UPSC TIPS BY NAGPUR CP AMITESH KUMAR!

UPSC Tips by senior IPS & Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar.

By India Input desk

Senior IPS and Addl Director General of Police, Maharashtra Amitesh Kumar shares some key tips for the readers of indiainput.com to make General Studies a real cakewalk.

Q. : Any major challenge that you may recollect from your early days..

AK : Challenges can be opportunities. It is all about making full use of opportunities. I was in eighth standard, studying in a good school in Patna. It was an ICSE school. They suddenly thought of switching over to CBSE. They wanted to make it the first CBSE school in Patna. However, for us, it was a bolt from the blue because, there were no CBSE text books available. There were no CBSE curriculum trained teachers. The students were at a loss and had to suffer. Two years later, my father decided to shift me to a reputed boarding school in Delhi. It was the original premier Delhi Public School at R K Puram. It was a dramatic shift from the comforts of home to a boarding school. I was aged fourteen and in tenth standard. Obviously I took time  adjusting to the new environs. But, I had taken up the challenge. I studied there till twelfth. In retrospect, I think these were the most formative years where I could excel in not just academics but a lot of other extra curricular activities, too. I was given the ‘Scholar Badge’ at the hands of the then HRD minister Shri Madhavrao Scindia. Later, I sent my nephew in 2010 and my son in 2017 to the same school. I am fond of the school till today. Then I went to St. Stephen’s College to do Honors in Economy. It is globally recognised and an iconic institution. The environment was completely different. There were so many opportunities. At one point of time, in the third year,  I was a member of various clubs and societies, the Chief coordinator of the College festival, the secretary of the Shakespeare society for dramatics, the joint secretary of the bridge association, there were so many duties and posts to fulfil. Really a tough task balancing the extra curricular with the academics! It was all about making full use of opportunities. Later I joined DSE, the Delhi School of Economics for my PG.

Q. : When did the thought about UPSC crossed the path..

AK : The main career goal was always the UPSC.. cherished since childhood days.  But, in the first year at DSE, I realised that the heavy academic  commitments at DSE could not go hand in hand with the UPSC preparation. So, I joined the law faculty. At the age of twenty three, luckily, I got through the civil services in the first attempt and joined the  Police training. Later on, my interest in law persisted and I finished LLB, followed by LLM in Constitutional law and PG Dip. in Cyber law.  I have continued to gain, from the field of law, knowledge that helps us directly connect with the responsibilities as a Police officer.

Q. : Any particular word of advice for the aspiring UPSCians..

AK : Yeah. Though, I did my civil services more than twenty five years ago..recently, my nephew also got through the civil services and has joined the police services. He is presently posted in J and K. So, I am abreast  with the preparations and I would only say that the key today is the General Studies preparation for the prelims. That is the key, because, one has to ensure that the prelims is a cake walk. And that’s how they would be able to concentrate on the Mains preparation. It is a widespread vast portion of knowledge to be acquired. So one has to go back to the NCERT books from the standard sixth till standard twelfth. And the static GS issues like History, Economics, Polity, Geography etc that one has to be totally sure about. So, it is basically a thorough six month focussed, committed preparation without any of the distractions. One has to be off mobile phones which is a very very major distraction. You ought to be off social media, too. No distractions. One has to use the internet only to be abreast of the current developments. One has to read good English newspapers and magazines. The Government of India publications like Yojana and Economic Survey. So, its a six month preparation. If you get deep into the preparations, it can be a cakewalk.

CHALLENGES GIVE YOU COMPANY..!
Says Nagpur CP Amitesh Kumar.