Mr. Himanshu Kaushik’s story of dedication and hard work serves as an inspiring example to those who may feel discouraged due to average grades. His success in the UPSC exam in the first attempt, amongst the top candidates, shows that hard work and determination will always pay off.
Mr. Kaushik is a Delhi resident and has spent the majority of his life in the capital. His family is of middle-class background, with his father being an engineer and his mother a Sanskrit teacher. Himanshu also has a younger brother who is an architect. Emulating his father, Himanshu pursued a science degree with the intention of becoming an engineer.
Mr. Kaushik graduated with a 65% score and two backlogs in 2013. Despite this, he was able to secure a job as a software developer in a private sector company based in Noida, where he worked for two and a half years. Subsequently, he decided to take the offer of a higher salary package at another company.
Despite his average academic performance, Mr. Kaushik considered appearing for civil services due to his strong command of general knowledge and keen observational skills. Unfortunately, Mr. Kaushik was met with discouragement from many people. Nevertheless, he still sought advice from an astrologer, who gave him the same discouraging response.
After resigning from his job, Mr Kaushik committed himself to preparing for the UPSC exam. He joined a coaching centre in Delhi to sharpen his skills, travelling two hours each day to attend classes for six hours. Through his hard work and dedication, he was successful in clearing the prelims exam on the first attempt.
The prelims provided a crucial confidence boost for him as he prepared for the mains and the interview. His mains exam and the interview both went well, and he was elated when he was selected for the exam with AIR 77. Despite being considered an average student, he had defied expectations and achieved a proud moment.
Mr Kaushik was allotted the Andhra Pradesh cadre and successfully completed his training to become an IAS Officer of the 2018 batch. His first posting was as Assistant Collector under training in the West Godavari district and he is currently holding his first individual posting as Sub- Collector and Sub-Magistrate in Amlapuram in the East Godavari district.
