Haryana’s Himanshu Jain who cracked UPSC exam rejected Rs 22 lakh Amazon offer

A Rs22-lakh opening annual pay package from e-retailer Amazon, or the career of a bureaucrat. Himanshu Jain of Haryana’s Jind chose the second option.

He was ranked 44 in the UPSC-conducted civil services exam this year, after two previous attempts.

The postgraduate in computer science from the Hyderabad-based International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) was offered jobs by multi-national companies Amazon and Google.

But he refused. “I was with Amazon as an intern for three months. Thereafter, they offered me a job for Rs 22 lakh. But I realised during my internship this is not what I want to do,” he said.

He then applied and got the job of a manager with the Reserve Bank of India. But his heart was elsewhere.

The young man couldn’t get over his childhood fascination for the civil services.

He had watched with awe a deputy commissioner inspecting his school and always wanted to become one.

“I always heard from my teachers and family how an IAS officer has the power to change the country.”

And so the Jind boy came to New Delhi and prepared with redoubled effort to crack the tough UPSC exam. In his first two attempts, he cleared the prelims but failed in the mains.

“Essay writing was the biggest challenge, and I scored low. So I worked hard on it for two years,” he said.

That’s a peculiar drawback for somebody who has published several research papers in international journals. But his stuck to his mantra: “continue chasing your dreams till you achieve them”.

Number 44 in a test that tens of thousands wrote is highly commendable and Jind celebrated his feat on Thursday with a rousing welcome to the young man, who is promising chess player and painter too.

“Through my exposure in computer science, I will strive to help digitise India and introduce transparency in governance,” he promised.