Meet man, son of tea seller, who studied under lamp light, cracked UPSC exam without coaching with AIR...

UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the toughest exams in the world. Many dreams of becoming an IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS officer, but not everyone is able to crack UPSC examinations. At times of failures, aspirants go through lot of emotions, however few UPSC success stories keep motivations high. Today, we'll look into the success story of IAS Mangesh Khilari, who once worked as a tea seller, faced extreme poverty, but cleared UPSC and secured 396th rank in the 2022 civil services exam. 

Meet IAS Mangesh Khilari

Mangesh hails from Sukewadi village in Sangamner taluka of Ahmednagar district, in Maharshtra. He completed 10th standard from his village. For further studies, he moved to Sangamner taluka. Later, he moved to Pune to pursue a degree in Political Science, studied there for four years. Mangesh's family used to run a small tea shop in the city and this was the source of income for his family. Mangesh credits this achievement to the strong support of his parents, as his parents always motivated Mangesh to succeed in education.

His UPSC Journey

Mangesh Khilari's life has ups and downs, as his family used to survive on the minimum income from the tea shop.  He has very low resources, but his dream to achieve something in life was big. Mangesh had strong will and a spirit to never gave up, which became th foundation of his success. Facing extreme poverty and no money for coaching, Mangesh studied in the public library. He relied on free study materials to study for the toughest examination. His village has no proper light in the house, so he used to self study in oil lamp. A turning point in Mangesh's life came when he came to know a local IAS officer who had a similar background to his. This inspired him, and he balanced his responsibilities at the family tea shop with self-study. He used to study for 15-16 hours daily. He reached the interview stage twice, but did not clear it. In his third attempt, he secured 396th rank.