A Story of Outstanding Success

Approximately 94,000 candidates from all over India sat for the preliminary test in the Civil Service examination for the year 1986-987. Of these, a mere ten thousand proved themselves fit to take the main examination, on the basis of which only seventeen hundred candidates were selected for interview. After this final screening process, the number of candidates chosen for high ranking national posts was whittled right down to 855.

The final results of these examinations were published in the national newspapers on June 8, 1987. After surmounting the various hurdles in the rigorous series of high level, nation-wide examinations, the man who finally topped the list was one Amir Subhani – a Muslim. This event in itself is quite adequate proof that there is no dearth of opportunities for Indian Muslims to prove their mettle and to be outstanding successes. Their way is not barred, as is so often alleged, by prejudice or partiality.

Muslims constitute approximately 12% of this country’s total population. In strict ratio, Muslims should have numbered at least 100 out of 855 who were finally selected for senior postings, but, in the final list there were only eleven. The idea generally prevalent among Muslims is that this scanty representation is the result of prejudice, but a closer scrutiny of the procedures of Civil Services Examinations shows that there is really no justification for this claim.

To begin with, the answer papers in the Civil Service written examination do not bear the candidate’s names, but only code-numbers. In this way, the examiner has no means of knowing to which community the candidates belong. After the written examination, an interview is conducted by a special board of five to seven members, each of whom is expert in his or her own field. It if were true that these members were bigoted in their outlook, then surely no Muslim would ever be selected at all for the IAS, let alone be allowed to go ahead and bag the top place. Even supposing there were some slight degree of prejudice in the examiner’s minds, this would not be deciding factor in the selecting process.

This is thanks to the system of allotting 1800 marks to the written examination and only 250 to the interview. This weightage rules out any foul play. Even if a candidate is unfairly treated at the interview, he still stands an excellent chance of being selected if he has had good marks in the written examination, because it is the aggregate that counts. No candidate is ever selected or rejected solely on the basis of the interview.

It is heartening to know that while Amir Subhani’s marks in the written examination only came to 64%, in the interview he managed to obtain 74% - a clear 10% improvement on his showing in the written examination.

When asked how he had prepared for the civil Service examinations, Amir Subhani said that, for six months prior to the examination, he had studied for twelve to fourteen hours a day. Even before this, he had been in the habit of studying up till midnight. Another important point he made was that he had done extensive extra-curricular reading of books, periodicals ad newspapers, as well as concentrating on the required reading for his course.

If Amir subhani had an outstanding success it was entirely due to the extraordinary amount of effort that he put into his work. In every examination that he had sat right throughout his life, from his matriculation right up to MA, it was always his own strenuous efforts which had secured him high marks. When he was asked what advice he would give to potential IAS candidates, he said that on the basis of his own experience, the best thing to do was ‘work hard and never give up in your struggle to achieve your goal.’

There are two arenas in which Indian Muslims are capable of working. One is that of demands and protests. The other is that of hard work and conscientious striving. While Muslim leaders have chosen the first arena, sterling individuals such as Amir Subhani have chosen the second.

Over the last half-century, Muslim leaders have seen fit to follow a policy of confrontation. Blaming others for all their difficulties, they have embarked on an unending protest campaign. People like Amir Subhani, however, have not in the meanwhile wasted their time in pointing the finger of accusation at others. Instead, they have set themselves to constant hard work in order to improve their positions, neglecting no opportunity which should happen to come their way.

This latter method has proved by far the most successful. While the policy adopted by Muslim leaders had failed to produce any positive results, those who have striven in the manner of Amir Subhani have gone from strength to strength. Their efforts have never gone to waste. Sooner or later they have borne fruit. Sooner or later they have led to success.

Which approach then should Muslims adopt? Clearly, they should follow the trail blazed by Amir Subhani, for such is the path which will lead them to success. The path which their leaders are so anxious to show them should be shunned absolutely, for it is a path that will lead them nowhere.