UPSC Interview Transcript: Arvind Saxena Board, Working in PSU

Chairman

(looked at DAF, you have done this this etc etc )

What is your area of working, manufacturing , it , or clerical type ????

— sir , i am in material management , procurement .

Is it a challenging job ??

—-yes sir , it is a challenging job .

You work in …… , recent days we have heard of poor situation of bhel , what is situation ????

— yes sir , presently we are facing challenges and for next 3-4 years or even upto 10 years we may be having some challenges , but we are working on our weaknesses like:-

1. Expanding the business , presently having 70% business from thermal sector , so management planning to bring it down to 50% and expand in areas like railway , solar and.. these areas sir .
2. On management side , we have brought biometrics in organisation .
3. On technology side , we are working on AUSC technology with collaboration of NTPC and IGCAR .

In railways is it making loco ??

—– yes  sir , our ……….. plant is making loco .

Do you export loco ??

—— pardon sir , but i am not sure about it

What do you like to read in newspapers ????

—–(thinking ) sir everything that is relevant for our country .

We have seen 2nd generation which had expansion of steam engines etc , third generation which had presence of IT , and now 4th generation which is having ( here i failed to remain silent and my lips whispered iot) internet of things . Should india go for it or remain at second generation??

—–gave a pause – sir , i think both are required , fourth is required to make our country forward in technology , but 2nd also required so because we are having a large population and that will remain unemployed . So by using 2nd generation we are required to generate employment . So both are required .

Tell me your views over Israel palestine issue???

——- sir , presently the solution for the issue is considered to be two state solution which is accepted by global community i.e one israel and one palestine, but this is not having progress . Israel is continuously making settlements in palestine especially west bank and this is making the solution infeasible as after having these settlements solution will be infeasible . ( then i thought i blamed only israel ) , but sir on other hand palestine is also equally responsible .

How ? When israel is making settlements ???

—— sir , because palestine is failing to show unity , not stopping terror attacks from gaza strip . Rather than calling palestine people a reson , i will call that palestine leaders are responsible .

Recently Mr. Erdogan from turkey called merkel to be fascist , why ???

—— sir i am having vague idea about the issue , may i?( chairman asked to continue ) , sir mr. Erdogan is trying to have constitutional amendment and change the structure from parliamentary system to presidential system and for this he wants support from people who are living in european countries . So he wanted to have entry….

1. Erdogan or any other ?????

—– Pardon sir , i can not recall exact .

Member 1

Make in india in defence what is performance of it ????

——– sir , i think it is too early to judge its performance

(With strange expression  ) too early ???????

——– yes sir , it has only two years that it has launched and we have allowed fdi 100% recently . As defence is a long term investment whether it is mnc or domestic , it will take time to judge the situation of country . But i feel that in long run this will succeed though presently we didn’t got any significant thing .

Ok, what should we make in india in defense  ???

—– sir , presently we are having good technology for missiles , we can think of fighter planes .

Should we make the fighters only for our IAF or export also ???

——– sir , both . We have to do both . We have to satisfy requiremebts of our iaf and also export so that we can gain good relations with other countries .

Where should we export???

—– sir north amrica is having tech.  Europe ia having , we can look for africa and latin america .

Are qe having any specific project ( do not rem qs exact)

—— sir , our HAL has developed Tejas which is fourth generation , and we are also working with russia on Fifth generation fighter aircraft.

Recently bangladesh has gained some technology in defence what is it ?

—— pardon sir , i can not recall

It has been given recently and obviously from china , what is it ????

—- pardon sir , can not recall .

What is status over  south china sea ??

—– sir south china sea dispute is between china and other countries around south china sea and PCA has given judgement against china .

What is china doing there , what exactly it is having there ???

— sir it is having construction in paracel , spartly islands and developed naval docking facility and ( thinking ) air strip .

(Smiling )Are you sure of air strip or guessing ???

—– pardon sir , but i am not sure about air strip .

Member 2

what is wild weasel ?? You have written you are two times runner up ???

——madam , it is a event organised by DTU and in this we are required to develop a robocar with electronic control and using that we are expected to clear a track which is full of gravels , mud , slope etc .

where have u trekked ???

—– madam , till now i have trekked triund , nag tibba , tungnath chandrashila , nilkanth and some minor treks .

Is it also having mountaineering ???

—– madam , as in these treks we have a summit to be done , they had mountaineering

Why do people climb mountains ????

—– madam , different people do it for different reasons. I do this because i like to enjoy beuty of nature and also i set a target to be achieved and i try to do that in minimum possible time .

Will you climb everest ???

—— madam i am aspirung to do that , but presently not having time .

After coming of Mr. Trump and there has been concerns for indian diaspora why???

—– madam after coming of trump there has been concerns regarfing H1B visas like , reducing the no. And incresing the fees . So this holds impact for our people and IT industry.

We see that our brain is going there , don’t you think we should reverse it ??

— yes madam , in recent periods we saw brain drain and it should be reversed . Our govt is trying to do that using make in india , skill india , digital india which will reuire more IT professionals . But we can not completely stop it because of globalisation .

You talked of globalisation but in recent time there is concerns against globalisation ??

)——- Yes madam , in recent time mr. Trump has said america for americans, pulled out of TPP  and we saw brexit . So these things show against globalisation .

Why trump pulled out of TPP ????

—— madam because mr. Trump thinks thag TPP is going to benefit other member countries more and jobs will be not created in US .

What is impact of US pulling out of TPP ?

—– madam positive as TPP would have caused trade diversion , increased standards of labour laws and IPR laws .

A long statement but i found crux that why not to have strict labour laws

—– madam , we have to balance two things , on one side we have to ensure tgat labour laws are not so strict that it turns away companies from country on other hand we have to ensure labour is not harassed and ecploited . Presently i do not think that we can have strict labour laws .

Member 3

You work in PSU, There is  ,maharatna ,  navratna etc hiw they are classified ???

—— sir , they are classified based on certain criteria , such as annual turnover , net worth , profit after tax ,global presence etc.

Yours is what ?

—– sir it is a maharatna organisation

You talked of AUSC , in which area is this ???

—– sir in thermal power

But you see that whatever we do we do jot achieve 100% eff ???

—– sir , because the ideal cycle carnot itself depends on high temp and low temp. Heat added at high temp and released at low ,. So there is a limit for that.

What is Ausc tech and why are we getting the improvement in efficiency

—- sir we will be working at very high temp and pr and the mean temp of heat addition will be increased . Presently having 39% eff and later on we will be having efficiency of 45%

what is other way to improve efficiency of cycle

——- sir , by using regeneration

What is exact change ??

– sir mean temp of heat addition .

Then he was trying to ask something diff , but i was not getting and ge said ok leave it .

Member 4

here I was most confused as qs were asked in a mixed sense but remained calm )

what is smart city definition

—— Sir,  whatever the document i have read (interrupted )

Which document

—– (confused ) and simply said that sir newspapers and pib .

Ok

—- sir smart city is a concept where we will be having basic facilities on one side and smart solutions in addition to them .combinedly these will provide smart city

What is progress in faridabad ?????

—- i kept thinking but was not able to think

can hisar be developed as a smart city

——- yes. Sir , it can be developed but presently we are working on 100 cities .

What are initiatives of govt for urban development ?

—– i named smart city and amrut ( but not sure ) so said sir abke to recall only smart city.

Who is responsible for urban development ??state or local govr ??

— sir both

How state???

—- sir state highways and giving grants to local bodies etc .

What is this counter magnet area .

— told

What are specific project for development in gour city –

—- pardon sir , i can not recall any specific project .

What type of local government are you having ???

—-Sir munivipal corporation

What do you expect from it to do for city???

—— sir in the direction of congestion of city , illegal encroachments , water on outslirts of city …

Who is having power regarding water ???

I was thinking

He smiled and said , actually i do not know who is there as different cities have different systems =.

—- i also smiled , and said pardon sir i am not sure .

whom should be more devolution of powers ? Local government or state ?

—–Sir , local governments ad they are more close to people and can have better supervision , better formulation of policied for people .

Why states not giving power when constitution says so ???

—- yes sir , it says so and also list is given regarding powers of local bodies , but it is not mandatory and depends on discretion of state legislature . So they are not giving powers to local bodies .

((( i am not able to recall what exactly happened during M4 , but sometimes i went blank , and where he asked specifically , i replied in calm and composed manner ))))

Chairman

Your interview is over 

All the best.

We will post UPSC Interview Transcripts regularly under the Interview Preparation Initiative.

Why Interview Transcripts?

• These transcripts are just a collection of UPSC Interview experiences from different candidates.
• The purpose of these transcripts is to provide individual experience and how they faced the board.
• In a way, it affects the way candidates are understood, the information they share, and the conclusions drawn.
• You’ll be able to identify the constraints and opportunities before you when facing the interview board.
• Though providing transcripts, which is a behind a scene task, the aim is to provide a valuable input that you are looking for that you are hesitant to ask someone.
• It might help to re-evaluate your approach , and take a look at what really needs to be done.