Everything you need to know about UPSC Topper Banna Venkatesh – AIR 15 UPSC Topper 2024
- Name: Banna Venkatesh
- Hometown/City: Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh
- Roll Number: 1010403
- Year of Appearance: 2024
- Attempts: Second
- Optional subject: Geography
- Graduated in: BTech (NIT Trichy)
Banna Venkatesh, from the district of Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, made it to the front page of newspapers with an All India Rank of 15 in the 2024 Civil Services Examination. What makes Banna Venkatesh’s journey unique is his transition from an engineer to a UPSC aspirant, then to an IPS officer, and finally to an IAS officer.
Banna Venkatesh’s Family Background
Banna Venkatesh was born and raised in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. He comes from a middle class family. His parents have been into agriculture since his childhood. Growing up in an agricultural family made Venkatesh aware of the problems faced by rural areas, motivating him towards a career as a civil servant. Banna Venkatesh’s parents were supportive towards his decisions and they were happy to see their son become an IAS officer.
Banna Venkatesh’s Educational Background
Banna Venkatesh did his Schooling from Srikakulam, his home village. He completed his schooling at Keshav Reddy School, Srikakulam. He completed his intermediate from Sri Chaitanya Junior College with 98.4% in 2015. After completing his intermediate, he joined NIT Trichy in 2015 for his BTech in ECE. He was part of the college cricket team during his time in NIT Trichy. He graduated from NIT Trichy in 2019 with a grade of 9.49.
Banna Venkatesh Work Experience
Banna Venkatesh worked as a summer Intern at IIT Hyderabad for a period of 3 months in 2018. As a summer Intern at IIT Hyderabad, he worked on the application of Machine learning algorithms in astronomy. After graduating from NIT in 2019, he started working as an associate Engineer in the VLSI domain at Qualcomm Chennai. He worked as an associate engineer for one and a half years in Qualcomm. He later worked as an Engineer at Qualcomm till August 2021. After that, he resigned from his full-time job at Qualcomm to start preparing for the civil service examination.
Banna Venkatesh Optional Paper
Banna Venkatesh had a deep interest in the subject of Geography, and he decided to choose Geography as his optional paper.
Banna Venkatesh UPSC Journey
Banna Venkatesh started preparing for civil services after resigning from his high paying job in 2021. He first appeared for the civil services examination in 2023. He not only cleared UPSC CSE in the first attempt, but also got a rank of 467. This led to his selection in the Indian Police Service. However, he had high aspirations and decided to attempt exams again in 2024 hoping to become an IAS officer. He cleared UPSC 2024 with an astonishing rank of 15.
Banna Venkatesh decided to be a civil servant with a goal to contribute towards society. He viewed civil services as a platform to bring positive change to the weaker sections of the society.
Banna Venkatesh’s Preparation Strategy
UPSC 2024 was his second attempt, the first being a successful attempt in 2023. He was already an IPS officer while he was preparing for his second attempt, which turned out to be his final attempt. Banna Venkatesh dedicated six months entirely to practising and improving his answer-writing skills. This resulted in enhancing his presentation skills in the UPSC examination. Even though he was busy being an IPS officer, he was committed to clearing the UPSC in his second attempt with a better rank. Regular revisions, mock tests, and feedback from mentors played a crucial role in his success.
From AIR 467 to AIR 15 in just one year, that’s what Banna Venkatesh achieved through his hard work and discipline. What makes this a standout performance is that he managed to improve his rank while serving as an IPS officer. Despite his busy schedule, he secured a top rank in one of the most competitive exams in the country.
Read more about UPSC AIR 1 (2024) Shakti Dubey and UPSC AIR 2 (2024) Harshita Goyal and other UPSE Toppers 2024
