Manoj Kumar Sharma is a 2005-batch Police Officer of the Maharashtra State Police (IPS) cadre. In October 2023, he hit the headlines after the release of a biopic titled Fail 12, which narrated the story of his efforts to become an IPS officer.
Wiki/Biography
Manoj Kumar Sharma was born on Thursday, July 3, 1975, in Bilgaon Chaudhari village, Morena, Madhya Pradesh, India (48 years old; as of 2023). His zodiac sign is Cancer. He was educated in Madhya Pradesh and later attended Maharani Laxmi Bai Government College of Excellence, Gwalior, from where he graduated. He then earned an MFA in History. He also holds a PhD in journalism. He completed his PhD while preparing for the UPSC examination.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Weight (approximately): 65kg
Hair color: black
Eye color: dark brown
family
Manoj Kumar Sharma was born into a lower-middle-class Hindu family in Madhya Pradesh.
Parents and siblings
His father, Ramveer Sharma, serves in the Agriculture Department of the Government of Madhya Pradesh. He has a brother and a sister.
Manoj and his mother outside the temple
wife and children
His wife Shraddha Joshi Sharma is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. The couple got married on December 5, 2005. They have two children, a son named Manas Sharma and a daughter.
Manoj Kumar Sharma and Shraddha Joshi Sharma photo
Manoj Kumar Sharma pictures with son and daughter
Relationships/Affairs
Manoj Sharma got into a relationship with Shraddha Joshi when he was in 12th grade. According to him, he was initially hesitant to propose to her because he was failing his classes; he later decided to propose to her. However, he proposes to her and says that if she accepts his proposal, he will work to change their future. He also claimed that Shraddha always motivated him to prepare for the UPSC civil services examination. Despite opposition from Shraddha’s family, she supported him.
Shraddha and Manoj
Indian Police Service (IPS): Success Stories
According to sources, Manoj Sharma’s academic performance was not good. He finished third in grades 9 and 10 and managed to pass grade 11 by cheating on his final exams. However, as he prepared for his Class 12 board examination, Morena was assigned a new sub-divisional magistrate (SDM). This new SDM directs schools to prevent cheating during exams. This resulted in him being unable to cheat and failing in all subjects except Hindi. Sharma said in an interview that after the incident, he realized the power of civil service officers and became a civil servant by passing the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission (MPPSC) examination. After completing his studies, he moved to Gwalior where he started his graduation and started preparing for PCS exams. While preparing for the PCS exam, Manoj came to know that there are some jobs that are higher than the ones you get after clearing the PCS exam, especially the ones you get after clearing the UPSC exam. With new goals in mind, he started preparing for the UPSC exam. Since he came from a poor background, his family could not support him financially, so he began to work at a faster pace to support himself. After graduation, he moved to Mukherjee Nagar, New Delhi, where he started preparing for UPSC. While preparing, he earns an extra Rs. by walking his dogs. 400. He later found a job as a peon in a library, which was helpful in preparing for the UPSC examination as the job gave him access to books that he could not afford earlier. He earned Rs. Library work costs 300 yuan per month. While living in Delhi, Manoj contacted Vikas Divyakirti, the founder of Drishti IAS, who offered to coach Manoj for free as he had no money to pay for school fees. In his first CSE attempt, Manoj was able to clear the preliminaries but could not clear the main event. He failed the heats on his second and third attempts. Manoj locked AIR 121 in the fourth attempt and picked the Indian Police Service (IPS). Manoj said in an interview that he was so confident about his fourth try that he started preparing for the interview without even waiting for the results. According to him, during the interview after the power was cleared, he was questioned by a bench of four interviewers. One of the interviewers asked him that a person who failed in school and had poor English skills might not be suitable for a civil service position. However, after he expressed his views, interviewers echoed him. In 2005, he reported to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad, Telangana, where he underwent the police training module. He completed training on August 22, 2005.
Photo taken by Manoj Kumar Sharma after completing police training at SVPNPA
Career after becoming an IPS officer
As an IPS officer, Sharma has served in various capacities in Maharashtra. While serving as Kolhapur Police Commissioner, he played a vital role in maintaining law and order situation by proactively handling protests against illegal collection of tolls on highways and rising sugarcane prices.
Photo by Manoj Kumar Sharma (IPS)
He also took part in many anti-Nazi operations in Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia, Yavatmal, Bhandara and Nanded. In 2015, he played a vital role in de-escalating the situation and preventing it from spiraling out of control when riots broke out in Maharashtra following the murder of Communist Party of India member Govind Pansare.
Manoj Kumar Sharma’s photo taken while serving in CISF
Thereafter, Manoj Kumar Sharma was posted to the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) as Deputy Inspector General (DIG). Later, he was posted to Mumbai as Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP).
Manoj Kumar Sharma attended a meeting during his tenure as ACP in Mumbai
Facts/Trivia
- Manoj Kumar Sharma received the titles of Simba and Singham for his service as a police officer in Maharashtra.
- Before becoming an IPS officer, Manoj wanted to become a clerk in the Madhya Pradesh government after completing his studies. To this end, he also plans to learn typing.
- After completing his studies, Manoj came to Gwalior with just Rs. 500 yuan and a bag of clothes.
- In 2021, writer Anurag Pathak wrote a book titled Twelfth Fail: Hara Vahi Jo Radha Nahi Lada Nahi’s biography, narrating the life struggles of Manoj Kumar Sharma.
Photos taken during the release of Manoj Kumar Sharma biopic
- Manoj revealed in an interview that he used to sleep on the sidewalk because his parents were poor and their home had no roof.
- Manoj said he was motivated to endure hardship after reading biographies of Alexei Maximovich Peshkov, also known as Maxim Gorky, and Abraham Lincoln. While preparing for UPSC, he also read several books written by Gajanan Madhav Muktibodh.
- Manoj revealed in an interview that the police impounded his vehicle while he was driving in Gwalior. Thereafter, he went to the Gwalior city police station and requested the police to release his vehicle.
- Manoj Kumar Sharma said his English was poor and he lacked basic understanding of the language. He once revealed that when he took the UPSC main examination, he wrote a 100% paper on “Terrorism in India”, and the question in the English test paper required candidates to write a paper on “Tourism in India”. He said that due to his poor English proficiency, he could not understand the questions correctly and had memorized the article “Terrorism in India” before the exam.
- In October 2023, the biopic “The 12th Failure” directed by popular director Vidhu Vinod Chopra will be released. Actor Vikrant Massey plays the role of IPS Manoj Kumar Sharma in the film.
Vikrant Massey plays Manoj Kumar Sharma in the movie “Failure 12”
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education