Making a Difference: The IAS as a Career

Making a Difference comes as a handy guidebook for IAS aspirants in the country. The preface is by Yogendra Narayan, a retired IAS officer and also the ex-chief secretary of U.P. The introduction is about the challenges and opportunities of IAS as a career. It also includes everything from the motives to join the IAS to the written exam to the personality test to the training required. The book also talks about the myths and realities about the IAS - interesting sections include questions about integrity, how citizens perceive the IAS, and what is the IAS' relationship with the political executive of the government.

Alok Ranjan did his BA (honors) in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi and MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad (IIM-A). He subsequently joined the IAS in 1978 after securing the fourth rank in the country. He was allotted to the UP (Uttar Pradesh) cadre. He served with distinction in various assignments in the State Government as well as Government of India before superannuating as Chief Secretary to the Government of UP in 2016.