The examination is conducted by the Manipur Public Service Commission (MPSC) and consists of three distinct stages:

The Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) conducts the State Service Examination to recruit candidates for administrative positions in the state

Most candidates who finish in the top five of UPSC have at least one previous attempt behind them. That prior attempt gives them something invaluable:

She cleared UPSC across multiple attempts. She was then denied service allocation because of her disability. She challenged that decision through official channels.

An IIT Roorkee graduate in Civil Engineering who picked Anthropology as his optional subject, cleared UPSC on his third attempt, and finished third in the entire country.

Sopore is not a name that appears in most UPSC success narratives. A small town in Baramulla district of Kashmir, it has spent decades in the shadow of conflict and instability.

Barabanki is a small district in Uttar Pradesh that most people outside the state would struggle to locate on a map. Pratibha Verma grew up there, studied Zoology at Lucknow University,

Buxar is a small district in Bihar. It is not a name that appears frequently in lists of cities producing national civil services toppers. It does not have a coaching culture.

Most IIT graduates appearing for UPSC gravitate toward Mathematics, Physics, or Public Administration as their optional subject. Jatin Kishore did none of that.