A childhood insult sparked his IAS dream. Son of a rickshaw puller, he cleared UPSC at 22 in first attempt

Life was not a bed of roses for Govind Jaiswal. Growing up in a poor family in Varanasi, he was no stranger to struggle. He lost his mother as a young child. The family stayed at a single room near a railway station in Varanasi. Electricity was unstable. There used to be a 14 hours power cut.

Govind often faced discrimination because he was poor. When he was 11, he was thrown out of the house of a rich friend due to his poverty. An older friend explained to him how the world works and told him that unless his circumstances changed, he could expect this treatment his entire life.

That day, he decided he would become an IAS officer.


When he grew older, he decided to become an IAS officer. According to a Better India report, his father sold off his land and 14 rickshaws to send Govind to Delhi to prepare for UPSC.

In Delhi, he taught maths to kids to earn money. He studied in public libraries and in Hindi medium. In 2006, at just 22 years old, Govind cracked the UPSC—one of India’s toughest exams—on his very first attempt, and was ranked at 48.

"The problem is not language, it is confidence. My ability to read and express in Hindi made me an achiever. If you are confident enough to articulate your thoughts, then no one can hinder your success. No language is superior or inferior. It's an unwanted perception made by the society. Learning languages is not a big deal -- have faith in yourself. Earlier, I only knew Hindi, I developed a grip on English at the IAS Academy. Our world is horizontal -- it is the people's perception that makes it vertical where they place some people as superior and others as inferior,” Govind told Outlook.

He used his first salary to pay for his father’s treatment for a leg injury.