[UPSC Interview 2022] – Transcript #285 : M Sathiyavathy Board, English literature Optional

Date of interview: 11.04.2023
Board: M Sathiyavathy ma’am
Optional: English literature
Work experience: Kerala Institute of Tourism and Travel Studies (Guest lecturer)
Relevant key words from DAF: Vivekananda,house captain, Research paper on Beauty as an Instrument of Racism, Subaltern studies, house captain at school, Voice Donation Project for Visually Challenged.

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Chairman

1. Have you resigned from the job?
2. What is this Voice Donation Project?
3. What does Barrier Free India mean for the visually challenged?
4. What were you teaching at a tourism institute?
5. How can you teach English to someone in a tourist place to their benefit and to others in general too?

Member 1

1. You studied at a school named Vivekananda, what was Vivekananda’s ideology?
2. What did you do as the house captain of your school?
3. What do you understand by Pan-India concept if you think of Kerala and West Bengal?
4. Have you been to Darjeeling? What is special about the place?
5. What are the major industries in Kerala? (Mentioned about IT sector)
6. What are IT companies doing in Kerala?
7. If you are posted as the DM of a village with gender inequality, what will you do?

Member 2

1. What was this paper on Beauty as an Instrument of Racism about?
2. Why is there a craze for football in Kerala?
3. Can oceans be used as a source of energy? (Mentioned tidal energy)
4. Who should take the initiative to install tidal energy?
5. What is your opinion on Sabarimala entry?

Chair: Have you made any attempts to enter Sabarimala?

Member 3

1. What was this subaltern studies conference about?
2. What were the major conclusions and follow-up activities?

Member 4

1. What is the difference between a tourist and a traveller?
2. When is World Tourism day?
3. What are the major issues faced by tourism industry after COVID?
4. What can be done to attract tourists after the pandemic? (He particularly asked about travel during the pandemic)
5. Both Kerala and Sri Lanka are dependent on tourism. Will Kerala face a situation similar to Lanka due to COVID?
6. What are the initiatives taken by your institute to address this?

Experience: It felt like more like a conversation. They were talking amongst themselves in between too.

Utility of one-on-one and mocks: As most of the questions were DAF based, they felt like a repetition of mock questions. One-on-ones can help to include some key words even within the limited scope of questions asked.