UPSC topper Tejasvi credits ex-top Haryana IAS officer for her career

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, June 1

Tejasvi Rana, who attained an all India rank of 12th in the civil service exam, the result of which was declared yesterday, credits her guest teacher at IIT Kanpur and ex-chief secretary of Haryana Dharam Vir for building her interest in the field.

The 24-year-old told The Tribune here on Thursday that Dharam Vir was a regular resource person at IIT to deliver lectures on public policy and governance.

“Though my father Prof Kuldeep Rana always persuaded me for preparing for civil services but I never took it seriously as a career option. It was during my BS-Economic (Hons), Dharam Vir sir, also an IT Kanpur alumnus, enlightened me about the crucial role of governance in the society. After that I decided to sit for UPSC exam,” she said.

A resident of sector 5 here, Tejasvi had unsuccessfully appeared in UPSC Mains in 2015.

“I was not fully prepared at that time. But then I prepared myself for the challenge and worked hard. A lot of guidance material is available online and I did not feel the need for any other help. I opted to stay away socially and concentrated only on studies,” said eldest of the three siblings.

The topper has been invited by Minister of State for Prime Minister Office (PMO) Dr Jitendra Singh on Friday at New Delhi.

Her father is a professor in the Department of Economics at Kurukshetra University and mother Sarita Rana is an associate professor of commerce at University College here.

The family is receiving endless phone calls from friends, relatives and journalists since last night.

Now, Tejasvi wants to visit Ladakh for vacations.

If given a chance, she would like to work for urban housing solution with a lot of field work.

She is fond of movies and eating food of different states.

“Short movies were my stress buster, which also gave me strength to work in the right direction for social issues,” she said.