Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

The village of Syed Adil Zahoor in north Kashmir has no proper internet services and an erratic power supply and yet this 28-year-old has become the second person from Kashmir to qualify for the prestigious Indian Statistical Services (ISS) examination of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Adil Zahoor’s village Hajibal lay some 15 km from the district headquarters of Baramulla and it had no proper road link till 2008.

Speaking to the media, Adil credited his teachers in the local Middle School and throughout his educational journey. “There is no substitute for hard work,” Adil told Awaz-the Voice.

Adil says he was lucky to have “good teachers at all levels, who guided and helped me.”

Elders in his village say they used to walk swerving through the hills to reach the nearest town of Baramulla. “This village even now does not have a mobile tower, and the mobiles get occasional signals from (BSNL) towers in Gulmarg,” Adil told Awaz. “I remember when there was no road and when my village got electricity 15 years ago.” Even today, the supply of power is very poor.

Syed Adil Zahoor being felicitated for his success

Adil studied in the Government Middle School, Hajibal And later he shifted to Baramulla for college. And later completed his post-graduation from the University of Kashmir in 2016.

Due to disruption of life across Kashmir during the summers of 2016, his session was delayed and he finally completed his post-graduation in 2018.

Adil Zahoor appeared in two competitive examinations for job - Indian Statistical Services of the UPSC and the Accounts Assistant examination of the J&K Subordinate Services Recruitment Board (SSRB).

While he qualified for the Accounts Assistant examination in 2021, the final results of the UPSC examination were declared on December 28. He also qualified for the JRF examination in December 2020.

Adil joined the J&K Government as Accounts Assistant in 2021 and is posted in the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department at Qaziabad in Kupwara.

Adil said with amenities in Baramulla town and later in Srinagar during his university days life became easier for him. “I never attended coaching…All I learned was with the help of my teachers at the Degree College, Baramulla, and the Kashmir University”, he said.

It was at the University of Kashmir that “my teachers advised me to appear in the ISS examination”, he said. Adil says he has a habit of studying at least for about two hours daily even during his working days. “I used to study without any interruption throughout my education.

“At times I may have been alerted about missing my Namaz, but nobody had to remind me about missing my studies,” Adil said.

Earlier, Haji Altaf had qualified for the ISS examination from Kashmir in 2001.