Kolkata , WEST BENGAL :
A girl from Kolkata has become the first Muslim woman ever to top the West Bengal Commercial Tax Service. What makes Suraiya Ghaffar’s achievement sweeter is the fact that she has cleared the “state’s toughest examination” as a general category candidate despite qualifying for backward class quota, reflecting a growing trend among meritorious Muslim students of giving OBC reservation a miss.
In the commercial tax category itself in which Suraiya has topped, three of the top five candidates are Muslims, who despite qualifying for reservation, cleared as general category candidates. Mohammed Shabbar Khan has stood second and Mohammed Azhar Khan fifth. A total of 40 candidates have made it to the commercial tax service.
Suraiya, 23, was confident that her sound academic background would see her through. “If I wanted I could have taken the reservation route but I decided to test my skill by appearing as a general category candidate. Since age is on my side, I am entitled to several attempts,” she said, sitting in her husband’s Shibpur residence. Maqsood Hasan is in the West Bengal Police Service.
A senior official of the minority affairs and madrasah education department confirmed that Suraiya is the first Muslim girl ever to top the commercial tax service.
Close to 50,000 aspirants sat for the WBCS examination in 2014 out of which 4,000 qualified for the second stage termed as “mains”. Only 400 made it to the interview stage for the services listed in Group A and Group B. Apart from commercial tax service, Group A includes executive, labour, excise and agriculture services. Group B consists of the state’s police service. The results were declared last week.
Suraiya is the eldest of five siblings in a home with limited financial resources. Her father Abdul Ghaffar Khan works in the electricity department of the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited.
Overcoming hurdles is nothing new for this girl from Metiabruz. After finishing her higher secondary from a local school, Suraiya enrolled into an Honours course in Chemistry in a college in central Kolkata for which she had to travel for almost two hours every day.
The girl, whose role model is her father, did not lose sight of her dreams, even after her marriage to Maqsood in 2014. Hard work, determination and resilience helped Suraiya sail through the written and interview rounds of WBCS in the first attempt.
When she is not glued to her books, Suraiya is inseparable from her smartphone. Beside her academic achievements, Suraiya has another accomplishment to boast of — her chemistry with her husband.
Even before marriage, Maqsood used to encourage Suraiya to sit for competitive exams. He helped her with the study material, tutorials and did all the research work for her so that she could concentrate on her studies completely.
“I would even serve food to her when the exams were approaching,” smiled Maqsood.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Zeeshan Javed, TNN / January 25th, 2016