Komal Pravinbhai GanatraKomal, who is a primary school teacher in a remote village of Bhavnagar district, expects to join Indian Revenue Service (IRS). She is among the 11 candidates from Gujarat who have cleared the civil services examination this year.
Daughter of a retired primary school teacher at Savarkundla in Amreli district, Komal is now determined to fight a legal battle with her NRI husband, Shailesh Popat, who is settled in New Zealand. She says they could not seek justice earlier because of the weak financial condition of her family and out of fear that litigation would affect her preparations for the top competitive exam. "I will definitely initiate legal action against my husband and in-laws now for what they did with me just because I came from a poor family and could not meet their financial demands," she says.Komal does not even have the address or contact number of Shailesh or the kind of job he has in New Zealand. "Shailesh never gave me his address or contact number. He is out of touch ever since he deserted me soon after our marriage five years ago," she says, adding he has also not divorced her.
While Shailesh did his M.Sc (chemistry) from a college in Rajkot, Komal holds a diploma in chemical engineering from Rajkot Government Polytechnic and a BA degree through correspondence from Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Open University. She also has a primary teachers training certificate from a college in Savarkundla.
Komal says she began dreaming of joining the elite civil services after her husband deserted her. In 2008, she joined Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA) in Ahmedabad that trains students for UPSC exams. She cleared the exam in the fourth attempt in general category. She had opted for history and Gujarati literature as two optional subjects in the mains and preferred Gujarati language for interview.
Of the 11 candidates from Gujarat who cleared UPSC exams this year, five are from SC category, three from general and three from SEBC, also known as OBC. No ST candidate from Gujarat has cleared the exam this year.
Two of them, both engineering students, had also completed their MBA from Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
Kiran K Chatrapati, who did his BE (instrumentation and control) from LD college of Engineering in Ahmedabad and is working as an administrative officer (technical) with the National Insurance Company Limited, gave full credit to his wife for the support. He said he studied for four to five hours daily.
Assistant Municipal Commissioner in Ahmedabad Dharmendra Herm has also cleared the exams.