Karnataka's '12th Fail' moment: Shantappa Kurubara cracks UPSC exam

Bengaluru: Shantappa Kurubara, serving as a Police Sub-Inspector in Vidhana Soudha Police Station secured an All-India Rank of 644 in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examination-2023, results of which were announced on Tuesday.

Notably, Shantappa had failed the PUC examination twice but he did not let this deter his resolve and completed his graduation.

A native of Ballari, Shantappa’s father had passed away within a year of his birth. He pursued his education at a Kannada-medium government school and intending to join the government service.

After completing his graduation, Shantappa appeared for competitive exams and passed the PSI recruitment exam in 2015 whereafter he got appointed as a PSI.

Speaking about his journey, Shantappa said he studied for the exams by himself and did not receive any coaching. This was his eighth attempt at the UPSC examination and he says that he is happy to improve his ranking. “I took inspiration from ex-IPS officer Annamalai and am thankful to my senior officials for their cooperation.”

Shantappa was also instrumental in setting up a mobile public toilet on the Bengaluru-Tumakuru highway. He recalled the difficulty faced by his mother in locating a public toilet while waiting for the bus on this route. The initiative will help the public so that no one faces the hardships of his mother.