[UPSC Interview 2021] – Transcript #10 : Bharat Bhushan Vyas Board, PSIR Optional

Date of Interview: 12/4/22, AN
Board: Bharat Bhushan Vyas
Optional: PSIR
Background: IITB: Aerospace engg with minor Humanities and social sciences

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Chairman

Vyas sir (VS) : U r from IITB aerospace with minor in HSS.

Me: Yes sir (smiling)

VS: Do aerospace graduates have good opportunities

A: Yes sir the opportunities are rising these days (smiling) VS: Ok tell me abt open skies treaty

A: sir open skies Treaty is among countries to allow monitoring of military activities He was waiting to hear more. I was waiting for him to ask follow up

Vyas sir: Ok, tell more. U want me to ask question i guess. So any country came out of the treaty? Me: Yes sir. Russia and US came out

VS: yes yes. Good. So What may be repurcussion of it?

Me: Sir, it signals the end of peace divided that is said to have prevailed after end of cold war. It also shows geopolitical flux that is happening

VS: Ok ok.. So i read in the newspaper today or yesterday. We are signing some Spatial awareness treaty with US. It is interesting. Tell me about it

Me: Sir I have limited knowledge about it sir however I think it is to have coop on position of various spacecrafts, satellites and space objects. Helps to collaborate on space missions and also for dealing with what some are calling space as 5th arena….

VS: ..he interrupted and asked

We also signed some more treaties recently with US. What is that and why we r signing all these Me: Sir India recently signed BECA…

VS: Yes yes.. u got me right. I was thinking abt it.. so tell..

Me: Sir these treaties on positions help both nations through interoperability and coordination for join projects and reduced bureaucratic hurdle.

VS: Ok..I read in some paper … EU wants to make FTA with India Why now?

Me: Sir FTA is called BTIA sir bilateral trade and invt agreement. Sir due to WTO becoming

dysfunctional and not working as desired, countries are going for sub regional trade pacts like TPP RCEP. EU wants to increase its market sir so does India. (Could have talked abt brexit..missed it)

VS: Is it also cos we have FTA with Aus and UAE now, EU wants to have one

Me: Sir that could be one of the reasons sir but FTA btw India and EU has been long coming. VS: yes yes they were negoting for long

VS: Ok final question from me. Informalisation of Indian economy- How, Good or bad, steps taken by India

Me: Sir India is said to be 85-93% informal. It means these companies arent registered with factories act and other such acts. It has both adv and disadv sir. Adv: less compliance cost disadv: less social sec for workers. We are taking steps to reduce sir. Esp after ES talked abt Dwarfism- we focused on reducing incentives that keep them dwarf and also easing doing biz and recently labour laws liberalised sir.

VS: Ok ..pointed to next member

Member 1

M1: what are the objectives of setting up Niti ayog

Me: Sir NITI ayog was formed ti reppace PC.. its objectives are ..firstly promoting coop fed in our fed sys; then providing direction to the nation through agenda and strategy documents; sir in a way it signals shift towards indicative planning

M1: What r sucesses of NITI

Me: Sir, in coop fed- it is promoting competitive fed sir- ranking sys like health indices for states and today in newspaper i read sir about energy index which gujarat topped sir. ( yeah a bit mixed up.. coop and competitive but i felt i conveyed the point well enuf). Secondly it gave 3 yr action agenda and 7yr strategy doc and finally sir it has imp role in TADP (aspiration dist)

M1:  We had 5 yr plan what is need for 7 yr and 3yr. 5yr is good.. it is linked to government tenure of 5 yrs

Me: Sir 7 yrs and 3yrs give more flexibility to govt and states. 7 year gives medium term vision and 3 yr gives Short term targets. Considering these plans are not linked to funding unlike in PC, it is better this way than 5 yr sir.

M1: Do u know abt TBML (some money laundering related) Me: Sir I know abt ML but i dont know abt that sir. Sorry sir. M1: Do u know about IPRs

Me: Yes sir

M1: How many IPRs are there, What are all there and who regulates in India. What they do

Me: Sir I will try to list them sir. Patents, GI, trade secret, trade marks, Copywright, and sir plant varieties also sir.

Took a pause and tried to tell who regulates. Couldn’t recall.. said..sir I am not able to recall sir. M1: Ok. So in intl trade who ensures these patents are adhered to.

Me: Sir WTO does it under TRIPS… interrupted

M1: No not that.. who checks if a nike product is not counterfeit? Me: Sir I dont know sir. Sorry.

M1: So do u know how many counterfeit products come to India Me: Sorry sir. I am not aware of it.

He asked next member to take over.

Member 2

M2: randomly started with bank fraud. No connection with my daf

M2: Do U use debit cards? Me: yes sir

M2: Were u defrauded ever

Me: smiling.. sir fortunately no sir.

M2: Do u know anyone defrauded?

Me: sir my parents told me abt their friends being victims M2: Did they recover money- Me: Mostly no sir

M2: How to improve awareness on digital frauds esp in senior citizens who r more vulnerable and in other marginal sections. And what grievance redressal is available for the victims

Me: sir need for awarenes creation-: RBI creating awarenss through its sms regularly. But more can be done sir like using panchayats and SHGs more for awarenss creation in elderly in rural areas sir. Govt is also implementing Vittiya Sakshatkaran Abhiyan where clg students go to villages and educate sir.

(felt that i lost a bit of presence of mind here as i didnt answer redressal mech available..forgot the second part of ques asked)

M2: What are redressal available for someone defrauded

Me: Sir there is banking ombudsman( he was not satisfied) sir there is also CERT In.. (sir said it is institutional structure but what is available for people

Me: Sir i am not aware sir, probably some cyber police are there but i am not sure sir. M2: Ok so u know abt AI, how much is it impacting our lives and how much will it impact Me: Sir it is already impacting us atleast in cities.. we have personal asst like Google and

Amazons products like Alexa sir. Also e comm companies use AI for microtargetting their products sir. So AI will be part of our lives sir. There is need for balance between regulation and innovation to get best benefits sir

M2: Will networked homes lead to security threat?

Me: Sir IoT that is internet of things gives us netowrked homes and Yes sir it creates security threat but we can use AI here to reduce threat

M2: U know abt localisation? Me: Sir I am reminded about RBI norms for data localisation where it asked payment companies to store data in India only sir

M2: Ok u worked in Media ( related stuff in my daf- online learning platform, he wanted to ask abt social media)

Me: Yes sir

M2: Shud media be regulated? Me: Sir Media is crucial for democracy so it shud be regulated sir but self regulation needed.

M2: Any self regulation now? Me: Sir there is PCI M2: What abt social media

Me: Sir GoI has brought IT intermediary rules sir. As per it social media companies must have one resident official to be held accountable for regulation sir.

Ok..next member

Member 3

M3: all Q about aerospace and related defense sector

M3: What r defense corridors

Me: Sir, Govt in recent budgets talked abt defense corridors..we r establising two of them.. defense corridors aim at creating complete supply chain sys for easy defense production sir. We are getting them in UP and TN sir

M3: . What is India doing in jet fighters

Me: Sir India has recently put in LCA Tejas sir and are working on AMCA which is 5th generation… Sorry sir 5.5 generation aircraft sir.

M3: How r US Israel superior from our jet fighters

Me: Sir i was talking to a frnd of mine in aero industry ( he started looking more interested).. he said aero is a first come first capture market. Once a tech comes it captures whole market and new compabies must focus on next level technology. This is making it harder for India. Others are Superior in speed, range, endurance etc sir. But Tejas and AMCA are comparable to Rafale and F35 s sir.

M3: U talked abt generations of fighter jets, and we have 4 generation 5 gen in mobile wifi etc.. u know what is i7 in computers

Me: no sir I donno

M3: it is also generation of tech (I knew that…but. thought he was expecting me to explain like a hardware engg)

M3: What is this generation in various technologies.. ehat does it represent

Me: Sir it reps upgrade in tech sir.. for ex 4Gvs 5G- latency, bandwidth and num of ppl who can use 5g under one cell tower will be more sir. So generation represents tech upgrade, efficiency and better user experience sir

M3: Do u Know abt any budget provisions for defense sector? –

Me: pause for a while and said..Sir i am not able to recall budget provisions byt i have been reading recently abiut govt efforts to prohibit import of some technology in defense.. we are keeping them in negative import list sir so that defense indigenisation is promoted.(Budget actually had similar things.. when i checked after coming back)

(he seemed interested in what i was speaking on the whole)

Member 5 (Shortest time taken)

M5: u have HSS minor..Shud Humanities be taught to engineering students. How it helps

Me: Mam it shud be surely taught mam. Even our NEP talks about multidisciplinary approach in education and also easy exit options to change streams. I read a quote mam about tech: Tech without humanity is a sin. That way Humanities can make tech more humane mam

Member 4

M4: Thats ok..one aspect is humane tech but How it improved ur mental faculties

Me: After longer pause… Mam while tech and engg focuses on logical thinking and innovation, humanities has more emphasis on experiential learning and empirical studies mam.. we talk to people and their problems. And in Psir we read abt political philosophy..it also expanded my horizons mam

M4: 7 pillars of Gati shakti Me: Sorry mam I dont know

M4: Ok forget pillars u know what Gati shakti is?

Me: Yes mam. It aims at ensuring coord aming various ministries and dept for better infra projects completion.

M4: Which infra?

Me: Mam infra like ports roads and even digital infrA.. M4: Railways.. this that… Also…

Me: Yes mam. Thank u mam

Done ..over to chairman

Chairman: Thank u. All the best for ur future Me: Standing up. Thank u sir. Thank u mam………. etc

Overall i was smiling most of time with Chairman asking. He was happy that I was answering what he expected like BECA, status of EU Ind FTA.

Other members werent very cordial.. so i didnt smile much too.

Dealt with M3 very well. He looked impressed. M4 mam i think i used quote on tech well. M2 except bank fraud ques ..did well

M1: Except NITI ayog related questions didnt answer other 2-3 questions at all. Probably the least impressed

Except at 2 places didnt fumble while speaking. Confidence through out. Flow of answers well. My Voice was loud enuf.

Had to speak a bit faster cos they werent giving me much space to talk. It felt like a rapid fire QnA. Tried my best to give my views where possible as they were not at all asking me my opinions except 2-3 questions.

Felt i showed depth in aerospace and psir.

Chairman was barely looking at me after his turn. He was doing something in his book/phone

On the whole: No hints on how my PT went from the panel. But I felt good after PT. Now over to UPSC.