Aditya Srivastava tops civil services exam; Animesh Pradhan, Donuru Ananya Reddy get 2nd, 3rd ranks

New Delhi: Aditya Srivastava, currently training with the Indian Police Service, has emerged as the top scorer in the 2023 civil services examination, as declared by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Tuesday.

Following Srivastava, Animesh Pradhan, Donuru Ananya Reddy, P K Sidharth Ramkumar, and Ruhani have achieved the second, third, fourth, and fifth positions, respectively.

Out of the 1,016 successful candidates—comprising 664 men and 352 women—recommended by the UPSC for various civil services, three of the top five rankers, including Srivastava, Ramkumar, and Ruhani, are undergoing IPS training at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Telangana.

This year marks a notable achievement as it’s the first instance in over ten years that an IPS trainee has clinched the top spot in the civil services exam.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his congratulations to the successful candidates, expressing that their dedication will significantly contribute to the nation’s future. He also encouraged those who did not pass to persevere and explore the myriad of opportunities available in India.

Srivastava, a 27-year-old from Lucknow, holds a BTech in electrical engineering from IIT Kanpur and an MTech degree. He improved his ranking from 236th in the previous year to first place this year, with electrical engineering as his optional subject. His unique interest lies in studying dinosaurs.

Pradhan, 24, overcame personal tragedy, losing both parents in 2015, to secure the second rank with sociology as his optional subject. He is an alumnus of NIT Rourkela with a BTech in computer science. The resident of Talcher town in Odisha’s Angul district is currently an employee of the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) refineries division in Delhi.

Reddy, a 22-year-old from Telangana, graduated from Miranda House, Delhi University, with a BA (Hons) in geography and chose anthropology as her optional subject, securing the third rank.

Ramkumar, 27, from Kerala, holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and ranked fourth with anthropology as his optional subject, improving from 121st rank last year. His hobbies include heritage walks and hatha yoga.

Ruhani, a 28-year-old economics graduate from St Stephens College, Delhi University, and a resident of Gurugram, achieved the fifth rank with economics as her optional subject, moving up from 159th rank in the previous year. Her parents work with the Delhi government as teachers.

The UPSC conducts the civil services examination annually in three phases—preliminary, main, and interview—to select candidates for the IAS, IFS, IPS, and other services. Last year’s preliminary exam was held on May 28. A total of 10,16,850 candidates applied out of which 5,92,141 candidates appeared in the examination.

As many as 14,624 candidates qualified for the written (main) examination, which was held in September 2023. A total of 2,855 candidates qualified for the personality test of the examination.

Of the total 1,016 recommended candidates, 347 are from the general category, 115 are from economically weaker sections, 303 from other backward classes, 165 from Scheduled Castes and 86 from Scheduled Tribes.

The government has reported 1,143 vacancies — 180 in IAS, 37 in IPS, 200 in IPS, 613 posts in different central Group A services and 113 in Group B services — to be filled through the civil services examination 2023, the UPSC said.

As many as 240 candidates have been put on a reserved list, it said, adding that the candidature of 355 recommended candidates has been kept provisional.

Candidates can access their marks on the UPSC website within 15 days of the results announcement. For further information, they can contact the UPSC on working days between 10:00 hours to 17:00 hours in person or over telephone nos. 23385271/23381125/23098543.

Women had got top ranks in the 2021 and 2022 civil services examinations. Shruti Sharma and Ishita Kishore topped the civil services examination in 2021 and 2022 respectively.