24 year old Aranyak Saikia has won the heart of entire Assam with his brilliant performance in the UPSC 2017. The young boy secured All Indian ranking 148 in the examination. Aranyak is the son of the newly appointed DGP of Assam, Kuladhar Saikia. What makes his achievement even more commendable is the fact that he cracked the examination at the first attempt without any coaching assistance.
Aranyak comes from a family where both the parents are in the civil services. His father is in the Indian Police Service and his mother works with the Indian Railway Traffic Service.
Aranyak is a student of Economics background. Having studied Economics, he realised the problems prevailing in the country and the contribution that a civil servant can make to rectify them. What motivated him was the fact that the services provide ample opportunities to establish regular contacts with people from diverse backgrounds. He continued his academics while preparing for the examination.
For Aranyak, the examination was a 'tough' one. According to the rank holder, one does not only have to know about the current affairs but also needs to have a thorough understanding of History, Politics, Geography, International Relations, Economics etc simultaneously. Having said that, he also feels that aspirants from any background can clear the examination. He suggests that aspirants can have a good preparation for the examination with the help of the resources that are available on the internet. "I personally don't think coaching is a must. I did not take any coaching and relied on the study materials which were available online," he added.
Speaking about the examination, he said that the exam is designed for candidates of all backgrounds. However, he finds that the examination is more favourable to candidates belonging to the social science and humanities background, given the extensive focus of the syllabus on various subjects.
Although every stage is difficult, he considers the Prelims to be the most uncertain stage. One has to make several intelligent guesses and this is also the stage where nearly 97% of the candidates are eliminated. The interview stage is relatively subjective. But even in this stage, the subjectivity is fairly limited as the interview board consists of experts who are very conversant in these matters.
He considers his parents, teachers, and friends to be his biggest inspirations. For him, hard work, perseverance and dedication were the keys to the achievement.
When asked about his future goals and the contribution he'd like to make for the people of Assam, he said, "I would love to work in Assam and for the people here. With time, I will want to learn about the people and their problems and try my best to solve them."
