Suraj Tiwari (UPSC)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Suraj Tiwari

• Suraj Tiwari is an Indian civil servant who is known for holding the 917th rank in UPSC 2022 despite being physically challenged.

• His family was not financially strong so he and his elder brother both used to work in big corporate companies and earned Rs. 12,000 per month to help the family.

• After completing his schooling, he went to Delhi to pursue his graduation.

• On 24 January 2017, while he was travelling from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, he slipped and fell on the tracks and met with an accident in Ghaziabad.

• He was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre, where he received treatment for four months. According to him, his treatment cost around Rs. 14 lakh so his father took a loan of Rs. 8 Lakh. After the treatment, he got to know that he had lost both his legs from the knee down, his right arm to the elbow, and two fingers of his left hand.

• The accident made him fall into depression. In an interview, he said that when he was admitted to AIIMS, he used to think of himself as a burden. During his time in the hospital, he came in contact with Akshansh Gupta, who was a Jawaharlal Nehru University alumnus who has cerebral palsy. Akshansh asked him to study and prepare for the Jawaharlal Nehru University entrance exam. He also gave him books to study. In the interview, he further said that after meeting Akshansh, he felt some hope in life.

• While he was recovering from the accident and depression, there came another obstacle in his life. His father fell ill and required surgery. On 25 May 2017, his elder brother Rahul passed away in a road accident which made him more depressed. He was unable to focus on his studies, because of which, he could not clear the entrance exam. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
  

  I had lost my limbs and brother, our economic condition became very bad. At that time, I lost the will to live. I wanted to take my own life. Par main toh iss layak bhi nahi tha ki khud se mar sakoon (I wasn’t even capable of killing myself).”

• He started preparing for the entrance exam again and got to know that JNU had decided to hold entrance exams twice a year, in May and December. After receiving the news, he only studied for three months and appeared for the December 2021 exams. In an interview, he said,
  

  When I got to know I had another shot, I gave it my all. For three months, I only studied and appeared for the December exams. When I finally got through, I was on top of the world. For people like me, there is no life without education.”

• After taking admission to JNU, he used to get Rs. 2,500 every month as his Merit-cum-Means (MCM) scholarship and another Rs 2,500 each month as an escort allowance. In college, sometimes, he was not able to pay the hostel fee but people helped him out. In an interview, he talked about this and said,
  

  Whether it’s giving me money when I don’t have it, or helping me in other ways, students and teachers here have golden hearts. I am preparing for IAS now. This university is heaven on earth for me. It has given me everything. Whatever I become from here on is to JNU’s credit.”

• In 2023, the UPSC CSE results were declared, where Suraj held the 917th rank. He cleared the exam on the first attempt. In an interview, he said that he used to study continuously for 18 hours to prepare for the exam. After the results were announced, his family was very happy and their relatives and neighbours congratulated them. In an interview, his father said that he was very happy and could not believe his son had cleared the exam.