Who is 24-year-old Shubham Kumar, topper of UPSC Civil Services Exam 2020?

Shubham Kumar, a Katihar native, has made his district and state proud by acing the most coveted Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination, 2020. Shubham, who holds a B.Tech in civil engineering from IIT Bombay, was taking his third attempt at the test. He was ranked 268 in 2019.

Shubham, the son of Devanad Singh and Punam Devi of Kumhari village in Kadwa, one of Bihar’s worst flood-affected districts, began his basic education at Kumhari and then transferred to Vidya Vihar Residential School, Parora in Purnia, where he completed his tenth grade in 2012.

Later, in 2014, he completed his XII at Chinmaya Vidyalaya Bokaro in Jharkhand. He cleared IIT with 219th rank and was admitted to IIT Bombay, graduating with honours in B.Tech. He picked anthropology as an optional subject In the UPSC examination.

Shubham’s father, a Gramin Bank employee in Uttar Bihar, said: ‘His aim was to clear IAS from the very beginning and hence he never gave up and even after 290th rank he continued to prepare and today he made all of us proud. I got the news through my son who called me from Delhi to inform me about the result.’

Talking about the achievement, Subham said his ambition of becoming an IAS officer and serving the poor has come true. His primary concerns would be the development of communities, employment generation and the reduction of poverty in rural regions of the country.

After passing the civil services test in 2019, he was selected for the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS). Kumar did not pass the 2018 test on his first attempt. The 24-year-old Kumar is presently enrolled in the National Academy of Defence Financial Management (NADFM) in Pune for training.

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Shubham’s elder sister works as a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). He said his father helped him a lot while studying for the exam, motivating and helping him maintain a positive attitude.

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, congratulated Shubham Kumar on his victory and stated that he has made not only his home district but the whole state of Bihar proud.