Kolhapur’s Birdev Cracks UPSC With AIR 551; Father Beams With Pride, Drapes Him In Yellow Patka Outside Their Hut

The most difficult exam in the country is the UPSC. Many youth wish to become IAS and IPS officers and serve the country after passing the examination. When there is less time to study, or financial strength is lacking—achieving success in such exams becomes even more remarkable. This distinction has been earned by one young man from Kolhapur.

Birdev Siddapa Done is his name. In the UPSC exam, he secured 551st rank in the country. The special thing is, after getting the news of his result, he had gone to the cattle shed in Belgaum with his livestock.

Success in 3rd attempt

Birdev Done’s native village is Yamge in Kagal Taluka of Kolhapur district. Since school, he had aspired to become an IPS officer and practiced with that goal in mind. Even after facing failure twice, he did not get discouraged. On just his third attempt, he succeeded by securing 551st rank in the country. At the age of 27, he achieved this remarkable success. There is a strong possibility that Birdev Done will now serve in the Indian Police Service (IPS).

Secured 96 percent in 10th

His family includes his mother, father, one brother, and one sister. Birdev’s primary education was at Vidya Mandir School in Yamge village. He completed his secondary education at Jai Maharashtra High School, also in the same village. Birdev stood first in Murgud Center in Class 10 with 96% marks. He completed his 12th from Shivraj Vidyalaya Junior College in Murgud, securing 89% marks and again ranking first in his class.

When the UPSC results were announced and it was confirmed that Birdev had cleared with rank 551, his entire village celebrated. But at that time, Birdev was not in the village—he was out with his livestock in Belgaum, with his parents. After receiving the news, the villagers felicitated him on the spot by tying the traditional Dhangari Pheta on his head.

Kolhapur’s Birdev Done has proven that with determination and hard work, nothing in this world is impossible.

Graduation from COEP

He then pursued an engineering degree from COEP in Pune. From the beginning, he was determined to become a UPSC officer. However, financial and situational problems stood in the way. Going to Delhi to prepare for UPSC means incurring expenses—at least 10 to 12 thousand rupees per month. To avoid financial burden, Birdev’s father advised him to take up a job instead. But driven by his sole ambition of becoming an IPS officer, Birdev overcame the circumstances.

His brother Vasudev Done, who serves in the Indian Army, took on the responsibility of supporting Birdev financially. Birdev prepared in Delhi for two years, then returned to Pune to continue his studies. Though unsuccessful in his first two attempts, he cracked the exam on his third try with a rank of 551 in the country.

Several politicians and leaders from Kolhapur congratulated Birdev for his success. Harshal Patil, on X, wrote his story which went viral later. He wrote:

“This is Birdev. An always smiling and positive boy from Kolhapur, Maharashtra. He came to know about his UPSC result while he was shepherding the family sheep. The family gathered around for his felicitation where they live. His father does not know much about the civil service examinations. But he knows that his son is bright and hard-working. Birdev spent his childhood shepherding the family sheep in the hills and studying under the open sky. The boy who used to study on the school veranda because there was no pucca house to study in, now clears the UPSC exam. Feel fortunate that I witnessed his UPSC journey in Pune. Congratulations Birdev. AIR 551.”

Archit Dongre from Maharashtra stands 3rd

The Union Public Service Commission declared the results of Civil Services Examination 2024 on Tuesday, in which Shakti Dubey topped and Harshita Goyal and Dongre Archit Parag secured the second and third ranks.

The Civil Services Examination is held annually in three stages — preliminary, mains and interview — to recruit officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other central services.

The preliminary examination for 2024 was held on June 16 last year, with 9,92,599 candidates applying and 5,83,213 appearing. A total of 14,627 candidates qualified for the written (main) examination in September 2024.

Of them, 2,845 made it to the personality test conducted between January 7 and April 17 this year.

In all, 1,009 candidates — 725 men and 284 women — have been recommended for appointment to various services by the UPSC.