From grandson of a Chambal ‘baaghi’ to cracking the IIT entrance, leaving a job in the Netherlands and eventually securing All India Rank 629 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination, Dev Prabhakar Singh Tomar’s journey has taken him through vastly different worlds.
Growing up in a village in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, Tomar studied in a Madhya Pradesh Board school before moving to a CBSE school in Class 6. He later secured admission to IIT Ropar, worked as a scientist with Philips in the Netherlands and eventually returned to India to pursue his civil services dream.
His path to the UPSC was far from straightforward. Tomar failed to clear the examination five times, despite reaching the interview stage twice. In his sixth and final attempt, he cleared the UPSC CSE 2025 and secured AIR 629. He was subsequently selected for the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) and is now serving in the Ministry of Railways.
Story starts with his grandfather
Tomar recently recounted his journey in a Josh Talks address, where he spoke about his family and the choices that shaped his own life.
His grandfather became a ‘baaghi’, or rebel, in the Chambal region around 75 years ago following family difficulties and disputes with authorities at the time. His father, however, chose a different route.
Father left village to pursue education
Tomar said his father wanted to study, secure salaried employment and build a life away from the circumstances of the village.
He eventually left for Gwalior without informing his elders and continued his education there. He later became a teacher.
That decision marked a significant change in the family’s trajectory. The next generation would move even further away from the life associated with the Chambal ravines.
Tomar began his schooling under the Madhya Pradesh Board. When he moved to a CBSE school in Class 6, he found the transition difficult, particularly because of differences in the academic environment and language.
By Class 11, he had started considering engineering and became interested in the IITs.
No coaching, prepared with books
Unlike many students who travel to coaching hubs for engineering entrance preparation, Tomar prepared on his own.
He said his family could not afford coaching, so he relied on books and self-study while continuing his regular schooling. He appeared for the engineering entrance examination alongside his Class 12 examinations.
His efforts eventually took him to IIT Ropar, where he studied Electrical Engineering from 2014 to 2018.
From IIT Ropar to Philips in Netherlands
After graduating from IIT Ropar, Tomar initially faced another setback: he was unable to secure a job while several of his friends were being placed.
He then began applying independently and eventually received an opportunity with Philips in the Netherlands.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Tomar worked as a scientist at Philips from July 2017 to August 2018. He moved to the Netherlands and worked near Amsterdam, where he later received a pre-placement offer.
But while he had established a career abroad, Tomar had begun thinking about another goal — joining the civil services.
He 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.
5 UPSC attempts, 2 interviews and repeated setbacks
The decision did not immediately produce the result he wanted.
Tomar’s first UPSC attempt ended at the preliminary stage. He missed the cut-off by 12.5 marks. In his second attempt, he came much closer, but still missed the cut-off by 2.5 marks.
He continued preparing and eventually progressed through the preliminary and mains examinations to reach the interview stage. But the final result brought another disappointment.
Tomar later reached the interview stage again. By then, he had also started working as a teacher in Delhi while continuing his UPSC preparation.
His April 2024 LinkedIn post captured how deeply the repeated failures had affected him.
“Unlike all other UPSC success stories, this is a UPSC failure story.”
Tomar wrote that he had made five attempts, cleared mains three times and appeared for two interviews, but still could not make it to the final list.
He described himself as “Devastated, Disheartened & Destroyed” and wrote that he had “wasted” his early 20s pursuing the UPSC dream.
He also warned fellow aspirants to choose their dreams carefully, based on his own experience of repeated disappointment.
Final attempt brings AIR 629
Despite those setbacks, Tomar decided to make one final attempt.
In an April 2025 LinkedIn post, he revealed that the sixth attempt had finally produced the result he had been waiting for.
“This year, in my final attempt, I conquered the UPSC CSE with AIR 629!”
Tomar said each setback had strengthened his resilience and helped him sharpen his preparation strategy. He also credited his technical background as an IIT Ropar Electrical Engineering graduate for helping him approach the preparation strategically.
The result came as a major turnaround from the despair he had described a year earlier.
He had secured AIR 629 in UPSC CSE 2025 and was subsequently selected for the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS).
Three generations, three different choices
Tomar’s journey now spans three generations of his family and three very different choices.
His story therefore goes beyond a conventional UPSC success narrative. It traces a family’s movement from a difficult rural past towards education, professional mobility and public service.
For Tomar, the AIR 629 represents not only the culmination of years of preparation but also the outcome of a series of choices that took him from a village in Morena to IIT Ropar, from India to the Netherlands and finally to the Ministry of Railways.