Jubin Mohapatra is in the news for cracking the UPSC 2020 and ranking 46th. The topmost rank from his state, Odisha. This is Jubin's third attempt. But it's not like he didn't clear the UPSC exams the last few times. He is even undergoing training at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad. But his zeal to become an IAS officer was so strong that it kept him going. In 2018 he ranked 235 and got admitted to the IPS Academy, in 2019 he stood 379th and finally in 2020 at 46th.
Jubin said he has been very clear about his goals from the beginning. He was undergoing IPS training and preparing for the UPSC simultaneously. But he said that it never overwhelmed him as he is a "goal-oriented" person. "I spent four to five hours a weekday and seven to eight hours on weekends for the UPSC prep – but this was spread throughout the day, never in a chunk. This used to go up a bit before the exams. I did not go to a coaching centre, rather used free source materials from the internet. I did pick up a few test series to solve, from the academies before the exams," said the 30-year-old. Jubin was working with MNCs before he came into civil services. he had worked will Deloitte in Hyderabad and Bengaluru and as a Cyber Security Manager for Ocwen, an American bank.
Even though he will gladly join any services he is assigned by the government, Jubin wants to work on education, health and the environment during his tenure. "Education is very close to my heart. My mother, Anupama Mishra, who was an Associate Professor of Education and Psychology, has always been my inspiration," said Jubin, who lost his mother to COVID-19 last year. "I want to work on primary education because I feel the foundation of the country rests on education. I also want to work in the health sector – the pandemic has shown us the need for a robust healthcare system. Last but not least is the environmental and pollution control issues – this is also something I want to work on," he added.
Jubin will soon join the top teams which are involved in decision-making for India, so it seemed fit that we ask him about the New Education Policy – something he might have to work on to implement or regulate it soon. He said that he thinks a new policy was long overdue and the NEP has very progressive features. "These features draw parallels with the Scandinavian countries and Europe which is good. Some of the features like scrapping rote learning and promoting research are great. So is the initiative to digitise education. This policy format will also give bureaucrats an impetus to work on internet connectivity issues," said Jubin. "The policy will work towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Integrating vocational training right from Class 6 will be of great help to the education system," he added.
