Gaurav Agrawal's (First person from right) new bride hold a family picture.
For the first time in four years, a man has topped the prestigious Civil Services Examination, results for which were declared today.
Gaurav Agrawal is 30-years-old and has a computer science degree from IIT Kanpur and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM Lucknow, where he was a gold medalist.
As news came in that Gaurav had topped, at his home in Jaipur, Rajasthan, his bride, Preeti proudly held up his picture. They were married on June 4.
Three years ago, the topper gave up a corporate career in Hong Kong and came home to give a shot at joining the civil services. In 2012, he sat for the first time for the UPSC exams and got selected in Indian Police Services (IPS) and is currently undergoing training in Hyderabad. This was his second attempt. He got the first rank with Economics as an optional subject.
Munish Sharma and Rachit Raj, both from Delhi, have got the second and third positions respectively.
Women had bagged the top slots in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Civil Services Examinations. This year's woman topper Bharti Dixit, is fifth overall. She is a doctor.
1,122 candidates have been recommended for appointment in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other central services on the basis of the Civil Services Examination, 2013, said a release issued by the Ministry of Personnel.
There are 15 men and 10 women in the top 25. Among them, 24 took the examination in English and one in Kannada.
Nine of them are from an Engineering background, three from Medical Sciences, four from Sciences and nine from Commerce, Humanities and other Social Sciences.
Five of them have made it to the merit list in their first attempt, 11 in the second attempt, seven in the third and two in their fourth attempt.
The Civil Services (preliminary) Examination was held on May 26, 2013. A total of 7,76,565 candidates applied for the examination, out of which 3,23,949 candidates appeared and 14,959 candidates were declared qualified for the main examination, which was held in December, 2013.
3,003 candidates were shortlisted for the personality test which was conducted between April and June.
The Civil Services Examination is conducted in three phases-- preliminary, mains and the interview.