Roopa Mishra, an MBA from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar, has topped the Civil Services Examination while Ashima Garg from Delhi University stood second out of 413 selected candidates.

This was Mishra's first attempt. Seven of the first twenty in the merit list for the 2003 batch are women.

Over 300,000 candidates had applied for the exam out of which over 100,000 actually appeared for the preliminary test. Among them, 5,973 qualified for the main exam and 1,179 were called for an interview for the final selection.

Of the 413 candidates recommended for appointment to government jobs, 184 belong to the general category, 129 to Other Backward Classes, 67 to Scheduled Castes and 33 to Scheduled Tribes. Four physically disabled candidates are also in the final list.

They would be drafted into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Central Services Group 'A' and 'B'.

The Union Public Service Commission conducted the written exams in May 2003 while the interview and personality tests were held in April-May 2004.

External Link: Union Public Service Commission