Every year youths from all over India fight to secure a qualifying place in the UPSC exam, which is one of the toughest examinations in India. In the following paragraphs, you will learn about one of those aspirants who succeeded to secure the first position in the UPSC exam.
In this article, you will learn about IAS Kanishak Kataria, his journey, and most importantly his suggested books which are regarded as the best books for UPSC preparation.
Early life and biography of UPSC topper Kanishak Kataria
The IAS Officer Kanishak Kataria was born on 26 September 1992 in the pink city of Rajasthan.
Kanishak had completed his graduation in 2014 from none other than IIT, Bombay which is the best college for engineering in India.
Before becoming a civil servant, Kanishak Kataria worked in one of the greatest MNC, Samsung in South Korea. Kanishak Kataria returned to Bengaluru which is also called the IT hub of India or the Silicon Valley of India and worked as a data scientist.
Then he sat for the UPSC exam for the first time which was not a successful one and in 2019, at his second attempt, he cleared the exam with a rank of 1.
Kanishak has crossed every milestone regardless of the difficulties. He saw a dream and dared to fulfill it. The journey from a data scientist to a UPSC aspirant to an IAS Officer had taken a lot of toilsome and patience.
Hobbies and other interests of topper Kanishak Kataria.
Apart from being a bright student, Kanishak is also very enthusiastic about cricket, football, and tennis. He is very much interested in the sports field. His favorite cricket player is Sachin Tendulkar like every other Indian. He is also a great fond of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. They are his current favorites.
Educational background of Kanishak Kataria
Kanishak has been a very diligent and bright student since his school days. He completed his schooling at St. Paul Senior Secondary School which is in Kota, Rajasthan. In his class 10th board exam, Kanishak got 94% and in his 12th board exam, he received 96%. Thereafter, he went to IIT Bombay to complete his bachelor’s degree. Kanishak gave his first attempt at the UPSC examination without any preparation, so he did not succeed.
Finally, in 2019, Kanishak Kataria qualified for the UPSC exam with the first rank in his first attempt. Qualifying the UPSC exam is itself a big deal and with AIR 1 in just his second attempt is worth remembering. Thus, he is a true inspiration for the aspirants out there.
“The support of my life”- quoted by Kanishak Kataria
Family background of Kanishak Kataria
Kanishak Kataria came from a highly educated background. His father, Sanwar Mal Verma is the Director of the Social Justice and Empowerment Department of Rajasthan, an honorable civil servant who has been fulfilling all his duties for many years. His uncle is also a servant of civil service.
Kanishak’s mother is a homemaker. His elder sister, Tanmaya Kataria is a medical student at Man Singh Hospital. Kanishak is married to Sonal Chauhan who is a software developer. and not only this but Kanishak’s uncle K.C Verma is also an IAS by profession which also inspired him.
During his struggling days, Kanishak’s biggest inspiration was his family. His parents have always been very supportive of his dream. Kanishak and his wife, Sonal both are very proud of each other’s achievements.
What was Kanishak Kataria’s reaction to getting the 1st rank in the exam?
“I was utterly in shock to get the results, I thought I did well but this much I never expected, and for all of this I would like to be grateful to my parents and also the love of my life, my girlfriend who has been patient and supportive towards my choices.
Breaking stereotypes together
In India, especially there is thinking that if someone is in a relationship or has a love interest they are more likely to do bad academically or generally assumed to be dumb.
But Kanishak Kataria proved all those beliefs wrong, He is a very simple and sorted man who knows well how to prioritize his work and manage his time well, In his interview after he bagged the 1st rank in the UPSC CSE exam in 2018, besides his family he proudly thanked his girlfriend for his success and he believes that his love also had a huge role in his success and without her being patient and supportive this journey of being the IAS would be a heck more difficult thing.
Is kanishak Kataria married?
Of course, that’s a yes, after achieving his goal he tied the knots with his one love, Sonal who is also a software developer at a reputed IT firm.
Many social media platforms and Twitter handles also praised how Kanishak Kataria praised his girlfriend despite all the so-called beliefs that say that “having a girlfriend is bad ”
Early achievements and evergreen success of brilliant Kanishak Kataria
- Kanishak Kataria has always been an aspiring student and has never failed anyone’s expectations mostly, in the year 2010 Kanishak bagged 44th All India rank in the IIT JEE exam which is a highly competitive ug level exam.
- In the same year, he also achieved the 3rd rank in his state and All India rank 24 in another hard exam AIEEE
- Kanishak Kataria got the 1st rank in the 11th National science olympiad and not only this he also managed to get the 2nd rank in the mathematics olympiad in the year 2009.
- It might not be that surprising if we inform you that Kanishak Kataria was also the recipient of the KVPY scholarship in 2009.
- Another scholarship bagged by our very own Kanishak is the NTSE scholarship which is the National Talent Search Examination.
Brief view at the marks of UPSC topper Kanishak Kataria
A student does a lot of preparation and puts in a lot of hard work to crack the UPSC exam. They give their one hundred percent to score their own best.
The achiever AIR 1 of 2019 UPSC exam, Kanishak Kataria’s mark sheet is a thing that must be looked at.
His marks are as follows
| Mains exam | 942/1750 |
| Interview test | 179/275 |
| Total marks | 1121/2025 |
| Essay Paper | 133/250 |
| General studies paper 1 | 98/250 |
| General studies paper 2 | 117/250 |
| General studies paper 3 | 117/250 |
| General studies paper 4 | 116/250 |
| Optional 1(mathematics) | 170/250 |
| Optional 2 (mathematics) | 191/250 |
To get these marks, one has to give their best. Keep scrolling to get to know how Kanishak received these mind-blowing marks and book suggestions which should be positively read by all aspirants.
Optional Subject
A key to scoring good marks is to select carefully a subject as your optional subject.
As the selection of your optional subject is totally on the students so the responsibility of choosing the perfect subject also increases. But there are some basic points which should be kept in mind while choosing the subject.
- Firstly, you must have an interest in that subject. If you do not like that subject, it will be like mis-using the power of selecting the optional subject by candidates.
- Secondly, thoroughly research the subject which you will be choosing. See the questions that come from your selected subject from the previous year’s question papers. See the weightage of the subject and then decide.
- IAS Kanishak Kataria has chosen Mathematics as his optional subject which was an excellent strategy for him. He was from a science background and was fond of maths ever since, so it worked for him pretty well. He got 170 and 191 in optional subject 1 and optional subject 2 respectively. He said that maths is such a subject which is based on understanding and practicing. Kanishak knew what he was choosing and why he was choosing it. So candidates, choose wisely the subject you are choosing. Know your strengths and weaknesses and select your optional subject.
Unique strategies for unique students!
Before starting any kind of competitive exam making or following a strategy is one of the foremost things to do, let’s get a look at the mind-blowing strategies made by topper Kanishak Kataria.
- The first and foremost thing to do is to have a reason for taking up this extremely difficult path because the journey till the end is not going to be an easy one and to stay till the last and aspirants need a correct mindset to hold themselves till the end.
- Every aspirant must have their unique styles and strategies, not every person is similar, and likewise not every student has the same strengths and weaknesses, for example, few students are comfortable studying at night and few are comfortable studying early in the morning and changing their habits and going beyond it would only cause problems rather than solving them.
- Kanishak also used to hang out with some of his friends who were also preparing for the exams and realized how different people have different preferences and copying someone’s plan will not fetch anything even if the person you are copying from is a topper still it will be of no use.
- Self-motivation- works like a charm nothing can motivate you unless you get up and take things into your own hands.
Kanishak Kataria not only gave many valuable tips but as well as he suggested many books for the aspirants that might be of great use because students at the early stage are generally very confused about their books and materials and mostly try to take up different books suggested by various people but none of them are mostly accurate and most students have to go through a very tiring process of hit and trial method to find their suitable books.
So to ease that process here are some genuine suggestions of the books.
What are the best books for History in UPSC preparation?
- Ancient History by R.S Sharma
- History of medieval India by Satish Chandra.
- World and post-independence by vision material.
- A brief history of modern India by spectrum.
What are the best books for the UPSC exam for the subject of Geography?
- NCERT textbooks from grades 11th and 12th are important as hell.
- Certificate Physical and human geography by GC Leong
What are the best books on society optional subjects in UPSC?
- NCERT textbooks from class 12th
- Vision material
What are the best books on Indian polity for UPSC?
- Laxmikanth
- Lukamaan IAS notes
- Vision 365 notes
What are the best governance books in UPSC?
- Lukmaan IAS notes
- International relations
- Vision mains 365 material
- Reverse learning from test series and questions
What are the books suggested by Kanishak Kataria for economics in UPSC exams?
- Economics NCERT book from class 11th and 12th
- Vision IAS notes
- Vision Mains 365 notes
What are the recommended books on internal security for UPSC exams?
- International security by Ashok Kumar IPS
- Vision mains material
What is the best book for agriculture in UPSC?
- NCERT books
- Self notes
What is the best book for an ethics paper?
- Lexicon
- Lukmaan 100 case studies
What are the books suggested by Kanishak Kataria for the environment in UPSC exams?
- 12th NCERT biology especially the last unit named “ecology”.
- Vision notes
- Vision 365 material.
Final words
It happens quite a time that candidates tend to lose motivation. Even after giving their best, preparing day and night, the result is not up to the mark. This is solely because of a lack of inspiration.
Think about IAS Kanishak Kataria, he has achieved so many things in life but he has not been born with his achievements. Kanishak has started from zero and was an aspirant at a time just like any of you. If he can do this, then why not you? With determination and hard work, anything can be achieved in life. Remember Rome was not built in a day. So work hard every day and never lose your focus. Keep reading thesreal-lifefe stories to get the motivation from time to time and believe in yourself.
