Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

The 25-year-old Mohammed Haris Mir from the Handwara area in North Kashmir has perhaps become one of the youngest to clear the Civil Services examination conducted by the UPSC for the year 2023 on his first attempt.

Son of an oncologist, Harris Mir who secured 345 ranking in the examination says he was motivated by the success of several Kashmiris in the civil services in recent years, and he had set his eyes on it soon after clearing the 10th board examinations.

He was so clear about his goal that unlike the trend of following parents’ profession particularly in case they happen to be doctors or lawyers, Harris Mir opted for the humanities stream for his higher secondary. It may be mentioned that his father Dr Abdul Waheed Mir is an oncologist with the prestigious Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura, Srinagar.

His family comes from a remote area of Handwara in the border district of Kupwara. Due to his father’s job, the family shifted to Srinagar.

Harris Mir told Awaz-The Voice that soon after completing his matriculation from Tiny Hearts School, Srinagar, he was interested in pursuing civil services and studying humanities. After XII standard, Haris opted to study Law, keeping in mind that it would help him in “understanding and delivering while in administration”.

“The idea came to me originally soon after my matriculation and accordingly I chose humanities stream in 12th class,’ he said.

Mohammad Haris Mir joined the five-year degree course in Law, B A, LL.B from the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. Though Jamia Millia Islamia offers free coaching to students from minority communities for the UPSC examinations, Haris preferred to prepare on his own and dint join coaching classes. 

“As soon as I completed my Law degree, I began to prepare, self-studying, for the UPSC examination….it was a full year of studies involving hard work, which led me to clear the examination on the first attempt”, he told Awaz-the Voice.

“I started preparing for the UPSC only after my graduation was completed. This was because the coaching classes had already started about five months earlier and there was no point joining it midway”, he said. 

Haris said he started preparing for the optional paper (Law) and exclusively for the prelim examination held in May last year. He thought there was enough time for him to prepare for the mains.

He had no financial constraints as his family was well off and also he said, ”it was not so difficult for me to concentrate on studies” during his preparations for the civil services examination. He said occasionally he felt lonely being away from home in Delhi during this period.

When asked about his message to those who also like to clear the examinations for civil services on the first attempt, Mohammad Harris advised them to “stick to syllabus, take repeated mock tests and sources their materials from only one resource per subject. Ultimately it the determination and hard work that helps in all cases”, he said.

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Mohammad Haris is eagerly awaiting allotment of service and further procedures to join the services.