Gujarat girl cracks UPSC 2017, PCS in 2014

UPSC results 2018: Mamtaben Hareshkumar Popat (29) has secured 45th rank in the UPSC final results announced on Wednesday. Being the only candidate to have secured rank in top 100 from Gujarat, she is among the three female candidates who have been successfully recorded their entry in the final list from the state. A total of 20 candidates have been selected in the final list from Gujarat, that includes 3 females and 17 males. Another female candidate from Vadodara Kruti Patel is said to have secured 218 rank. Married to a manager in a MNC in 2011, Mamtaben is currently undergoing her probation period as deputy collector at Vadodara since October 2017.

“I cleared my GPSC in 2014 exam, the result of which was declared in 2017. Since I had time in between the exam and its result, I attempted for UPSC. It is only after my marriage that I started preparing for civil services in the year 2014,” said Mamtaben.

Successful in cracking UPSC in her fifth attempt, she still has another attempt to go. “I am happy with my result and do not think I need to take my last attempt,” she adds. The only child, native of Keshod in Junagadh district, her father is a retired government employee. She shares that she is the first in the family to be joining the civil services. Mamtaben holds an MBA in marketing. She has cleared her UPSC mains in Gujarati medium with Gujarati literature as the subject while she appeared for the interview in English medium.

Among 20 successful candidates, medium of interview of 16 candidates was English and four was Hindi, revealed Dhananjay Dwivedi, the director general of Sardar Patel institute of public administration (SPIPA).

The Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in a tweet congratulated all the successful candidates. Established by the Government of Gujarat in 1962 as the apex training institution of the state, the institute was renamed as Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration in 1974. SPIPA’s Civil Service Study Centre imparts comprehensive training to the youth of Gujarat who aspire to succeed in the competitive UPSC exam and join the civil services.

In the last three years success ratio of SPIPA in UPSC final selection, this year it has been the highest. A total of 133 candidates from SPIPA, while another 55 not registered at the training centre, were able to clear the UPSC prelims from Gujarat. Out of these 188, one from out of 55 and 45 out of these 133 (from SPIPA) had qualified for the interview round, said Dhananjay Dwivedi.