An IAS officer, Rohit feels that if you are true to yourself and have the fire to do something for the people, then things will automatically become easier for you.

Rohit Singh is an IAS officer serving as the District Collector and ADM in Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh. He has been working for the last ten years.

Rohit hails from Raipur Karchuliyan village in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. He did his schooling at Sri Aurobindo Bal Vidya Mandir Mahsua, which was near his village.

Rohit says that he has always been motivated by the life stories of  Sri Aurobindo and Subhash Chandra Bose. Besides, as a result of his parents' frequent meetings with the District Collector and other officials, Rohit was naturally inspired and motivated to pursue a career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Speaking about his professional journey, Rohit says that as his first independent charge, he was appointed SDO and SDM of Baihar, Balaghat, which is a naxalite affected area as well as a tribal area.  To familiarize himself with the needs of the local tribespeople and work for their welfare, he walked around incognito in all those places to conceal his identity.  After getting posted in many such challenging places, he got an opportunity to work for tribals in Patalkot village, Tamia tehsil of Chhindwara, where he had to travel 23 km on foot to reach the village.

Working in Datia, Jhabua, and other difficult locations has given him a wealth of experience, and every day and moment brings him new ones.

Speaking about his mistakes, Rohit says that we always make mistakes but we should keep moving forward, learning from them.

When asked about his achievements, Rohit responds in a very humble manner that he has not yet attained anything worth mentioning. But, he says he continues to make an effort to ensure that anyone who comes to his office with high expectations to have their complaints resolved leaves happy. When he was posted in Jhabua he implemented the government of India's Ayushman Niramaya Health Insurance program, which provided people with coverage up to Rs 5 lakh.This campaign increased the number of people registered in the scheme from 4% of Jhabua's population to 42% in just four months. The smiles on the faces of those who benefited from this program began to return to Jhabua, which gave Rohit a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Describing his COVID experience, Rohit says he got posted to the Datia  district just before the Corona lockdown. Datia  is a border district and is surrounded by other states on three sides. As a result, during the lockdown, laborers migrating from various parts of the country passed through Datia  on their way back to their states.

To help the migrant laborers, Rohit started an initiative "Saathi Haath Badhana." With the support of our volunteer groups, he arranged vehicles and food for the migrants.

When asked about his role models, Rohit says he considers both Sri Aurobindo and Subhash Chandra Bose as his role models. He says that his school was based on the philosophy of Sri Aurobindo. He used to hear about Sri Aurobindo all the time from his parents, who were social workers. In addition, he was also quite fascinated by the fact that, in addition to being a scholar, philosopher and yogi, Sri Aurobindo also excelled in school and passed the British era civil service examination. Inspired by both of them, he also wanted to become an ICS officer.

Rohit says in order to maintain a work-life balance, and since his wife is also an IAS officer, he makes sure that he never takes office work home and they never discuss it.

Rohit life mantra has been that no matter how much pressure or anxiety he is going through, he has always been himself.

Rohit likes to play the tabla in his leisure time. Whenever he gets time, he also likes to watch South Indian movies. Along with this, he has been associated with yoga and meditation from the beginning.

Rohit gives a message to the youth that be true to yourself, and the rest of the circumstances will automatically become easier.

Rohit advises UPSC aspirants that the process of preparation is to first start preparing for the interviews and not follow the conventional process of an exam. According to him, students should first develop the personality of an IAS officer for the interview, they should really have the fire to serve and bring change to the lives of people. After that, written exams are a part of the process, which they will be able to clear easily with their enthusiasm.

According to him, Vivekananda once said that this country can undergo change with the help of just 100 people. Try to be one of those 100 people, and the rest of the journey will go smoothly because of the fire you have inside.