Syed Adil Zahoor from Hajibal village of Baramulla has become the second person from Kashmir to qualify for the prestigious Indian Statistical Services examination. The results of the UPSC IES/ISS Final Result examination were made public by the Union Public Service Commission today.
Zahoor is currently serving in the Block Development Office Qaziabad as Accounts Assistant. He cracked the examination in his first attempt.
Interestingly, Hajibal was connected with a reliable electricity supply in 2002 while the road connectivity to the village came up during the last decade in 2010. The village was reached on foot after strolling up a hilly terrain before the road was laid.
Zahoor did his initial schooling at Middle School Hajibal and his high schooling at Central High School Baramulla. He is from a modest background.
He did his higher secondary schooling at Government Boys Higher Secondary School Baramulla where from he went on to pursue his Bachelor of Arts from Government Degree College Boys Baramulla.
Zahoor pursued a Master’s degree from the University of Kashmir where from he qualified the Junior Research Fellowship in 2020. He qualified for the Accounts Assistant examination conducted by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board in 2021 landing him his current job.
Syed Shahnawaz, who oversees the working of Initiative for Competition Promotion (ICP), says that his institution encouraged Zahoor to chase the target. “I had first met this boy on the live Dhadkan show on the radio which he won. Since then, I knew that he would do something good.” He says that Zahoor’s hard work has paid off today.
The UPSC conducted a written examination from June 24 to June 26, 2022, followed by interviews for Personality Test from December 19 to December 23, 2022. This recruitment drive will fill up 24 posts in Indian Economic Service and 29 posts in Indian Statistical Service. The result of 9 candidates has been kept provisional.
The last Kashmiri who passed the examination is Haji Altaf who is now holding the Deputy Director General position. He earlier headed the NSSO operations in Kashmir as well.