Winston Churchill said, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts”. Suraj Singh Parihar, whose life journey from being a BPO call centre employee to becoming an IPS officer of 2015 batch

will inspire you to never give up your dreams even in hostile situations. Suraj Singh, who is presently posted as ADC (aide-de-camp) to Governor of Chhattisgarh, has epitomised perseverance, steadfastness and ‘never say die’ spirit during his journey. Besides being a dutiful IPS officer, he has been laced with multi-faceted personality, and has been a national-level Hindi-poet, writer par brilliance, effective motivational speaker and career counselor.

Sharing his experiences of life, this industrious person, who had dreamt to be an IPS officer since his childhood, said, “I am from rural background and belong to a middle class family of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. I did not want to be a financial burden on my parents, so at the age of 17, I started a coaching centre, which was unsuccessful. Without getting dissuaded by my initial failure, I joined as marketing executive in Hindustan Unilever but I couldn’t do significantly well here also”.

Suraj Singh had been a Hindi medium candidate throughout and had been academically brilliant. In fact, he had been topper in class 12th UP Board exams and topper of his college as well. Adding another feather in his cap and bringing laurels to his family, he had become the recipient of prestigious President’s award ‘National Balshree honour’ for creative writing and poetry at the tender age of 15. Besides excelling stupendously in his studies, he had been state-level cricketer and a badminton and table-tennis player.

Subsequently, this laborious person had joined in an international call centre at Noida. Recollecting one bitter experience in his selection process for call centre job, this Arts Post- Graduate of Kanpur University said, “I was extremely dejected, when I flunked in the final selection round. You won’t believe, I virtually begged before the senior management to retain me for this job, who were kind enough to retain me. I worked day in and day out dedicatedly and my name got appeared in the wall of fame as the best seller of car insurance to the foreign clients”.

Life of Suraj Singh has been like a roller-coaster ride full of sharp twists and turns. After call centre job, exhibiting his astounding capability, he had passed eight Bank Probationary Officer (PO) exams. He had served at Bank of Maharashtra and then in State Bank of India for three years. But, the fire to achieve bigger aim had been still alive in him. Adding another jewel in his crown, he had passed the coveted SSC (graduate-level) exams and got selected as Inspector in Customs & Excise department.

But his thirst to achieve bigger milestone had not been quenched till now, and he cracked the hard-fought UPSC civil service exams and secured 334th rank to become Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. Even now, complacency didn’t creep in him, and his ultimate aim to become an IPS had been crystal clear in his mind. Eventually, at the age of 30, his Himalayan efforts had paid rich dividend, and he became IPS officer by securing 189th rank, which was

2nd rank amongst Hindi medium candidates. Even in his early thirties, iron-willed Suraj Singh had completed extremely tough and physically taxing training at National Police Academy, and also accomplished ‘commando course’ with alpha grade and strenuous training at Israel, which speaks volumes about the discipline and resoluteness of this effervescent person. This vivacious IPS officer had served at Rajnandgaon, Raipur, Dantewada and as first OSD and then first SP of newly created GPM district. During his service, he had done various commendable jobs and been able to leave an indelible imprint on the minds of people. As ASP Dantewada,displaying supreme audacity, he led many anti-Naxal operations. In his fight against left wing extremism, this visionary IPS had conceptualized a multi-pronged strategy and had made a film Nayi Subah Ka Sooraj and soulful song Bankar Tumne Naxalvadi to encourage Naxals to shun violence. He opines, “Education in tribal areas is the most potent weapon to counter Naxalism”. As first SP of newly-formed GPM district, Suraj Singh had been instrumental in building police infrastructure. Moreover, at GPM headquarter, he had set up Police Ki Paathshala, which is a unique library providing books for free to the underprivileged students appearing for competitive exams. Police Ki Paathshala had won accolades across the country. As ADC at Rajbhawan (Raipur), this kind-hearted cop had helped hundreds of corona patients across the country with the help of his benevolent volunteers. Suraj Singh’s spouse is a doctor and the couple has a son. He has lakhs of followers on social media.“As an IPS officer, I ultimately aspire to create nexus of good”, he said. Advising the youngsters, he said, “In this materialist world, one should have some spiritual and philosophical disposition, which will inevitably help to minimise stress.” Looking at the life journey of Suraj Singh Parihar, it can be said that he is truly a role-model for the youngsters.