From Fields to Finals: Shepherd’s Son Cracks UPSC, Celebrates with a Lamb Gift from Family

In a story that is the quintessence of perseverance, Karnataka village Kodliwada's Hanumanthappa Yallappa Nandi, age 29, emerged rank 910 in the UPSC Civil Services Exam on his eighth attempt—and assisting with rounding up his family sheep. Raised by a farmhand father and a shepherd mother, Hanumanthappa's journey from shepherding sheep to cracking India's hardest test has been inspiring competitors struggling against economic as well as system handicaps.

Born to Yallappa and Kalavva, who work as a shepherd and daily-wage laborer, respectively, Hanumanthappa studied in government schools before earning a mechanical engineering degree from Belagavi’s Gogte Institute of Technology. 

His UPSC preparation spanned eight years, marked by financial hardships and relentless perseverance. He juggled studies at Bengaluru’s Shankara IAS and Akka IAS coaching centers while managing minimal resources, often relying on scholarships and family sacrifices.

His victory report was enough to awaken joy in Kodliwada, as his neighbors together with the family came to celebrate his triumph. His father gifted him a lamb as a symbolic reminder of their humble beginning and he reminded him, "This lamb reminds him where he comes from."

 Hanumanthappa, who wants to serve the marginalized sections in Indian Revenue or Railway Services, owes his success to his parents' support and gurus such as Shankara IAS Academy.

His success is an illustration of Birdev's (AIR 551), the second shepherd's son, from Nanavadi village, illustrating the power of persistence in the face of institutional adversity. Both stories affirm the redemptive power of persistence in a setting where rural opponents can be excluded from experience and amenities coach-like.

Hanumanthappa's triumph—a confluence of individual will and village ethos—is proof that there need not be a role of circumstance-controlled fate. 

In his becoming the torch-bearer of the civil servant, his own transformation is a way-finder example for millions more who wish to transcend circumstance.