S Y Quraishi, the former Chief Election Commissioner of India, is one of the first Muslims to be selected for the Indian Civil services in post-partition India. He has summed his experience of conducting the world’s largest election exercise – the Indian general elections – in his book An undocumented wonder: the great Indian election.  

He says if he is asked to get a chance to relive his life and choose his career again, he would only pick the civil service because of the range of learning a Civil servant has to do and also the varied experiences of the job. He spoke to Aasha Khosa, Editor, Awaz-the voice, about the representation of Muslims in the Indian civil services and also shared tips on how the aspirants should approach the competitive examination for this coveted service. Excerpts from his interview:

You were one of the first Muslims to get into the Civil services. How was the situation those days; what prompted you to join the services?

My case is quite old. In 1968, when I was in school, I was exposed to education at my home. After I did well in school, my family members started saying I should go to foreign service. At that time, I did not know what this service was, but I remembered the term since I was in the sixth or seventh class. I scored well later and enrolled myself in the History Honors (BA) in St. Stephen's College (Delhi). While at school I studied economics and commerce, I choose history because St. Stephen's History Honors was considered the nursery of the IAS.

So, 90 percent of the boys in this class used to get into all civil services. I was lucky to get a conducive environment to prepare for the civil services right from the first year of college; most of my classmates were into it.  The reason was that all the people came from the background of civil services, their parents were IAS or IFS, and so on. I was the only one from a non-civil servant background. My parents were teachers. So, I learned a lot there. The other thing is that when my result was declared, the Hindustan Times newspaper wrote that I was the only Muslim to make it to the list.

The second thing was that in post-partition India, I was the first Muslim from the Old Delhi area to be selected for the UPSC. Both these were unfortunate dimensions of the situation. I was the only Muslim on the list of a hundred people in our batch.

Instead of taking pride in my exclusive success, I was wondering why others don't come? Back then there was general thinking among the Muslims that there is no point in going for the competitive examinations. They presumed the Muslims will not be taken. So, they thought why to waste time in even trying for or thinking about it. Therefore, no attention was paid to reading or writing or quality education. However, the situation has changed completely. Now the young (Muslims) people are preparing (for civil services) with great enthusiasm and five-six (Muslims) are selected in every batch.

it is a very good thing. In the batch before mine, there was only one Muslim, and in 1970 there was one while next year two Muslims including a woman were selected for the civil services. Maybe some people should have got inspired by my success because if a boy like me from a normal family could get selected the others would also get it. After my selection, within three to four years, many IPS officers came from Old Delhi.

Nowadays young persons have the means and all the information is available to them instantly. So, what is your advice to them for preparing at the mental level and for achieving their goal?

Nowadays opportunities are galore. Because of the internet up-to-date knowledge is readily available. And all those who work hard get selected in civil services. Making it into the civil services is not only a matter of pride for the minorities, but also for all others who belong to the middle, lower and lower classes. There is an equal opportunity for everyone and it is a good thing. There are coaching centers that may be helpful since students are flocking to them, but their interests are commercial. There are many institutions such as Jamia Milia Islamia and Jamia Hamdard that have launched coaching centers. The Aligarh Muslim University opened similar classes in the 70s for five years and during this short period, many Muslims joined the civil services. Coaching centers are useful. The students learn mannerism, the art of conversation, some may be too abrasive and others too shy and they learn how to overcome it. There is also an emphasis on boosting their confidence. They are told that their answers have to be specific as beating about the bush while facing an interview doesn’t help. One can see the advantages of these coaching centers.

There are so many coaching centers in the cities. If, I may ask you is it possible for someone to make it without joining a coaching class? Also, what are the points one has to keep in mind while choosing a coaching center?

In the sixties or seventies, going to a tuition center was not taken kindly. The students who were considered slow or laggard would join these classes and often secretly. Then it changed and tuition became a fashion symbol. Also, the fees of tuition teachers are related to the perceived standards of their capabilities. This trend has made a mess of education. Because of this, the teachers don’t really teach in the school as the same teacher offers tuition after school. In my school days, we had such a teacher who would give private tuitions in the evening to one particular student. The boy would always stand first in the class till eighth. Later when I was teaching to B A honours class in Delhi Evening College that is Zakir Hussain College now, I was shocked to see the same student in the class. He used to top till the 8th class only because his tutor helped him. So, this example of the dishonesty of the educational institute is marked in my mind. The boy felt superiors because of his marks but inside he was hollow. I felt sorry for him. Once we were classmates once and that time he was in my class.

At the time of my selection to the services, I was a lecturer. My colleagues would tell me that teaching is a good job and advised me not to quit. In the first year, I also felt good, but later I realized that students were not interested in learning. In the first year, one day I taught the chapter on the battle of Panipat to students over three days. Everyone laughed at me in the staff room; they said if I take three days to teach one battle, I should be completing the chapters on medieval history in three days. Next time I followed their advice.

I taught them from a book of L Mukherjee that was considered best for scoring marks even by the students who had never studied history. I was feeling disillusioned. I was required to deliver only two lectures of two hours each per day and had a lot of free time; some of the teachers moonlighted in spare time worked illegally. I sat in civil services and cleared it in the first attempt. I have no regrets. My message to the younger generation is that if I was born again and I would again join the Civil service. The reason is there are so many opportunities to work from the grassroots to the global level. There is a variety of work experiences to gain as you keep moving from agriculture to industry to IT. When your job changes, you have to quickly learn because you are the leader and can’t afford to show your illiteracy’. So, a Civil servant keeps learning all his life. I want to ask youth to focus on IAS. Even today a lot of young aspirants contact me after reading my book The undocumented wonder: the Indian elections. They ask me what should they do since they didn’t make it just by three or five marks in the final round. My advice to them is: don’t give up. There are instances where people have topped the list after failing to make it four times.

What is your advice to Muslim youth for taking the civil services exams since their representation in services are not in proportion to their population?

I believe the ongoing trend of Muslims making it to civil services is good. For the past five-seven years, on average 50 - 55 Muslims make it to the services each year. Their numbers are only increasing. My advice would be more or less the same: do more of the same; aspire higher. If one can afford to join private classes. I also joined Rau’s study circle for my interview round. I learned a lot; my personality reflected better. They give you customized advice. I took advantage of the classes.