Manoj Kumar Sharma

Manoj Kumar Sharma
Born	(1975-07-03) 3 July 1975 Chambal, Madhya Pradesh, India
Education	Bachelor of Arts
Occupation	Police officer
Spouse	Shraddha Joshi Sharma
Children	2
Police career
Service	Indian Police Service (IPS)
Branch	Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)
Service years	2005 – present
Status	Active
Rank	Inspector General of Police

Manoj Kumar Sharma (born 3 July 1975) is an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer from the 2005 batch, assigned to the Maharashtra cadre. He currently serves as an Inspector General of Police in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). He hails from an impoverished village in Chambal, a region historically notorious for dacoity. His journey from poverty to becoming an IPS officer was chronicled in Anurag Pathak's book Twelfth Fail, which was later adapted into the film 12th Fail (2023).

Early education

Following his early education at a local school, Sharma successfully progressed through the eighth grade and later pursued his studies at Maharani Lakshmi Bai Government College of Excellence in Gwalior. However, his academic path encountered an unforeseen obstacle during the 12th grade exams.

Subsequently, he gained a B.A. in Hindi and history. Sharma faced numerous challenges in his pursuit of becoming an IPS officer. After several unsuccessful attempts at the Civil Services Examination, he finally succeeded on his fourth attempt, securing rank 121.

Career

Sharma is an Indian Police Service (IPS) from the 2005 batch, assigned to the Maharashtra cadre. He was promoted as the Inspector General of Police (IG) and currently serves in the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

Personal life

Manoj Kumar Sharma married Shraddha Joshi Sharma, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer. They have two children, a daughter and a son.

In popular culture

The 2023 film 12th Fail was based on Sharma's life, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. It features Vikrant Massey as Sharma. The film received widespread critical acclaim.

What’s so special in IPS Manoj Sharma?[1]

After having maybe more than a fair share of hardship. Till today his nature and humour are very appreciable with such a high responsibility ranking job. His attitude toward life, morals, and traits do stand out.

Traits of Manoj Sharma

• Honesty- Driven by the whole and sole motivation of honesty. Happily left his only place of survival when his honesty was doubted. It was the only place of work for a student to bear bread at that time. Manoj Sharma during one of his speeches also said “It’s not hard to be an IAS or IRS but it’s hard to be a man of morals.
• Gratitude – After receiving his first salary his gratitude was visiting his teacher first. Offer part of his first salary to his Guru to receive his blessings.

• Will – Every student can relate to leaving home. Living away in small rented rooms. In highly populated areas students with a coaching centre at each corner. Every head aims to achieve the goals of civil service. But his will to continue after taking many hits of failure is remarkable. He kept trying toward his goal on such an unpredictable path.
  • Self-work – Practice in solitude, making mistakes as in the past, and restart with learning and improving mistakes. While working in the library he gets inspired by the guest speakers. At night he improvises in preparation for the same, hoping for a bright future.
  • Attitude:- Still after being IPS Manoj Kumar Sharma‘s speech encourages thousands of candidates. He is motivated to learn from their journey, not just to pass exams. Always believe in the quote “The path taken strengthens us more than the destination reached.”
  • Risk Taker:- With every failure his family and friends also lose a little hope. He wants to go back to the ordinary of a farming family. To be a bread bearer by practising their old farming traditions. Here the risk-taking ability let him advance towards his path to success.