Success story of ANJANEYULU DODDE, IAS 2010 Topper
ANJANEYULU DODDE, IAS Topper
While
a sect of pessimists scream that humanity is dying, another sect of
optimists defy vehemently, paving a pathway themselves. One such
optimist is Anjaneyulu, whom we can proudly call 'Telugu Bidda' (the son
of Telugu). Born into a poor household, with father working as a
watchman and yet nurturing high values, was no mean task. His father had
lofty ideals and was steeped in social welfare in Jammikunta in
Telangana. Anjaneyulu is proud to say he imbibed human values, and saw
life from close quarters through his father's eyes. His father was not
just a bread winner, but a path breaker in his way as he condemned
injustice in any form and strived for his community's welfare Says
Anjaneyulu, serving the needy is not just a rich man's job or duty or
obligation but of everyone who owes himself responsible towards this
planet. This prologue is clear enough to say he is certainly the
'Collector material'.
To a very clichéd question 'what drove
you to pursue CSAT' Anjaneyulu comes up with an unconventional answer
that stuns everyone. "I studied in a vernacular medium Government school
till Class 5 and moved to private English medium school from 6th
onwards. Throughout my schooling, one fact became more and more evident
with time, that English speaking students had a confidence and edge over
the vernacular students and this impacted their (vernacular students')
personality in a huge way, though they had fair idea of what was
happening in academics, their communications philosophical question
moved him to the next phase of his life, CSAT.
His planning
and preparation was meticulous, stress-free and to-the-point, never
burdening himself with excess load or getting worked up looking at his
peer, he moved on gracefully.
Bio-data at a glance -
Primary education was with Government school, Telugu medium. Studied at
Kakatiya High School in Telugu medium from Class 5 to 10 and in Class
X, became the Mandal Topper and got Pratibha Scholarship, AP Govt.Did
Polytechnic in NIT Warangal and stood 6th in the E-CET State Board Exam.
Did CS Engineering in Vasavi College, in 2005, and Worked in a software
firm for two years from 2005-2007, lost his father the same year, which
drove him to fulfill his father's last wish, to become a
collector.Father was a great inspiration for him to get involved deeply
with society and its welfare. He started seeing the value of service
beyond the life of comforts he was leading. Being an engineer, he was
refused selection in campus placement, the only reason being lack of
communication skills.
How does he speak so fluently now? After taking a three-month crash course in Spoken English. He could clearly perceive the problem
isn't
just with him but with all those who come from rural areas. Then he
decided to empower the students with English speaking skills, though he
asks this question with certain anguish, "What is wrong with Telugu? Why
don't we promote our mother tongue and disqualify a person just because
he cannot articulate in English/ in the same breath we are talking
about 'bhaashabhimanam (love for the language), how can you justify the
two?" Ultimately learning or pursuing Telugu will not fetch you a good
job. At this point, I firmly decided to become collector and reach out
to all those who are longing for a direction in career. It was then that
I decided to move to Delhi to prepare, with the support and love of all
my well-wishers and friends'. I was sure Public Administration (PA) and
Sociology would help me achieve my goal and I opted for those. PA is
very interesting and opens up a whole new aspect of practical issues one
would face as an administrator. It is analytical and thoughtbased. It
requires thinking and problem solving skills which makes it more
interesting.
What is the pre-requisite to get into CSAT? One
needs to have sound general awareness,read extensively, over a period
of time, which is one to one-and-a-half-year. In fact it is mandatory
for one to be in a pre-preparatory phase before going for the first
attempt. I started my preparation while I was working even before I quit
and went to Delhi for full time coaching. I took my coaching in Vajiram
and Ravi in Delhi for three years. But they will only guide you how to
go about it, you cannot rely completely on coaching centers for success,
be it IAS or EAMCET. There is no short cut to success. I tell this to
my students where I am working as a visiting lecturer in a Law Institute
at Hyderabad. Students especially in AP expect a lot from teachers and
tutorial centers, which is not going to materialize. I would like to
reiterate that it is SMART WORK THAT PAYS OFF NOT HARDWORK. Many
aspirants tell me they study for 16-18 hours and still cannot clear the
exam, which is ridiculous, they try to use their mind as a store-house
and not a thinking machine, one cannot keep loading it with unnecessary
information, and it's tiring for the brain. Civil Services offer lot of
material/ content, its up to your discretion what you are going to take
and what you discard, it's certainly a smart choice. This discrimination
comes gradually from the mentor's guidance and experience . It's very
important to observe previous years question papers. For example, the
trickiest part is the paper pattern; earlier papers had fixed marking
scheme, like 5, 10, 20 or 30 or any number, now it's a total surprise to
the students. Even the nature of questions is highly analytical. For
example, there are some in depth, analytical and intelligent questions
on foreign relations which only an IFS person can answer. One has to
read and assimilate the essence of analytical reading, like editorials
in newspapers, not just scan through the paper for headlines and sports
news. This brings in speculation, comparison, understanding of different
viewpoints and broader understanding of current events. This is a
longterm process. I used to extensively read The Hindu and Indian
Express. I read Telugu newspapers only when I went for interview. Be it
PA or Sociology, the CSAT approach is practical based. For example, when
they are talking about women's issues in Sociology, they ask you how
really are it applicable to the Indian rural women. So reading alone
doesn't help here, one has to be aware of the actual happening of
things.
Is it true that one must have a great vocabulary and diction to write essays?Not
necessarily, one needs to have a simple structurally and grammatically
correct sentences, in depth thought and honest expression, this will
impress the reader.Is there any option for people who cannot express
well in English? Yes, there is a choice of writing in any one of the 24
language list provided by the Board.
What after Mains?This
year the pattern has changed, earlier there was an optional and a main
subject. Out of 4 lakh people appearing for Prelims they select only
10,000. One can appear 4 times, and the age limit is 29 years (when you
sit for Prelims).One has objective type and one compulsory essay. This
time my essay was on tribals.Fortunately, I studied this subject
extensively in Sociology, which helped me. My preparation is certainly
different from the rest; in GeneralStudies my score was more than the
top 20 toppers. I know almost all of them since we have studied
together.
What is General Studies?General
Studies is a cocktail of all subjects which has a blend of general
knowledge, current issues, economy, foreign relations etc. You can be
asked about Indian Economy, Politics, Foreign Relations etc. One tricky
bit which many students don't get is that when the topics are broad and
vague the answers should be fit and precise. This means no beating
around the bush.
What about optional subjects?I
have prepared my own notes which are a fusion of the guide's lectures,
printed and internetsurfed matter, combined with my own understanding. I
do not rely on one note only. Thus for every topic I have one page
notes, be it a 60 marker or less or more. I practiced the knack of
expanding or shrinking the topic as per the requirement. After General
Studies, we would have three days gap which would allow us to prepare
for the optional subject. This is a very crucial period, where I did
several quick revisions.
Would you support group studies?I
don't, because I think it is a waste of time to discuss at that point
where every minute is precious, you do not have the leisure to sit and
ponder and study. Time speeds by. Rather it would be better if one would
like to have group discussions before interview. This is very
constructive, because you tend to argue debate and know other's points
during interviews. This way of studying and preparing built my memory
and helped me a lot to remain grounded.
What according to you is mandatory for an IAS aspirant?First
and foremost requirement is precisions and selective sorting of
material. Next is planning and revision of EVERY TOPIC, I would do this
every day and every week, I had planners, day-wise, week-wise. I would
study the whole week and relax weekends, hanging out with friends or
watching movies, I love movies!!Since the exam and preparation is
tedious, self motivation is a must-do rejuvenator for you. Have basic
language and expression skills.Interview is just and personality test,
your body language, presence of mind, attitude and approach to
life/people is very important. How you express your opinion is very
important, they provoke, instigate you and see if you blow the top or
not! My interview was for 25 minutes, it was like having a
heart-to-heart talk with good old friends, and it was warm and friendly.
I was asked about the declining sex ratio in the country - this is
because of low status of women, I told them we could do two things to
stop it, one is deterrent measure, which we must follow and other is
monitoring. I also insisted on economic empowerment of women, I gave
them the example of Self Help Groups in AP, through Government initiated
DWAKRA.I also insisted education to women was mandatory.Civil society
was another major discussion in the interview and the last question was
my analysis on why Chiranjeevi's party failed.
Whatever
projects we have talked about so far, be it Aadhar, Sarvashikshabhyan
or Self Help,are all government initiatives, is it that you scored your
points here because you were talking high of government projects at the
interview? True that these are all government projects but
they are happening only in certain pockets for an actual change to
become visible it should happen intensely and extensively. For example
in the North East, we hardly see any progress in the living conditions,
neither government nor NGOs seem to be bothered about the poor quality
of living here, people here do not have the technology support to save
their crop—like fruits and flowers. Even tourism can be promoted in a
huge way, there is a technique called Tent Culture, not all tourists can
afford good hotels and motels, we can have tent culture to attract all
kinds of tourists. In fact, I told the officials in the interview that
only one 'ism' can unite people of India and that is Tourism. All other
isms will be splitting the nation—like nationalism, regionalism etc, but
tourism will become the binding thread.
What has been a driving force in your life?Undoubtedly
our economic status, it was a burning zeal to step out of poverty and
taste comforts at least, if not luxuries. I recall Bill gates statement
everyday—"If you are born poor it's not your mistake, but if you die
poor, it certainly is." If you observe CSAT results, one can clearly see
that two types of people get through, one is the economically backward
category like me, and the other is the cream of the society, probably
the kith and kin of IAS, who want to maintain the legacy. This clearly
reflects that the bourgeoisie of this nation is steeped in their own
survival and don't have time to think of service. With this fact, we
concluded the rendezvous, which was inspiring, thought-provoking and
certainly hard-hitting. We could take this as a call for the youth.
Well, let's wait and watch how far this fire in his belly is going to
fuel him! CSAT's - New Look CSAT is expected to come into force from the
Civil Services Examination, 2011. The candidates will appear in two
objective type papers, having special emphasis on testing their
"aptitude for civil services" as well as on "ethical and moral dimension
of decision making". Both these papers — having equal weightage - will
be common to all candidates in place of one common paper (general
awareness) and one optional paper (any particular subject of choice)
under the existing system, which lays greater emphasis on subject
knowledge. As of now, the change will be effective only for the first of
the three stages of the CSE from 2011 onwards. The second and third
stages - CS (Main) Examination and Interview, respectively - will remain
the same till a panel of experts goes into various aspects of the
entire system and submits its report. The proposal to this effect was
sent to PMO last year by UPSC. Officials, familiar with the proposal,
explained that the changes had been suggested by various committees.
Most of the panels had advocated for laying greater emphasis on
"aptitude" of candidates than their subjects' knowledge, arguing that
the specialists or experts of any particular subject may not necessarily
be good civil servants unless they have actual inclination towards it.
An official said: "The new system (CSAT) will also provide a
level-playing field and equity since all candidates will have to attempt
common papers unlike the current format which provides for only one
common paper". Though scaling system is currently used in Preliminary
examination in order to ensure that no candidate who has opted for any
particular optional paper gets any undue advantage because of varying
degree of difficulty of any paper or inherent scorability, the
government has received a number of complaints objecting to the method
on one or the other ground.
