From Chambal’s troubled past to UPSC, Dev Tomar cracks civil services exam

For generations, Dev Prabhakar Singh Tomar’s family was associated with a very different Chambal story — one shaped by poverty, violence and men who took to the ravines.

Tomar chose another path. Growing up in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, he went on to study at IIT Ropar, work for Philips in the Netherlands and eventually give up a promising career abroad to prepare for the UPSC Civil Services Examination.

After several setbacks, he secured All India Rank 629 in UPSC CSE 2025 and was selected for the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS). He is now serving in the Ministry of Railways.

Tomar recently recounted the journey in a Josh Talks address describing not only the years of preparation behind his achievement but also the family history he had to rise above.

‘My story starts with my grandfather’

For Tomar, the story began long before IIT or the UPSC examination.

He said his grandfather became a baaghi, or rebel, around 75 years ago following family difficulties and disputes with authorities at the time. Tomar explained that while people in the region used the term baaghi, police records could describe such men as dacoits.

The decision had consequences for the family.

Tomar recalled that there were periods when his family struggled even to arrange enough food. His uncle later followed a similar path and became a baaghi.

But Tomar’s father decided to break away from that life.

His father chose education over the ravines

Tomar said his father wanted to study, secure salaried employment and build a life outside the village.

He eventually left for Gwalior without informing his elders and continued his education there. He later became a teacher.

That decision changed the direction of the family — and eventually shaped Tomar’s own ambitions.

Tomar studied under the Madhya Pradesh Board for his first five years before moving to a CBSE school in Class 6. The shift exposed him to a different academic environment and language, making the transition difficult for a student from a rural background.

It was in Class 11 that he first began thinking seriously about the IITs.

Students around him were preparing for engineering entrance examinations, and Tomar decided to attempt the same. With no money for coaching in Kota, he prepared at home using books and appeared for the entrance examination alongside his Class 12 examinations.

He secured admission to IIT Ropar, where he studied Electrical Engineering.

IIT Ropar led him to the Netherlands

After graduating from IIT, Tomar looked for opportunities outside the campus recruitment process. His search eventually took him to Philips in the Netherlands, where he worked near Amsterdam and later received a pre-placement offer.

He had a stable career abroad, but the experience also made him reconsider what he wanted to do.

The idea of joining the civil services had begun to take hold.

Tomar eventually decided that preparing seriously for the UPSC examination while working full-time would be difficult. He resigned from his job and returned to India.

Two early failures changed his strategy

His first UPSC attempt ended at the preliminary stage. He missed the cut-off by 12.5 marks. The second attempt brought him much closer, but he still fell short — this time by 2.5 marks.

Rather than abandoning the examination, Tomar went back to his preparation and analysed his mistakes. He realised that simply studying more material was not enough. His preparation had to be closely aligned with the demands of the examination.

He changed his strategy and continued.

Eventually, he cleared the preliminary examination and mains and reached the interview stage. But the final result brought another disappointment.

He tried again.

By then, Tomar had started working as a teacher in Delhi. With encouragement from his family, he continued preparing for the civil services examination while working.

Once again, he cleared the preliminary examination and reached the interview stage.

The result that finally carried his name

The decisive moment came when the UPSC result was announced.

According to Tomar’s account, he was at home with his wife when the result appeared at around 1.30 pm. He opened the list and searched for his name.

Previous attempts had ended in disappointment. This time, the search produced a different result. Dev Prabhakar Singh Tomar was on the list.

He had secured AIR 629 in UPSC CSE 2025 and was subsequently selected for the Indian Railway Traffic Service.

Today, his journey has taken him from a village in Morena to the Ministry of Railways — a path that looks markedly different from the one taken by earlier generations of his family.

His story spans three generations and three very different choices: a grandfather who became a baaghi, a father who left the village to pursue education and a grandson who chose engineering, crossed national borders for work and eventually entered the civil services.

For Tomar, the journey was not simply about clearing an examination. It was also about changing the direction of a family story.