Eight Patidar candidates enrolled under Sardardham schemes realise UPSC dream
Sardhardham, headquartered in Ahmedabad, is a charitable trust-run organisation that runs several activities for the community including training Patidar youths to get into the UPSC, the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) and defence services.
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Mitul (AIR-139) and Aniket (right) with AIR of 183 are among the top Patidar candidates. ExpressAmong the 25 candidates from Gujarat who have made it to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) this year, eight candidates are from the Patidar community, enrolled under different schemes of Sardardham in Ahmedabad.
Sardhardham, headquartered in Ahmedabad, is a charitable trust-run organisation that runs several activities for the community including training Patidar youths to get into the UPSC, the Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC) and defence services. It was set up after the massive agitation by the community in 2015. Demands during the protest were upskilling of youth, and ensuring they crack state and central competitive examinations. The agitators had also demanded reservation in education and government jobs for their community. The results for the civil services exams were declared on Tuesday.
“This is the first time ever that eight candidates from Sardardham, which has Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel as the founder trustee, have cleared the UPSC,” Gagjibhai Sutariya, president of Sardardham Vishwa Patidar Samaj, told The Indian Express. A total of 54 candidates cleared the prelims and 13 cleared the mains. In the last two years, six students had made it to the UPSC from Sardardham, he added.
The Patidar organisation has set a target of ensuring that 10,000 candidates are selected in the UPSC, Gujarat Public Service Commission (GPSC), defence services and other administrative services. “So far since 2021, a total of 3,500 candidates have made to different public services. We do not charge anything from the candidates for the training and studies but only for lodging and food. The facility in Ahmedabad has e-library with a capacity of 1,000 students, four hi-tech classrooms with a capacity of 100 each, discussion rooms, four interview rooms with a similar environment of UPSC and GPSC,” said Trikambhai Zalavadiya, vice president of Sardardham. The top three Patel candidates from Sardardham are Mitul (All India Rank 139), Aniket (AIR 183) and Harsh (AIR 392).
It was the third attempt for 26-year-old Mitul. Son of a government primary school teacher, he has been staying in Sardardham’s facility in Delhi’s Nirmal Vihar for the last two years preparing for the civil services. An IIT Kanpur graduate in Physics, Mitul shares about his first encounter with the public services. “I saw my father helping every student after working hours. He helped students in various villages. From him, I learnt that if we help people… we are content,” he told The Indian Express. “In addition to the family support, the financial support from Sardardham — about which I got to know from my cousin who was preparing for the GPSC — has been immense. After exams, I got selected from their first batch in Delhi where my monthly expenses for food, lodging, library facility was only Rs 3,000 per month,” Mitul told The Indian Express.
Aniket Patel, 25, succeeded in his second attempt with an AIR of 183. He is also from Sabarkantha. He completed his five year integrated law degree from Gujarat National Law University in 2022. Since then, he had been preparing for the civil services.
Harsh Patel, 27, shared that he could crack the UPSC only in his fourth attempt. He had been working in a sustainability consultancy in Delhi for the last five months before which, he says, he was preparing for civil services and was enrolled under Sardardham’s facility in Delhi for one year.
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