Captain Rameshwar Singh Thakur’s flight of courage.
Courage and strong will make a man reach where he wants to reach.
When someone is determined to reach the destination, no one can stop him, the biggest example of this thing is Rameshwar Singh Thakur. Thakur was raised by his maternal aunt and his uncle who was a part time HHG volunteer and a farmer, after his mother died when he was only two years of age. Rameshwar Singh Thakur will hold the post of chairman in the Public Service Commission till 2026. Rameshwar Singh Thakur is now 58 years old and will remain in the commission till the age of 62. Rameshwar Singh Thakur has two sons, both are in the Air Force. Rameshwar Singh Thakur is decorated with the President’s Medal. He was on the post of IG Intelligence. Before joining the police service, he held the rank of Captain in the Army.
He got his schooling upto Matric from Government High School Ghanahatti. Being good at studies he always wanted to pursue higher education but his uncle’s income was not sufficient that is why he was not able to send him to college. However his merit position in Matriculation exams came handy as he was awarded scholarship which helped him in getting admitted to Government College Sanjauli and from There he graduated in first division in BA (Hons) in 1984. Then he got admission in post Graduation in Economics department of HP University. But after clearing Ist year he got selected for SSC and joined OTA in Oct 1985. He passed out with flying colours from there by securing 7th rank and was commissioned into a very reputed Infantry Battalion of Indian Army where he served from 1986-1991. He has proved with his hard work that when you want to achieve any position, even a language like English cannot come in the way of anyone. Many people think that understanding English and speaking with accurate accent is very important to progress and reach a good rank. But he has proved that it is just a myth and instead of believing such myths one should believe in one’s hard work and oneself.
Due to his home circumstances he has to leave the army after 5 years contractual period. After leaving army he did farming till April 1993 and then joined as Security officer in IDBI where he worked till August 1994. He after clearing HPPS joined Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1994. As a trainee police officer in the Punjab Police Academy, broke 103 years record of the Academy by securing all the 3 awards of ‘Best in Indoor’, ‘Best in Outdoor’ and the ‘All Round Best Officer’ which was never awarded to single officer. Known for professionalism and dedication during field postings, he was handpicked for various challenging assignments in the State such as SDPO Paonta Sahib, SDPO Salooni, Additional SP Sirmour till 2001.
In 2001, He was selected for India’s elite VVIP Protection unit “Special Protection Group” (SPG) looking after the security of Prime Minister of India and Ex-Prime Ministers and has the honour to serve with I.K Gujral, H D Deve Gowda, A B Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh till 2010. On return from SPG he worked as Superintendent of Police, Crime Branch and as Police Chief of Sirmour, one of the border Districts in Himachal Pradesh, where he successfully investigated, supervised and solved many blind cases.
For professional and peaceful conduct of elections to the Vidhan Sabha of the State he was adjudged the best SP in the state by the Election Commission of India. He was then posted as DIG, CID –Narcotics where again he was instrumental in strengthening the newly created Narcotics unit in the State. On promotion as Inspector General, was posted to State Vigilance & Anti Corruption Bureau and was instrumental in bringing down the pendency of cases and enquiries by ensuring completion of investigation of old cases and enquiries and apprehending number of high ranking corrupt officials of various departments. He is well known for his clear image and considered a highly prestigious professional officer, who has brought laurels to the organization and post wherever he served.
A true team leader, he has the expertise to take his team along with him and produce results as per expectations of senior officers. He is also inrooted in agricultural and dairy farming activities at his native village. He is a well known figure in Shimla- Rural constituency and is considered a non-controversial and extremely social personality in the area.
ACHIEVEMENTS:
• Recipient of “Best in Tactics” award in Young Officers Course of Army
• Receipient of ‘Best in Indoor’, ‘Best in Outdoor’ and the ‘All Round Best Officer’ in basic training of Probationers at PPA Phillaur
• Recipient of Sainya Seva Medal in 1990
• High Altitude Medal in 1991
• Police Medal for Meritorious Services in 2006,
• Police Special Duty Medal (SPG) in 2010
• President Police Medal for Distinguished Services in 2016
• Recipient of Prestigious International “Clark R. Bavin Wildlife Enforcement Award” awarded on 20th August 2019 during the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) at Geneva for excellent work in combating wildlife crime internationally
• Recipient of the rarely awarded “Interpol Appreciation” for his outstanding work in the field of combating wildlife crime in Asia
Diary Times wants to share with you a very interesting anecdote related to his life. When he was young he had to write an essay on my father in school, so he wrote an essay on his uncle, but got deducted one mark. And it was cut because he misspelled the word ‘Chowkidar’. Returning home he told his uncle that why can’t you become a peon, because of you my chowkidar was spelled wrong. There are many other such stories which give a glimpse of his hard work and dedication. All of you must have seen in movies that a hardworking child used to study sitting under the street light due to poor financial condition of the house. Rameshwar Singh Thakur’s childhood was also like this, and he did not let his financial condition come in the way of his progress. His interest in studies and hard work have taken him to the point where people are also getting inspired by him.
Rameshwar Singh Thakur’s life was filled with many hardships, but his courage and vision were so strong that no one could stop his path. The result of their hard work is that today he has been appointed as the chairman of HPPSC. We should also take inspiration from his life that difficulties will have to be faced to reach the intended place.
Kumud Sharma is the First Well-Known Female Journalist of the Journalism World of Himachal Pradesh. I am the Founder, Editor in Chief, Managing Director, Promoter of DiaryTimes. As a Female Journalist, With My Experience of More Than Nine Years, I Tell You Every News of Himachal Pradesh From The Ground Level With Absolutely Accurate and Correct Information, Be it the Politics of Himachal Pradesh or the Ground Reality, My Perspective On Every News Will Give You Assurance. I Assure You That Every News of Mine Will Comply With the Expertise and Fact Checking Policy.
