Nine candidates, including three women, from Jammu and Kashmir have qualified the prestigious UPSC Civil Service examination, the results of which were declared yesterday.
The UPSC declared a total of 1,236 candidates successful across the country.
Deeba Farhat from South Kashmir's Bijbehara town and Ruveda Salam from North Kashmir's Kupwara district are the two women from the Valley to figure in the list, besides Jammu-based Pryati Sharma.
Other candidates who made it to the list from the state are -- Baseer-ul-Haq, Afaq Giri, Choudhary Muhammad Yasin, Athar Aamir-ul-Shafi Khan, Irfan Hafiz and Ankit Koul.
This is for the sixth consecutive year that youths from Jammu and Kashmir have figured prominently in the UPSC list. In 2013, Ruveda Salam became the first woman from Kashmir to crack the IAS examination.
Baseer-ul-Haq topped the list of candidates from the state with rank 46, while Pryati Sharma is ranked 136.
Ankit Koul was ranked 414th, Afaq Giri ranked 457th, Chaudhary Muhammad Yasin ranked 459th, Deeba Farhat ranked 553th, Athar Aamir-ul-Shafi Khan ranked 560th and Irfan Hafiz ranked 1183th.
Ruveda Salam reappeared this year and was ranked 878 in the results.
Eldest among three siblings, Deeba lost her father in a road accident when she was in primary school. Her mother, a government employee, has been supporting the family ever since.
Sharing her inspirational story, the engineering graduate said, "My mother always wanted to see me on top and I dedicate this success to her and also to my late father."
Deeba secured a place in M Tech. However, she decided to drop out and qualified Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS) in 2012. She has been working as an Accounts Officer at the District Rural Development Agency's Anantnag chapter.
But her quest for excellence did not stop there. She decided to work hard and opted for IAS.
