Dr Vikas Divyakirti, founder and managing director of “Drishti IAS”, is popular among the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam aspirants. He has taught for the past two decades with specialties in Hindi Sahitya, philosophy, history, and many other exam subjects.
Due to his simplicity and knowledge of various subjects, students call him “Abdul Kalam”. Along with knowledge, Dr Divyakirti is known for his entertaining way of teaching. He is not only an educator but also an author who has written and published some of his works.
Dr Vikas was also popular at his university, where he participated in every debate held at the college. He was in the limelight a few years back as he opposed the Civil Service aptitude test (CSAT) idea. He has appeared in many TV debates too.
Early life and family background of Dr. Vikas Divyakirti
Dr Vikas was born on December 26, 1976, in Bhiwani, Haryana. He was brought up in Haryana for a few years and did his schooling at Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Haryana. He belongs to an educated family background where his father, who belongs to the Arya Samaj, was a professor, while his mother was a school teacher in Haryana. He got married to Dr Taruna Verma on 26 May 1997. The couple has a son named Satwik.
Due to some family issues, he and his family moved to south Haryana, Faridabad. He and his brother worked as painters. He earned a lot of cash prizes from debates. Dr Divyakirti, 46, is the youngest sibling. He has two elder brothers. Furthermore, he studied at Zakir Hussain College of Delhi University (DU), where he completed his bachelor’s in history. In their Master’s, he changed his subjects to Hindi and sociology.
He was a studio child. He holds a master’s, an M.Phil, and a Ph.D. He was fond of filmmaking. Due to this, he also achieved a degree in filmmaking.
Career
After doing a master’s, he decided to take the UPSC exam. In 1996, he made his first attempt. He cleared all three stages of the exam, secured a rank of 384, and then was allotted the Ministry of Home Affairs. He worked for it but resigned from the dream rank and post. During his first attempt, he married Dr Taruna Verma and had a son named Satwik Divyakirti. He took his second attempt and decided to teach students. He taught 12 students in his hostel’s first batch of Hindi Sahitya.
According to his interest, he changed his optional paper several times. He failed in his next attempt. While staying in Delhi, he tried his third attempt but failed. He did not decide to give up and rejoined teaching students and decided to take his last attempt.
In his fourth and last attempt, he failed the main examination. Since then, he has started his coaching centre in Mukherjee Nagar. He established a full-fledged institute named “Drishti IAS” on November 1, 1999. Earlier it was confined to Mukherjee Nagar only, but now it has a few more branches.
During his debating competitions, he met Dr Vijendra Chouhan. Due to his critical thinking and analysis, he joined Drishti IAS as an interviewer.
Dr Vikas Divyakirti and CSAT
According to Vikas Divyakirti, the Civil Service aptitude test (CSAT) was a hurdle for students. CSAT was in the English language. Aspirants appearing in their local or Hindi language had to face problems. He considered this move by UPSC to be biased. On the other hand, UPSC described this idea as an opportunity for students.
UPSC introduced CSAT in 2011. He fought for the students and suggested some measures to the commission to maintain equality for Hindi-medium students.
Hobbies and Likings
Dr Vikas Divyakirti likes to read books and novels in his spare time. He is fond of making and watching films. In an interview, Dr Divyakirti described his desire to be a filmmaker. He even did a course for that. His favourite film is Lunchbox.
