Profile
From Veterinary Science to the IAS
The three-examination route of Dr Bilal Mohi-ud-Din Bhat: the J&K Administrative Service, the Indian Forest Service and the Indian Administrative Service.
Veterinary Science, 2010
Dr Bhat is from Unsoo Wahipora in the Langate area of Handwara, Kupwara district, in North Kashmir. He studied at Minto Circle School and Amar Singh College in Srinagar and graduated in July 2010 with a Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry from the College of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, SKUAST-Jammu. The "Dr" before his name is the veterinary doctor's title.
J&K Administrative Service, 2010
In the same year he qualified the Jammu & Kashmir Combined Competitive Examination at his first attempt, securing Rank 22 with Public Administration and Veterinary Science as optional subjects, and served in the J&K Administrative Service for about two years. He also sat the Civil Services preliminary examination for the first time in 2010 and did not qualify.
Indian Forest Service, 2012
In 2012 he qualified the Indian Forest Service Examination with All-India Rank 23, taking Zoology and Veterinary Science as optionals, and was allotted the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He trained at the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, from 2013 to 2015 and joined as Deputy Conservator of Forests in Uttar Pradesh, serving around Lucknow and the Kuana range of Gonda district. He continued to appear for the Civil Services Examination, without clearing the preliminary stage in 2012 or the following attempt.
Indian Administrative Service, 2017
He sat the Civil Services Examination 2016 while serving as a forest officer in Lucknow, his fourth attempt and close to the age limit. The result on 31 May 2017 placed him at All-India Rank 10 with 1,078 marks, the highest among a record fourteen successful candidates from Jammu & Kashmir that year. He was allotted the Indian Administrative Service, 2017 batch, in his home cadre. His optional, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, gave 304 of 500 marks.
What Carried Over
The three careers show in the later work. As a District Magistrate he has handled the demarcation of the Hokarsar Ramsar wetland, flood relief on the Shaliganga, cloudburst restoration in Pahalgam, and livestock, dairy and fisheries schemes under the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme. His book, Environment and Ecology for UPSC and State Civil Services Examinations, draws on the forestry years, and his published guide to the veterinary optional on the first degree.
In his own words after the result: "I believed in this quote: try, try, try again. I have been trying from 2010. I have had to sacrifice every comfort to achieve my goal."