[UPSC Interview 2025] – Transcript #108: Bidyut Behari Swain Board, Anthropology Optional, Madhya Pradesh Home State

Date of Interview: 08-01-2026
Board: Bidyut Behari Swain
Optional: Anthropology
Home State: Madhya Pradesh

Key DAF details: IIT Bombay, civil engineering, MP, anthropology, chess, cricket, Lashkar (Gwalior)

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Chairman

Chairman (listening to conversation carefully):
Q1) So, should we call you XY or Z?
Q2) You have graduated from, ‘the’ IIT Bombay. How was it?
Q3) I’ve asked this question multiple times but still would ask you again, why civil engineering is called civil engineering? What’s so civil about it? (everyone laughed as I stated an extra fact regarding it which even the chairman didn’t knew)

Member 1

Q1) Nobody wants to die a slow death, but it is happening right infront of our eyes. Can we file a writ petition in the courts against this slow death due to climate change? (mentioned about right against adverse effects of climate change)
Q2) Which main fundamental right gets involve in such a petition?
Q3) Important steps to counter air pollution.

Member 2

(little bit poker face, but overall he was acknowledging the answers, international relations):
Q1) You play both chess and cricket, which one of them do you think is more strategic and requires more mental awareness?
Q2) Let’s talk about Operation Sindoor.
Q3) What’s so different about this mission as compared to earlier strikes? (mentioned about water and blood can’t flow together, which led to follow-up question)
Q4) Discussion on PM’s statement of ‘any act of terror will be considered as an act of war against the terrorist org as well as the state sponsoring it’.
Q5) Consequences of pahalgam attack.
Q6) Present status of IWT. (mentioned about abeyance status)
Q7) Which rivers are given to Pakistan for its usage under IWT?
Q8) 3 levels of arbitration in IWT. (mentioned World Bank)
Q9) How World Bank got involved in bilateral relations of 2 nations?
Q10) India has put IWT in abeyance, can it also completely suspend the IWT unilaterally?
Q11) We have put IWT in abeyance, is it truly abeyance or just a symbolic action on our part? (stated that at present we don’t have the dams to stop the flow of rivers)
Q12) How relations of upper riparian and lower riparian states are governed?
Q13) China is building a very big dam in Brahmaputra, what will be its effects on India?
Q14) If China can build such big dams, should we also build dams and stop Pakistan’s entire lifeline?

Member 3

(mixed current affairs with static part of economics):
Q1) So, you were born in Lashkar (Gwalior), what is its significance?
Q2) Do you have interest in economics?
Q3) There has been an important stat released in relation to budget today about growth of India in this year. Could you tell its importance in making of budget? (about first advance estimates)
Q4) What does budget involves?
Q5) What should this year’s budget focus upon?
Q6) How can we improve credit availability?
Q7) For a common middle class person, how can we raise the credit availability via fiscal policy?

Member 4

(very interested in both the discussions on civil engineering and anthropology):
Q1) What are the main developments and advancements in civil engineering in last half a decade? (mentioned smart concrete)
Q2) Discussion on smart concrete.
Q3) What is self-healing concrete?
Q4) You have taken anthropology as your optional, even after graduating from the best institute of India, IIT Bombay. Was it only for the UPSC mains examination, or did you also have a genuine interest in it?
Q5) Name some tribes of MP. (mentioned Sahariya tribe)
Q6) Where is Saharia tribe found geographically in MP.
Q7) Is it a PVTG or not?
Q8) What are the differences between PVTGs and STs?
Q9) Full form of PVTG.
Q10) What are the issues faced by tribes? (mentioned about mentality of tribes)
Q11) You have mentioned that the tribe itself don’t want to send the children to school, what’s the reason behind it?
Q12) How can we alter their thoughts in order to make them understand that school is better for them?

> Interview Transcripts (CSPT-2025):
Chairman:
Q1) Do you want us to ask you something else? (replied with civil engineering, he said he don’t have the expertise in civil engineering, then everyone laughed, later he asked other members to ask couple of more questions)

M4 (again):
Q13) What do you understand by green engineering?
Q14) What is GRIHA rating system?
Q15) Do you know its exact parameters on which it is built upon?

Overall experience: It was a different experience when compared to mocks that I gave. It was a back-and-forth conversation, building up new questions by the answers I gave. Everyone had a smiling or a ‘not so’ poker face, which allowed me to get more confidence.