UPSC Interview 2024] – Transcript #73: Lt. Gen Raj Shukla Board, PSIR Optional, West Bengal Home State

Date of Interview: 4th April 2025
Board: Lt. Gen Raj Shukla Sir (Forenoon: 1st to go)
Optional: PSIR
Home State: West Bengal
Key DAF Details: Debating, West Bengal, PSIR Optional (rest not asked)

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Chairman

(entirely conversational- lots of back and forth with Sir- no Q&A as such- might have spent around 10 min on this):
1. So you were the President of the debating society- why is debating important
2. What is the point of students debating when at the highest levels of the country, we see a decline in quality
3. Nehru had said Vajpayee would be future PM after listening to his parliament speeches- Vajpayee also a statesman- civility, decorum, respect for opponents etc- now in India and in the US etc also, we don’t see that
4. How can we change this?
5. What is the role of social media? (At some point I had mentioned social media)
6. In history, accusations on both sides of distortions- opponents not saying unreasonable things, they are making an argument
7. Even for trump then- many cases against him- some fabricated, some true- liberals haven’t always been liberal
8. China says its political model delivers, democracy has stagnated, has democracy failed?
6. Will we see a change in the nature of debates and democracy in the future?

Member 1

1. What are the qualities of a good administrator? Is integrity not important (I had forgotten to mention it)
2. How many districts in WB. If you are posted in any district, what would be your priorities
4. A few good things and bad things about WB
5. Opportunities and threats wrt WB
6. Have you visited Tagore museum (I said no. Wasn’t sure which one he was talking about)

Member 2

1. Women’s reservation in parliament- do we need it, any issue with Article 16
2. Differences between old silk road and current silk road or BRI
3. What is snorkeling (no idea why this was randomly asked)

Member 3

1. 4th April significance? (I had looked this up- Martin Luther King assassination)
2. Impact of that? Which law was passed
3. Black lives matter movement
4. Difference between US and India’s affirmative action
5. Microsoft was also founded today- its impact?
6. Your Optional is PSIR- there are protests in Turkey, will the country become more authoritarian
7. What is the significance of Turkey for Europe
8. What are the issues between India and Turkey

Member 4

1. Just a more personal question- you have studied English, Hindi in school. Can you speak, write, read Bengali? Why is there a trend nowadays of children learning languages other than the mother tongue, what does it say about society

M4 only asked one question. Chairperson said thank you. In my case, this genuinely wasn’t a knowledge test at all. Could have appeared for an interview with these questions in January as well- general, analytical questions.

Mocks- 16 overall (Satyendranath Tagore centre in Kolkata, Vajiram, NextIAS, Drishti, Chahal, Vajirao etc etc) Got speaking practice and topic areas were repeated in actual interview