Success Story: Man drives Camel cart, his son becomes IPS officer by cracking UPSC

Clearing UPSC exam needs some serious piece of hard work, grit and determination. Students who get started on the path towards achieving their goals always give their heart to pull off something special.

Everyone dreams to clear the Civil Services Exam, but very few are fortunate to crack the exam. Today, we are talking about such a man named Prem Sukh Delu who finally cracked India’s toughest exam UPSC.

The 30-year-old man has achieved something incredible in his life which others can only dream of. Prem Sukh Delu who secured 170 rank in the UPSC Civil Services exam faced difficulties in his career before touching the pinnacle of success.

This is an inspiring story that needs to be told to all those who have failed in an examination and after reading this, it will certainly give you the much-needed boost to perform well even after failures.

Prem Sukh Delu, who belongs to a farmer family in Bikaner district of Rajasthan, is working as an IPS in Amreli, Gujarat cadre. His father used to drive a camel cart and carry the goods of people from one place to another. As far as education is concerned, no member of his family had ever gone to school.

Seeing the financial condition of his family, Prem had understood that education was the only medium through which he could get himself out of this poverty. This was the reason that he paid attention to studies since childhood. He studied till the 10th standard from a government school in his own village.

In a span of six years, this Rajasthan youth became a patwari, a sub-inspector, a jailor, a primary teacher, a college lecturer and also a revenue officer in state government – before he cracked civil services in Hindi medium and became an IPS officer in Gujarat.

He did MA in history and got the first government job of patwari (revenue officer) in 2010. Studying daily for at least five hours, he cracked government exams one after another.

“Education was given utmost importance in our family even as my parents did not pursue formal education. My elder brother, who is a constable with Rajasthan Police, encouraged me to prepare for competitive exams,” recounts Delu.

After becoming a patwari, in the same year, Delu cleared exams for gram sevak and topped the state in the examination for assistant jailor. In 2011, he cleared the exam for primary and secondary teacher. In 2013, two more exams were cracked – first for sub-inspector in Rajasthan Police and then teacher for higher secondary.

“The next year, I cleared B.Ed and also landed a job as a college lecturer after passing NET. But the journey continued – I appeared for state public services and missed state police services by just one position – I got revenue services. But whatever happens, happens for the good. I refused to lose heart and appeared for UPSC in 2015,” Delu said.

“I am fortunate to represent Gujarat Police at such major events in such a short time span,” says Delu, for whom the parade on December 15 was also memorable as he got engaged on the same ground after the parade in presence of senior IPS officers and his proud parents.

Delu, who is known as a ‘progressive’ and sensitive’ police officer as probationer, is happy with being an IPS but is set to take another aim at UPSC for cracking the Indian Administrative Services. “Studying now is difficult though with the demanding job as a police officer.”

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.