Key Points
And the same year, his dream of becoming an Indian Foreign Service officer was dealt a blow..
Manoj Soni, 59, described as honest and polite by friends and colleagues alike, was an unconventional UPSC chairperson.He always wore a conspicuous vermillion tilak on his forehead, was part of Prime Minister Narendra Modis trusted circle, and was a formidable interviewer, first as a UPSC member from 2017 and then its chairman since May last year..
Sonistrajectoryfrom a boy selling agarbattis on Mumbais streets tooccupyingone of the highestpositionsin New Delhiis a storyof politics,ambition,religion, and devotion.His ascent isfull of ironies:a monk whos also an academic, avicechancellor who was never afullprofessor, a UPSC chairperson whohad aspired to jointhe civil servicesbut never did...
Others said he was on a spiritual quest at the Anoopam Mission, where he was initiated as a nishkarma karmayogi(selfless worker) in 2020.And in Vadodara and Surat, there were rumblings that Soni had been declared heir apparent to thesect, which haslakhs of followers spread across India and overseas...
He could not get the service of his choice andso hethen switched over to academics, she said.. Having earned his MA after finally taking the exam, Soni enrolled as a PhD student at Sardar Patel University (SPU) and began an academic career that included teaching international relations from 1991 until 2016, barring his stints as a vice-chancellor...
