IRS officer Pradeep Singh tops Civil Services Exam 2019

New Delhi : IRS officer Pradeep Singh tops the list of 829 candidates who have qualified for the prestigious Civil Services, including the IAS, the IPS and the IFS, the Union Public Service Commission announced on Tuesday.

The top three rank holders -- Singh, Jatin Kishore and Pratibha Verma -- are serving officers. Singh is a resident of Haryana, while Kishore hails from Delhi and Verma from Uttar Pradesh.

"It is like a dream come true. It is a pleasant surprise for me. I always wanted to be an IAS officer. I would like to work for the deprived sections of society," Singh told PTI on phone from his home in Sonipat.

Twenty-nine-year-old Singh, a 2019-batch Indian Revenue Service (customs and central excise) officer, is undergoing probation at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics (NACIN) in Faridabad.

He said his main emphasis would be on improving education and farm sectors as he has become part of the most sought-after Indian Administrative Service.

"I have opted for my home state Haryana as the preferred cadre state for the IAS. I am happy that I will now get the chance to work for my state," said Singh, who had taken leave to prepare for the examination.

Second-rank holder Kishore is a 2018-batch officer of Indian Economic Service (IES) and currently posted as Assistant Director in the Ministry of Rural Development here. "It was my second attempt in the civil services examination. I am happy to have got second rank," he told PTI.

Kishore, aged 26, said education and environment would be his focused areas. He is a native of Delhi. Verma, an officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax), said she wanted to become an IAS officer since her childhood.

"I was inspired by the way IAS officers act as the first responder at the time of any crisis. They are always on the frontline at the time of difficult situation.

That is why I decided to prepare again for the exam (after getting selected in the IRS)," she said. Verma had got 489 rank in the civil services exam 2018.