Cachar's Vikash Yadav secures All-India Rank of 39 in the UPSC ESE in his second attempt

The Union Service Public Commission (UPSC) has recently published the result of its Engineering Services Examination (ESE) for the year 2020. The ESE is conducted by the UPSC to recruit officers for the services which cater to the technical functions of the Government of India in the field of engineering. In the district of Cachar, Vikash Yadav from the village of Bariknagar has cleared the UPSE ESE by securing an impressive All-India Rank of 39. Vikash did his under-graduation in civil engineering from the Assam Engineering College (AEC) in Guwahati and before that, did his schooling including higher secondary from the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Silchar. This achievement of Vikash Yadav is not just a matter of pride for the Cachar district, but the entire Barak valley as well.

While talking to Barak Bulletin, Vikash Yadav said that for any engineer aspiring to have a career in the core branch, UPSC ESE is the best place to start as it gives the perfect platform to build on your career. “In India, if you’re looking for a job in the government sector as an engineer, SES is the best place to be at the start of your career”, said Vikash, while explaining why he chose to tread this path. After his under-graduation got over in 2017, he went to Delhi to train himself for this mega-test of ESE and there he slogged for 2 years before finally getting through. What’s even more impressive is the fact that it was only his second attempt at this opportunity, where most aspirants spend year after year only in hopes of cracking this competitive test.

Eldest of the three brothers, Vikash’s father works as an engineer in the All-India Radio (AIR), Silchar, meaning he grew up living in the town. One of his younger brothers happens to be a doctor, who is an alumnus of the Silchar Medical College & Hospital (SMCH), and even his father is an alumnus of the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Silchar (NITS). “I always wanted to get through the JEE Mains exam but when that didn’t come to pass, I was heartbroken. But then I cracked the CEE entrance test and managed to get admission to the Civil engineering branch of the AEC, Guwahati. But then I flunked the first-ever examination of my engineering life, i.e, in the 1st exam of the 1st semester. That shattered my morale, and throughout my 4 years of B.Tech journey, I was an average student as I had multiple backlogs and graduated with an ordinary result of 65.8%. I realised quickly that there’s no point in me sitting in the campus placements of my college as my academic record was below par, so I decided to prepare for the UPSC ESE and now finally, the journey seems over.”

Meanwhile, during his struggle years, Vikash also used to offer freelance service of making animation videos with the help of software. And these animation videos were sold to international buyers in foreign currencies through various freelancing platforms. “After my B.Tech got over, as I was still unemployed unlike most of my peers, I started doing freelancing of animation videos for about 6-8 months to survive’, said Vikash about his solo stint as a freelancer.

Currently, Vikash is awaiting his appointment letter which will be signed by the Honourable President of India. Before that, he has to undergo a medical fitness test, after which he’ll get to decide which department, he is interested in joining, from the ones he’s qualified to join according to his ESE rank. The departments in which Vikash is interested in joining according to his priorities are – Central Public Works Department (CPWD), Central Engineering Services (CES) (Roads), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), Indian Defence Service of Engineers (IDSE), Border Roads Organization (BRO), Survey of India (SoI), and Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS). Vikash is expecting to join any of these central departments to serve the nation.

The entire Barak valley as well as all his alma maters are proud of Vikash’s achievement as it has brought a sense of pride among the citizens of this region. As predicated by the evergreen character of Rancho from the hit Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots’ – “Success Ke Peeche Mat Bhaago, Excellence Ka Peecha Karo, Success Jhak Maarke Tumhare Peeche Ayegi”.