Son of Daily-Wage Labourers Quits Rs 20 Lakh Job, Becomes IPS Officer
Sharan Kamble, raised by daily-wage labourers in Maharashtra's Solapur, left a Rs 20 lakh job to prepare for UPSC and is now a 2021-batch IPS officer.
An IPS officer's journey from a village in Maharashtra's Solapur district to the Rajasthan cadre has drawn attention to the distance that determination and family support can cover.
Sharan Gopinath Kamble was born in Tadwale village, where his parents, Gopinath Kamble and his mother, worked as daily-wage labourers and sold vegetables. Neither had much formal education, but both were committed to ensuring their son received one.
Kamble studied at a government school in his village. For Classes 11 and 12, he travelled close to 12 kilometres each day to attend school. The family home had no electricity until he reached Class 11, and he frequently studied at night by the light of a kerosene lantern.
He went on to study at Walchand College of Engineering in Sangli, where he pursued a BTech after clearing the Maharashtra CET. He later completed an MTech in Electronic Systems Engineering at IISc Bengaluru. A private-sector offer worth around Rs 20 lakh a year did not divert him from public service.
Kamble moved to Delhi to prepare for the UPSC examinations, supported in part by a Maharashtra government scholarship of Rs 12,000 per month for eight months.
His preparation yielded results across multiple examinations. In 2019, he secured All India Rank 8 in the UPSC CAPF (AC) examination. He cleared the Civil Services Examination 2020 with AIR 542 and joined the Indian Police Service. He also secured Rank 127 in the Indian Forest Service but chose to continue in the IPS.
As a 2021-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Kamble served as ACP, Sanchore, in Jalore district, a border area adjoining Gujarat. His work against drug trafficking and narcotics abuse earned him the DGP Disc on Republic Day. His efforts included action against organised drug networks as well as awareness campaigns against practices such as offering opium and poppy pods at weddings and local functions.
From studying under a lantern to serving as an IPS officer, his story reflects the role of education, persistence and a family's steadfast support.