Gulzar Ahmad Wani (23) of Baramulla Qualified for IAS in His First Attempt

Hailing from a little known village – Darwa – in the Wagoora area of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, 23 year old Gulzar Ahmad Wani overcame all hardships to realise his dream of becoming a civil servant. Baramulla has been known for fierce battles between terrorists and soldiers. He comes from a place where even newspapers are not easily available. Hardly 100 families live in his native village and the education system is not very impressive.

Gulzar has managed a rank of 341 in the UPSC civil services exam 2010 in his very first attempt.

Son of a small business owner Abdul Hamid Wani, Gulzar received his education from a primary school until he got selected for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya. This was the time that he got inclined to become a civil servant.

Speaking to Gulshan Sharma of jagranjosh.com, Gulzar recalls, ‘Most of my friends in the primary school could hardly continue with their education. None of them managed to become a graduate. I was lucky to get selected to the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, which is a government run boarding school.’

Gulzar was very focused from the beginning. He says, ‘Educated people in Jammu and Kashmir do not think beyond MBBS and engineering. I had to persuade my father to let me prepare for the Civil Services.’
Gulzar is a law graduate and had come to Delhi in 2004. He further adds, ‘BA LLB (Hons) from Jamia Millia Islamia just provided me the requisite qualification to sit for the UPSC exam otherwise I always knew that I would be a civil servant one day.’

Gulzar says he is grateful to one of his teachers from Kerala, who inculcated in him the habit of reading newspapers and magazines while he was in school.

Offering a simple piece of advice to the IAS aspirants, Gulzar says, ‘You should not have any doubts about your preparation. Be focused all the time and stay updated with current affairs through magazines, newspapers and the internet.’ He further adds, ‘Develop analytical skills and the art of seeing both sides of the coin.’

Elaborating even more, Gulzar advises, ‘Issues that affect our lives and our country or the world are the important topics for UPSC exam. Even questions from the field of Science and Technology will be related to some recent developments. A question from the field of Medicine could well be related to some disease that India has not been able to control. So it is important to develop a perspective and prepare for the exams accordingly.’

On being asked what his next task is, the soft spoken Gulzar concludes, ‘We are civil servants, we cannot make policies, we have to execute them. I will try to have a balanced approach and work with honesty and sincerity.’

5 other individuals have cleared the UPSC exam from the state of J&K this year. These are Abid Hussain Sadiq, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed, Dr Sarvjeet Soodan, Muhammad Aijaz and Ovessa Iqbal.