go to ashram schools in rural Pune districts to teach marginalised students. The disparity in the education sector in the rural and urban areas inspired me to take up a profession which would help students."

Narrating another incident, the Latur-based boy says, "We all are aware of the condition of health facilities in rural areas. Once I was admitted to an ICU because of low blood platelet count. I was shifted to three different hospitals due to a lack of facilities. This incident too made me realise that we need to be part of the system if we need to change it."

According to Sabbanwad, he cracked the UPSC exam in his second attempt. "I had decided to try my luck in three to four attempts. While in the first attempt I was able to make it to the interview round, I am happy that I managed to clear the exam this year. I am excited for a new chapter in my life."

Speaking about his study preparations, he says, "Covid lockdown helped me study peacefully. Sometimes there was a lot of anxiety due to the uncertain timetable of the exams, but we all overcame it."