I remember the exact moment the numbers landed on my desk. Fifty-three Muslim candidates had cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination 2025, out of 958 successful candidates across India. I sat with that figure for a while, turning it over in my mind like a stone I have been polishing for thirty years.

It is not a huge number in a country of India’s size. But it signals something I have long waited to see that it gains  momentum. 

Last year, only 30 Muslims cleared the exam out of 1,009 candidates, about 3 percent, and none made it to the top 30 ranks. In 2023, the number was 50. In 2022, it was 29. 

The fresh figure marks a significant jump from previous years, and I will admit to feeling something I rarely allow myself: satisfaction. 

These young people have brought pride to their families, and to a community that has often found itself speaking from the margins. Their success speaks of dedication, perseverance, and years spent hunched over books while the world outside moved at a different pace. 

But I also know, with the certainty of someone who has watched this cycle repeat across decades, that this breakthrough did not happen by accident. My involvement with this question, how to increase Muslim representation in India’s civil services, began in earnest when I returned from an international assignment and joined the Institute of Management and Public Administration (IMPA) in Srinagar as Joint Director in 1988. 

India was different then, less connected, more formal, and the pathways into government service seemed to many young Muslims like routes through a closed garden. I could not accept that. 

Along with my colleague Mr Srivastava from the Indian Forest Service, we began visiting colleges with a simple philosophy: catch them young. 

We would arrive in lecture halls and seminar rooms, two middle-aged men with files and enthusiasm, trying to convince teenagers that the civil service was not somebody else’s inheritance.

The transition to Indira Gandhi National Open University in 1992 opened another door. At IGNOU, we conducted an analysis that surprised even us. We wanted to know who was purchasing our self-learning materials beyond our enrolled students. 

The answer came back clear and striking: civil service aspirants stood at the top of the list.

Our materials on various subjects were comprehensive, accessible, designed for independent study, and these young people had found them extremely useful for civil service preparation. They were teaching themselves, building ladders where none had been provided. 

This discovery deepened my commitment. If they were already reaching for these tools, imagine what might happen if someone actually handed them the full kit.

By 1997, I had connected with the Hamdard Coaching Centre in Delhi, operating under the direct patronage of Janab Syed Hamid Sahab. The following year, I secured a substantial donation of IGNOU materials for the centre. The response was immediate and encouraging. Candidates began qualifying for the written examinations in greater numbers than before. But then we hit a wall I had not anticipated, one that would shape my understanding of what real inclusion requires.

These young men and women were clearing the mains, surviving one of the world’s most demanding written examinations, only to falter at the personality test. They were stumbling on the subtle, learned art of presenting oneself to a panel of senior officials.

Beyond intelligence, this was about codes, confidence, and understanding how to occupy space in rooms where few people looked like you. I began taking Transactional Analysis classes for those who had qualified for the mains, focusing on communication patterns, self-perception, and the psychology of interaction. The results shifted, as more candidates began making it through.

I stepped away from mentoring when the UPSC asked me to serve as an Advisor for the Personality Tests, a role that conflicted with coaching. Since then, I have watched the results each year, and what I see troubles me.

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Coaching centres have multiplied across the country, particularly in areas with significant Muslim populations. The infrastructure for preparation has expanded dramatically. But the output, the number of successful candidates, has not grown proportionally. 

The mathematics do not add up, and I have spent considerable time understanding why. The fundamental issue, in my assessment, is fragmentation. 

These centres operate in isolation, competing for credit the moment results are announced, posting success stories on social media, claiming individual victories rather than building collective strength. There is hardly any coordination, shared strategy, pooling of resources or insights. Each centre reinvents methods that others have already tested. They simply duplicate efforts and miss opportunities for collaboration. 

A unified approach, a genuine joint strategy, would multiply their effectiveness. The talent is there, even the will is there, but what remains missing is the architecture of cooperation. 

But beyond coordination, awareness remains a persistent barrier. Many Muslim families, particularly in smaller towns and rural areas, simply do not know that this path exists for their children. They do not understand the examination structure, the preparation timeline, the financial and temporal commitments required. Information travels through narrow channels, reaching those already connected while bypassing those most in need of opportunity. This gap in knowledge translates directly into gaps in representation.

Then there is the question of foundation. Educational access within the Muslim community remains uneven, and financial independence, the ability to sustain years of preparation without immediate income, eludes many promising candidates. 

The civil services examination is a test of endurance, often requiring multiple attempts, full-time study, resources that stretch across years. Without underlying educational strength and economic support, even the most brilliant candidates face structural disadvantages that coaching alone cannot overcome.

I have come to believe that lasting change requires what I call cumulative impact, a long term joint effort that tackles these challenges together.

Educational institutions must coordinate early preparation, community groups must build awareness from the ground up, and government and philanthropic support must provide financial safety nets. 

None of these alone will suffice. Together, they might transform that figure of fifty-three into five hundred, and beyond.

I am often asked why this matters, why I have devoted so many years to this specific cause. The answer is simple and, I think, universally understood. 

A civil service that reflects India’s diversity serves India better. Decisions made in government offices affect Muslim citizens directly, in the name of policies on education, housing, employment, and justice. When those policies are shaped exclusively by people who have never lived inside the communities they regulate, the results are predictable and have been, too often, harmful. 

Representation is correction rather than charity. It is the mechanism by which a democracy learns to see itself whole. The fifty-three candidates who succeeded this year carry the possibility of change for those who follow. 

I have watched this work long enough to know that success breeds success, that each candidate who clears the examination becomes a map for others, a proof that the door can open.  But I have also watched long enough to know that maps require roads, and roads require builders working together rather than alone.

The work continues, and the numbers this year give me hope. The structures I have described give me purpose. I am seventy-seven years old now, and I have been conferred several national and international awards, including the Commonwealth of Learning President’s Award of Excellence, the Professional Excellence Award, and the Amity Academic Excellence Award. I have written eight books, contributed and , published dozens of papers, visited thirty-five countries across the world. But none of it has mattered to me quite as much as watching a young person from a background like mine walk into an interview room and know, truly know, that they belong there.

That is the bridge we are building. It has taken thirty years to lay this much foundation. 

I am an optimistic for a bright future for our generation next provided we get united in our thoughts and action.

 Prof. M. Aslam is a former Vice-Chancellor of IGNOU, Member of the Collegium of Eminent Social Scientists constituted by the ICSSR, Fellow of the EDI of the World Bank, Distinguished Fellow at AGRASRI, Tirupati, and Patron of the Hope Foundation, Vadodara.

© Kashmir Observer