IAS Topper - S. Nagarajan
By Pushkala Venkatarman (’95 MMS)
S Nagarajan (’00 EEE) leaves you with an image of a hardworking and persistent individual, an individual who has set his mind on a goal and is walking towards it resolutely.
After graduating from BITS, Nagarajan decided to follow his lifelong dream of becoming an IAS Officer. Having grown up in a district town, Nagarajan was aware of the key roles that district officers play in social development. Watching many of these officers at work, gave him an insatiable urge to join their ranks and help in India’s development.
 He took the Civil Services Exam right out of BITS in 2000. He did not take up a job and instead doubled his efforts when he did not clear the exam that year. In 2001, he succeeded and joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service. Though this was no mean achievement, Nagarajan would not settle for anything less than the IAS. For the 2005 exam he went all out and was "pleasantly shocked" to realize that he had topped the exam.
He admits, "Foremost, I felt happy for getting into a service of my choice, than particularly for the first rank. It took sometime to realize that the first rank was something special. "
He had chosen Geography and Sociology as his subjects and joined coaching centers to strengthen his fundamentals: he was to compete with people who possibly had several years of experience in their fields. During his preparation, he met Sudeep Jain (86A3), the Corporation Commissioner in his hometown, who indicated it would be a long walk. He steadfastly walked on.
Nagarajan strongly believes that every Indian is at war – a war against time - to make India a developed nation. By joining the IAS and by being able to get directly involved in public service, Nagarajan hopes to win this war.
If preparing for the exam was tough, life has only gotten tougher with the strict academy schedules for Nagarajan who is right now in training at Mussorie. The training at the academy lasts for about 10 months. The day begins with PT at 6.00 a.m. There are daytime classes on subjects like law, management and public administration. Extracurricular activities range from firing to movies.
After this, he will be posted as a sub-divisional officer below a district. He will spend the first few years working at the district level after which he expects to be posted to the State Headquarters and then to the Central Government. Nagarajan is eagerly looking forward to the array of responsibilities in store.
Nagarajan cherishes the times that he had with his wing. Especially the junior batch Chemistry and MMS guys at Gandhi. He remembers the invigorating lectures of Dr Gurunarayanan (see ‘Back to BITS’) and Prof SS Ranganathan. His extra curricular activities included stints at the mess committees.
Nagarajan feels that BITS should add greater depth in the existing courses, especially in fields like biotechnology, microelectronics and specialized programs in business management. He says that BITS higher degree programs should be able to attract international students. He urges the younger BITSians to dare to experiment and follow their instincts.
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