Inspiring Story: 12th failed student cracks UPSC, become IPS officer in Maharashtra, check out who he is

Life was bad! No, it was terrible for Manoj Sharma. He lived a frugal life in his early youth days and he couldn’t even afford daily meals and he couldn’t sleep properly. He slept on roads alongside beggars and his life took a dramatic turn.

In what appeared straight out of a cinema story, he defied all odds and managed to clear IPS. Yes, you read it right! The man who once slept on roads alongside beggars has managed to find a way to clear IPS.

The life story of IPS Manoj Sharma, who is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Maharashtra Cadre, is one that needs to be told to inspire youths of the nation.

As per new book in Hindi titled “12th Fail”, which is based on the true story of Sharma by his friend Anurag Pathak. The IPS officer was born in a small village “BILGRAM” in Morena district, Madhya Pradesh.

Talking about his story, Manoj used to pass exams from cheating till 11th. He even passed 10th with 3rd division with the help of cheating. Manoj did manage to pass the examination for the 9th, 10th and 11th standards somehow with very low marks. He was not cut above the rest of other students as he always secured third division in all three examinations. But to his dismay, the man could not manage to clear the class 12 examination.

But in 12th board exam, strict rules were being followed and there was no way of cheating during the exam. This time the SP of ‘Morena’ himself reached the center for checking. The SP “Dushyant Kumar” was very strict and did not allow any type of cheating at the center during the 12th board exam. 

Due to the strictness and unable to cheat, when the result was announced, many students including Manoj failed the Class 12 board exam. He could not score the passing marks in any of subjects except Hindi as he liked to read Hindi literature.

Manoj was shocked with the result as he could not believe that he failed. The situation had gone from bad to worse when the people of his village started telling him that he could not do anything in his life. Listening to the talks of people about him, he also started believing that he is of no use.

However, the decision of the SDM to prevent cheating left a long-lasting impression on him. It was when he started to think and wonder who was this powerful man and so his journey started as he decided that he too would become an SDM one day.

He proceeded further by moving to Gwalior with a bag and there was no turning back since then. Well, he did not even have money and he had no other choice but to sleep with the beggars on the pavement could not even afford meals daily.

He soon found a job of librarian-cum-peon and the library turned out to be a life-changing experience as it opened a wide range of ideas before him. He started reading the works of Abraham Lincoln and other great personalities from around the world.

Manoj then came to the national capital where he started to take pet dogs for daily walks and earned roughly about Rs 400 for each dog which he took out for walks. He made regular attempts to clear the civil services examinations and had even cracked the preliminary examinations in his maiden attempt.

He had even recalled that he told his girlfriend that if she supported him, he would turn things around and accomplish the feat he was following so passionately. He then cracked the IPS in his fourth attempt.

Writer, historian, and activist Dharam Sikarwar is a very active author The Youth. He writes on national and international issues, environment, politics. He is an avid book reader as well.