Major from Corps of Signals clears civil services exam

“I got 749 rank and expect to be assigned one of the revenue services. This was my second attempt at the examination as the first time I appeared just to get a feel of what it entailed,” Major Abhinandan told The Indian Express. The young Army officer has followed in the footsteps of Lt Col Amol Awate of the Brigade of the Guards who cracked the Civil Services Examination 2021 achieving 678 rank and is now in the Indian Administrative Service in the Gujarat Cadre.

Lt Col Awate had cleared the examination after putting in 20 years of service in the Army.

Major Abhinandan had joined the Army on the technical graduates course after completing his engineering degree from a government engineering college in Jammu. “I did my engineering in electronics and communications and when I joined the Army, I was commissioned in the Corps of Signals,” he said, adding that his first posting was in 4 Corps Operating Signal Regiment in the North east.

The officer says he was posted in a Signals unit in Rajasthan at a remote location while appearing in the exam and got ample time to study. “My senior officers supported me as much as they could and I did not face any problem in preparing or appearing for the examination,” he said.

Major Abhinandan said he had opted for Psychology as his optional subject in the main examination. Both his parents are educators with his father having recently retired from government service while his mother is still teaching in a government school. He has two elder siblings, a brother and a sister.

On being asked how it felt to leave the Army for civil services, Major Abhinandan said Army was his first choice but he had been downgraded as a medical category very early in his career. “I suffered an injury while I was undergoing the Young Officer’s course and this problem continued all through my service. This would have limited my promotional avenues after a certain rank,” he said.

When asked if there were many other officers in the Army who were preparing for the civil services, Abhinandan said there may be some short service commissioned officers who would be doing so but he is not aware about many permanent commission officers attempting the examination.

The ‘Akhnoor boy’ does not wish to rest on his laurels and wants to attempt the civil services examination once again to improve his ranking and aim for the IAS.

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