Support from friends and family helped me achieve my dream: UPSC 8th rank holder Pakshal Secretry

New Delhi, March 6 (PTI) For Pakshal Secretry, who has secured an All India Rank (AIR) eight in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2025, the path to success was long and filled with self-doubt, but support from his friends and family members helped him finally achieve his dream in his third attempt.

Hailing from the city of Bagh in Madhya Pradesh, Secretry told PTI Videos here, "About 80 per cent of the population in my district are tribals and I have seen their sufferings. The literacy rate in my district is 39 per cent. I want to work for tribals and women's welfare and women's education in the future as a civil servant." Attributing his success to the support of his family and his close friends, Secretry, who is a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, further said it was his third attempt.

"In my first attempt, I had reached the interview stage but after that my name had not made it to the list. In my second attempt, I got rejected in the prelims and that was very demotivating. You start doubting yourself at that point," he said Secretry added that his hard work has finally bore success, after all the doubt and frustration when his friends were progressing and he was stuck.

"No matter how hard things get, I will not lose," became his mantra in the days preceding the exam.

As the results came on Friday, the first rank in the country was secured by Anuj Agnihotri from Rajasthan. The top ten also features several Delhi University (DU) students, including Akansh Dhull (AIR 3), Raghav Jhunjhunwala (AIR 4), Zinnia Aurora (AIR 6) and Astha Jain (AIR 9). PTI AHD AHD MNK MNK