JAMMU, JANUARY 21: Making a history of sorts in the Union Territory on Friday, three siblings hailing from Doda district’s remote Kahara area have cracked the prestigious Jammu Kashmir Civil Services Examination (JKCSE), reported The Indian Express.
Two of them — Ifra Anjum Wani and her younger brother Suhail Ahmad Wani — cleared the coveted examination in their first attempt, while Huma, who is the eldest among the three, made it in her second attempt. The siblings will be the first in the family to join a government service.
The result of the JKCSE was declared on Friday.
Suhail has been ranked 111, followed by Huma at 117 and Ifra at 143. While Suhail did his bachelor’s degree from Government MAM College in 2019, Huma and Ifra did MA in political science through correspondence from IGNOU in 2020.
With father Muneer Ahmed Wani working as a labour contractor having a monthly income between Rs 15,000-20,000, the siblings decided to prepare for the civil services in 2021. Until 2014, Muneer worked as a mechanic with a private company. Muneer’s wife is a housemaker.
lane of an unplanned Shahbad Colony near Bahu Fort in Jammu where they shifted in 2010 for further studies, the siblings completed their schooling from Kahara and nearby Kishtwar town. One has to walk nearly 5km from the nearest motorable road to reach their ancestral home in Kahara.
The house in Jammu was purchased by Muneer in partnership with his brother-in-law Sadiq Hussain Wani, a government school teacher in Doda district, so as to enable their children continue with their studies. The siblings had to share room as there used to be 10-12 people in the house in winters and 6-8 during the summer, they said.
“In view of the modest monthly income of our father, we did not have any mobile phone…had only one book in each subject which we had to share,” said Ifra. As a result, there had always been arguments between Huma and Suhail over the issue of not getting enough time to study a particular subject, Ifra said, adding that she used to be a mediator between them and persuading them to cooperate with each other.
“There were many difficulties we faced in respect to material and guidance,” Huma said, adding that the preparation itself takes a lot of time as one has to first make notes and then keep updating them according to the developments.
“With the grace of Allah, we all have made it,” said Ifra, adding that the exam results show that their lives have changed in just one single day.
“It is a complete U-turn for us all,” said Suhail who wanted to join the police service as “it brings both power and responsibility”.
He wants to work against the menace of drugs in J&K, while his sisters want to join the civil administration and serve the marginalised sections of society, especially women who suffer due to patriarchal mindset.
Muneer was in Rajouri when the result was announce on Friday morning, and the first one to know about the success of the siblings was Sadiq Hussain.
“Even I was not aware that these children have appeared in the examination. When a friend of mine sent me the result on WhatsApp, it came as a pleasant surprise to me,” he said.
