First Encounter with UPSC

UPSC Civil Services Interview Transcript

28th Match,2016.Arvind Saxena Board.Afternoon time .2nd one to go for interview.Posting only the Questions to make read easy.

Me:May I come in sir?

Chairman:Yes come in.

Me:Good Afternoon mam,good afternoon sirs.

Chairman:Ashutosh have a seat.So you are graduate from IIT Roorkee.

Me:Thank you Sir.Yes Sir.

Chairman:Ashutosh why do you want to come to the civil services after engineering?

Chairman:Have you heard of world cultural festival organised in Delhi?What were its environmental impacts?

Chairman:Why is so much emphasis given to floodplain being destroyed?What so special about it?

Lady member:Have you heard about COP21?

Lady member:What is the difference in stand between developed and developing countries?

Lady member:Whats your take on that?Who is correct?

Lady member:Are you with what happened in Paris?Is it good for India?

Lady Member:What is being done to clean Ganga?

Lady member:Why is there no result on the ground?

Member 2:So you are from IIT.So many IIT graduates come to civil services.Don’t you think the brain drain is happening?

Member 2:Isn’t this affecting the corporate world?

Member 2:Your optional is Geography?You might have travelled in India a lot?

Member 2:Have you seen map of India?Tell me the rivers you need to cross while travelling from Delhi to Kanyakumari?

Member 3:What is this “Make in India”?What is being done by government to make “make in India ” a success?

Member 3:What is the difference between “Make in India” and “Make for India”?

Member 3 :How to make “Make for India” possible?

Member 3:We stand so low on “Ease of doing business”.There is also a report related to it.What is government doing for it?

Member 3:Foreign companies which will come to India will need to do import-export?What are hindrances to that?

Member 3:Have you heard of single window in import-export?

Member 4:You might been taught by good Profs in IIT.What are the reasons their are vacancies in teaching in IITs?

Member 4:What should be done for attracting Profs?

Member 4:Why only curious about environment related issues?Is it child like curiousity?

Member 4:Have you heard of “Public Trust doctrine” in environment ?

Chairman: I have noticed a unique thing in your profile.You have filled DANICS(Group B) service as your 3rd choice,above many Group A services.Why this is so?

Chairman:Thank you Ashutosh,your Interview is over.

My interview lasted around 25 mins.Board was very cordial and all smiling except the lady member.She was expression-less.Chairman was noticing my every answer and movement and expression.He had a pleasant smile on his face.

Hoping for the best!!!

Should Freedom Of Speech Be An Absolute Right?

“A person’s Freedom is ensured when he ensures freedom of others.”

This Statement has been uttered by a great tall esteeming figure “Nelson Mandela”, Gandhi of South Africa. By this very statement, he wants to convey the message that everyone is free to the extent that he does not infringe upon the freedom of others. Freedom is something that everyone holds as he is born free. Everyone has the right to exercise this freedom, whether it is freedom of speech, expression or movement or anything else. Issue of freedom of speech has been too much in limelight in the recent past. There has been too much of hue & cry about it being in absolute sense or limited. Recently a liberal Bangladeshi Blogger Avijit Roy had been killed by the Fundamentalist blogger. Most probable reason for his killing is that he openly criticized about the fundamentalists’ ideas. Wendy Doniger book “The Hindus: The Alternative History” had to be pulled out of the market due to protests raised by some right-wing forces in the country. Not going in much past, some radical elements attacked the Charlie hebdo office. Charlie hebdo is a satirical magazine which had been famous for their liberal satires about religious beliefs and traditions. As evident by these examples, this issue is being debated across the world presently. It needs some serious thought.

“Everyone is born free but still bound by chains”.

This statement is true in whatever way we interpret it. If an individual wants to live in a society, he would have to have some restraints to follow the norms, notions of that very society. Same is the case with Indian society. From the very past in Indian families, Children had the freedom of speech but with certain limitations. They had to follow certain norms like respecting elders, using proper language, not creating dissent in the family etc. Indian Constitution provides the Fundamental Right of freedom of Speech. Nonetheless Our Constitution has also provided certain limitation to freedom of speech i.e. maintaining decency, public order etc. Many Constitutions around the world provide this right like USA, Britain, and France etc. Difference is that to what extent this right could be exercised? This difference varies from country to country depending upon their political scenario and other issues.

By exercising right of freedom of speech in absolute sense, a person could express his opinion in true sense. An individual’s creativity could be displayed; ideas could be generated without any fear. Learning could happen in an open way. Discussions and deliberations could take place freely on all types of issues. Strong voice could be raised against the political masters and their wrong doings. A progressive society could be built up where everyone is free to express.

We could not confidently say that providing right to freedom of speech in absolute sense would necessary lead to a progressive nation and society. Speech is not just associated with speaker or the one who is expressing. It is also associated with the listener or the one who judges the content of that speech. Everyone has his own way of interpreting the things. A person should be mature enough to understand whether the expression of speech was in good faith or having some malicious intentions. Taking the case of India, which is a developing country in a true sense, literacy rate is seventy percent and progressing slowly. So it is a high probability that a person who is illiterate could be moved by malicious speech content. India is that unique nation in the world community which is on extreme edge of a razor in many scenarios. It is multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-linguistic nation. Holding the people of India together requires some special efforts. These efforts have been taken in a brilliant manner by national personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, and Jawaharlal Lal Nehru etc. By the efforts of these people, a feeling of Nationalism has been generated in India and is well articulated in Our Constitution. Our Constitution provides has provided best of the ideals like equality, liberty, fraternity, Secularism etc. Any action or expression of speech which harms these principles should be judged with caution. There are infinite examples of misuse of freedom of speech to gain some political or cultural mileage. If a person is provided a free license to speak anything, it would lead to chaos, hate campaign derogatory remarks etc. It could defame a personality in unnecessary provocative manner. To the extent it could be a threat to a nation’s secular fabric and could lead to its disintegration. Fringe elements of the society like fundamentalist, separatists etc. could use this right for their personal, political and religious ambitions.

In the case of Charlie hebdo, act of terrorism is condemned to the full extent. There is also alternative dimension associated with it. From the past four to five years, Charlie Hebdo magazine was unnecessarily provoking Islamists by putting up Prophet’s image in a derogatory satirical way. Satire is good humour but it has to be with a right and positive intent. It should not be put up to provoke any community or religion. There is a serious lacuna to the human’s nature that When anyone is provided with excessive right, he tends to misuse it in all probability. He tends to forget his responsibility associated with the right.

As we know “Every Right comes with a responsibility” .This responsibility should be bearing in mind while exercising the right. The responsibility could be of upholding certain values, respecting others rights, maintaining decency etc. So it becomes imperative that every citizen should exercise his right to freedom of speech with responsibility. It is also necessary to have certain exceptions to this right in legal terms till the time India’s literacy level reaches hundred percent. After this maximum level is reached it should be left to the people to decide whether the speech was in good or bad faith.

Are the Standardized Tests good measures of academic ability?

Standardized tests really measure academic ability?

This Question is the most hotly debated and resonating topic for the past decade. Issue had been in the limelight due to increasing competition in the selected fields of study. There had been increasing mad rush for the fields like engineering, medical etc. Some analysis has shown that these examinations create a question mark on the further performance of a student wherever he gets selected. Let’s take the case of “Shyam”, who is now a MBA professional working for a MNC. He hails from a decent middle class family. He had continuously excelled in the exams he had appeared in. The year when he was in class 10^th, he did not possess any knowledge and know how about what to pursue after 10^th .The greatest dilemma was to choose between Mathematics and Biology Streams. His father had been consistently maintaining the position that he should pursue Mathematics. By the time when the exam results were out, seeing his good marks, his father made him to opt Mathematics. And he started preparation for Engineering Examination.

He excelled in his engineering examination and went to top University in the country. He was on the top of the world when he went to college and wanted to take full enjoyment out of his life there. Gradually as the years progressed, the lucrative prospects of a MBA degree started attracting him. He appeared for MBA entrance examination and excelled there too due to his hard preparation. Now he is working for hours in a MNC for a hefty six-figure pay but he is not happy with his life.

In the above story of Shyam , Question arises is that is there any genuine attraction towards the field or subject. Definitely, the answer is “NO”. Money was the only thing which was at the forefront and academic excellence was at the back-burner. Now the greatest debate lies in the question that what defines Academic Ability or Progress? Is it mere qualifying each and every examination which is competitive or is it sustained efforts towards academic excellence in a field where a person is genuinely interested? Let’s carry out this debate in the following course of and essay.

Now, the next question would be definitely that how to measure one’s academic ability. One of  the evaluation options is “Standardized test”. Standardized test carries a definite syllabus and definite eligibility criteria which charts out the course of examination. In India, some of these examinations are JEE-Mains for engineering, CLAT for Law and so on. The most basic feature of these examinations is that they are same for everyone who so ever appears in it. Competition level is too high. These examinations get the best out of a person. These require the sustained effort of one or two years to pass it. It requires increased level of patience and competence. Motivation for clearing the examination gets an exponential touch seeing the competition level.

But the question still remains that “Are we truly judging one’s ability in that particular field by the Standardized test”. Shyam’s case points us to look at the other scenario too. He cleared the entrance examination by his hard work but he doesn’t pursue his course to the best of his interest. He wants to enjoy best of his life which was missing during his course of preparation. This attitude definitely hampered his academics. He starts feeling the heat and mental stress. Dislike towards the subject increases and he starts looking for alternatives. By evaluating all the alternatives he zeroes on sitting for another competitive examination for a MBA degree. His ultimate solace becomes the “Money” not academic excellence. Now let us take the case that, had there been any other alternative mechanism for measuring academic ability other than only Standardized tests.

One of that alternative could have been “Continuous Evaluation Mechanism” ,right from the primary school level. Assignments and projects based on innovative thinking could have been given during each year’s study. Complimentary to this, continuous appraisal mechanism could have been setup. This would have led to a position in which teachers and parents might have been able to get good understanding about the ward’s interest and ability towards a particular field of study. And he would have pursued a career in that subject with genuine interest and passion. But we could not necessarily say that this would be the perfect solution for measuring ability. The biggest disadvantage of this evaluation is that there is no comparison happening with other students. This could lead to stagnation and lack of furtherance in efforts. Lethargic attitude could develop due to lack of competition. As the Popular saying goes

“No gain without Pain”.

So the need arises of some sort of method which would infuse competitiveness in the process of learning. For any field of study, there are some basic minimum standards which are required to pursue the subject. So judging the abilities for these basic standards becomes mandatory.

Now, seeing both the sides of a coin regarding measurement one’s academic ability. We could definitely say that neither of the two extremes are good measure of academic ability. The best alternative could be giving equal weights to both i.e. “Basic standards Test” and “Comprehensive evaluation” of past academic excellence in the field. A test could be conducted, added to this person’s profile and continuous engagement in that field during his previous studies could be taken for consideration .And a round of interview would be ice in the cake. This evaluation mechanism could land a person who will be competent enough as well as having genuine interest. Had Shyam gone through this mechanism, he might have been a happy and resourceful fellow.