This Muslim UPSC rank holder had to use Hindu surname to get accommodation

[email protected] (CD Network)
May 11, 2016

A young UPSC rank holder has finally broken his silence to expose the communalism, racism and ignorance prevailing in the society. Ansar Ahamad Shaikh, the son of an auto-rickshaw driver from a remote village in Jalna district of Maharashtra has managed to crack the tough UPSC exam in his first attempt, securing an All-India Rank 361.

sheikh

The 21-year-old Bachelor of Arts, political science graduate from Pune's Fergusson College said he came to the city to pursue his degree in Arts and focus on his UPSC preparations.

Forced to change his name to a Hindu surname in order to get accommodation and food in the city without facing any discrimination, Shaikh said he will proudly say his real name now.

“I remember when I went to look for a PG accommodation, my friends who were Hindus got rooms but I was refused. So the next time, I said that my name was Shubham, which was actually my friend's name. Now I don't have to hide my real name,” said Shaikh.

His eyes swell with tears when he remembers the difficult circumstances he faced in his life. “My father has three wives, my mom is the second. In my family, education wasn't so important. My younger brother dropped out of school and my two sisters were married off at an early age and didn't study much. When I called home and told them that I cracked UPSC and in all likelihood will be an IAS officer, they were shell shocked,” said Shaikh, adding after a small celebration with friends, he is headed home for bigger a celebration.

Asked about his preparations, Shaikh said there is no shortcut to success. A topper all throughout school and college except Std X where his scores dipped a bit, he said he prepared for 10-12 hours at a stretch for 3 years without a break. “I think I would tell students to question themselves, Why do they want to be in the system? Once they have answered this question, the path will get clear,” he said. Having faced religious discrimination, all his life, Shaikh said that promoting Hindu-Muslim unity and bridging disparity is one area that he would like to work on.

Meanwhile at Unique Academy where Shaikh studied, celebrations were on in full swing as 45 candidates emerged victorious. Shaikh's teacher, Rahul Tukaram Pandve (30) also cracked the UPSC, securing All India Rank 200. Pandve who stood seventh in the state worked as a teacher at the academy. A MBA degree holder from IIM Calcutta, Pandve gave up his corporate job for civil services preparations. 

Comments

K.C.Mohammed Ali
 - 
Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Congratulations............... Inspiration to the community.

S.M. Nawaz Kuk…
 - 
Wednesday, 11 May 2016

any way you reached your goal. congratulations.!

Mumtaz hussain
 - 
Wednesday, 11 May 2016

Congrats to sheikh, his parents, school n college n his teacher Rahul tukaram pandve

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
February 19,2020

Chikkamagaluru, Feb 19: A 31-year-old homemaker was murdered and valuables, including 100gm of gold and 2kg of silver, were reported missing from her house in Kadur town of Chikkamagaluru district late Monday evening. Her 11-month-old son, who was with her at the time of the attack, had a miraculous escape.

Police said Kavita's husband Dr Revath was away in his clinic in the town's Kadur-Birur road along with their first son, 5. Kavita, who has done MA and from Udupi, and the dentist married seven years ago.

District superintendent of police Harish Pandey has formed a special team to probe the incident that took place in Lakshmish Nagar in the town.

According to police, Kavita spoke to her husband around 6.45pm on Monday and didn't answer his subsequent calls, triggering a strong suspicion in him that something was amiss. He called his relatives living nearby to check on his wife. The relatives rushed to the house only to find the main door locked.

Since Kavita didn't answer the doorbell, they force-entered the house from the rear door and found her in a pool of blood. She was taken to a private clinic where doctors declared her brought dead.

Police said the woman was killed by a sharp weapon by slitting her throat between 6.45pm and 8.15pm. The rooms and almirahs had been found ransacked. At least 100gm gold ornaments, 2kg of silver and cash were missing from the house.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
coastaldigest.com news network
June 8,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 8: Karnataka recorded 308 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, with the majority of patients being domestic returnees, raising the state's tally to 5,760 an official said, here on Monday. "Over 308 new cases were reported from Sunday 5 pm to Monday 5 pm," said the health official.

Like everyday Maharashtra returnees accounted for 96 per cent (267 cases) of the 277 new cases. Majority infections in Karnataka nowadays are returnees, mostly from the state's northern neighbour.

A few returnees also came from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There was one international returnee, a 23-year-old man from Dakshina Kannada, who came from the UAE. Only 24 new infections were contacts of earlier cases.

On Monday, cases spiked in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Bidar, Udupi, Bengaluru Urban, Ballari and Gadag.

Among the new cases, Kalaburagi contributed (99), followed by Yadgir (66), Bidar (48), Udupi (45), Bengaluru Urban (18), Ballari (8), Gadag (6), Shivamogga and Dharwad (4 each), Hassan and Dakshina Kannada (3 each), Bagalkote (2) and Koppal and Ramnagar (1 each). Four patients are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI).

Meanwhile, record 387 patients got discharged in the past 24 hours. On Monday, three persons - A 67-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and another 65-year-old woman, all from Bengaluru Urban, succumbed to coronavirus.

Of all the cases, 3,175 are active, 2,519 discharged, 64 dead and 14 in the ICU.

In the past 24 hours, Karnataka tested 8,779 people. Of this, 8,231 reports returned negative. A number of tests were lower than other days. In total, 3.93 lac samples have been tested so far, of which 3.8 lac have returned negative.

Currently, Udupi is leading the state's COVID-19 burden with 628 active cases, followed by Kalaburagi (539), Yadgir (488), Raichur (276) and Bengaluru Urban (176) among others.

Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 18 deaths, followed by Kalaburagi (7), Bidar, Vijayapura, Davangere and Dakshina Kannada (6 each) and Chikkaballapur (3 each), among others.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 21,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 21: The Karnataka Government may spare its employees from salary cuts this month despite severe resources crunch it faces following steep fall in revenue collection due to the ongoing lockdown to fight the coronavirus, official sources said on Tuesday.

As of now, there is no problem with April salary and we can manage. But if May also turns out to be a wash-out (in terms of revenue collection), then the situation is going to be very tough, a senior Minister said.

Ministers and members of Karnataka Legislature are taking a 30 per cent pay-cut for a year from April 1 this year. Opposition Congress in the state has vehemently opposed any possible move to cut salaries of government employees.

You just cant even imagine, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had told news agency in an interview earlier this month on the economic impact of the lock-down on the state's finances. Yediyurappa had also said that the government is now not in a position to implement Budget proposals, barring important ones, with all kinds of revenue collections having completely stopped following the lockdown.

The government recently said it proposes to regularise unauthorised properties in the state by imposing penalty, and also auction more than 12,000 corner sites belonging to the Bengaluru Development Authority, as part of resource mobilisation drive.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.