[Official] CS INTERVIEW 2019 PREPARATION : COMBAT

CSE 2019 Personality Test Transcript

Name- ***********

Home- ***********

B.Tech in EE from IITK

Indian Forest Service (2019 batch)

Extra-curricular activities- Good Governance Yatra 208, fitness through jogging and gym

CP

1. Question about service- IRTS or IFS? Sir, last I got selected in both. I chose Indian Forest Service

2. Have you been allotted cadres? Yes Sir, my cadre is Madhya Pradesh

3. Good Governance Yatra- Brief about it
Sir, it was a trip organised by an NGO named Vision India Foundation, where we interacted with various eminent people and got exposure to various good governance projects.

4. Which parts of the country did you go to?
Sir, we went to southern States. We went to Goa, Mangaluru, Trivandrum, Chennai.

5. Which eminent people did you meet? What did you learn?
Sir, we met honourable DGP of Goa Dr. Muktesh Chander. We met honourable Governor of Goa Mrs. Mridula Sinha. We also met Honourable Chief Secretary of Kerala Tom Jose sir. We got to learn some good governance practices. For example, DGP sir of Goa told about us the importance of citizen police connect for better policing. Goa police has developed a portal wherein a citizen can upload a picture of traffic rules violation. This ensures better implementation of traffic rules. Apart from this, there was great degree of exchange of ideas among the fellow delegates.

M1

1. There was a term in today’s newspaper- tiger wine. What is it?
Sir, it is related to smuggling of wildlife products. Tigers bones are illegally trades. Their extract is used for medicinal purposes and is also added to wine. This is tiger wine.

2. What are the challenges for forest department in checking smuggling of wildlife products?
Sir, first there are multiple challenges. First, the borders are porous which makes smuggling easy. Second, there are constraints related to manpower, equipment, infrastructure and such things.

3. What do you understand by minimum government and maximum governance?
Sir, it means two things. First- government should simplify and rationalise its procedures, and second- Government should create a conducive environment for other players such as private players, voluntary organisation to actually deliver various services. Basically, the government should not be actual driver of the system, but a facilitator for other players.

4. Can private sector deliver welfare when the motive is profit making?
Sir, while private sector works for profit, they can deliver welfare in partnership with the government. They can do such things in education, healthcare and various other sectors. For example, in Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana, citizens can seek treatment in private sector, while Government provides insurance coverage.

5. What is PPP?
Sir, it stands for Public Private Partnership. It means public and private sectors collaborating to deliver various services.

6. What do you understand by terms such BOT, TOT, etc.
Sir, these terms reflect the terms of agreement between private player and government in a PPP framework. For example BOT means private player builds the infrastructure, operates it for sometime and then transfers the control to the government.

7. What is the incentive for private players when they have to transfer control to Government?
Sir, private players are able to generate revenue and earn profit. It is only after they have reached their break-in point that they transfer the control to the government.

8. Government has no business to be in business? Do you agree?
Sir, I agree to a certain extent. There are sectors where market players cannot deliver effectively and public sector has to take care of things. But in other sectors, where private players can deliver well, the public sector should make an exit, while creating a conducive environment for private players. In fact, this is also reflected in the new policy of the government.

9. There is a proposal to privatise some train routes? Do you support it?
Sir, I have a slightly different viewpoint. Government is planning to privatise operations of some trains on some routes, but routes and infrastructure will stay with the government. And in my opinion, it is the right thing to do. It will generate competition in train operations, will improve service delivery, while generating additional revenue for the government through haulage charges.

10. Won’t it lead to job losses?
Sir, we are not replacing railways with private operations. We are just introducing private operations in addition to the already existing operations of railways. Plus, in private trains, the pilot and guard will be from the Railways only. So it won’t lead to job losses.

M2

1. How will good governance yatra help in civil services career?
Sir, it provided exposure to good governance projects, and based on those learnings, I would like to implement them in the areas, where I am posted, as per the local conditions. Plus, it also helped me in cultivating an all-India outlook as it had delegates from across the country.

2. In what ways citizens can participate in governance?
Sir, citizens can participate in governance at every level. I have seen this with my eyes when we went to Chandrapur, Maharashtra as part of introductory tour of IFS training. We went to a Community Forest Rights Village named Panchgaon. There, people were involved in making rules for the local committee, they had an independent audit mechanism, they had generated a revenue of Rs. 2.5 crore in last 3 years. Also, they were assisting forest department in various ways, including by cutting forest fire lines This is a perfect example of citizens’ participation in governance.

3. Any other ways citizens can participate in governance?
Sir, citizens can provide suggestions to government, for example, through mygov.in portal. Citizens can raise grievances against government functionaries

4. Have you heard of Jan Bhagidari?
Sir, although I have read about it somewhere, but I am not able to recall it.

5. How does digital technology help in governance?
Sir, digital technology improves governance by giving freedom from 3 things- time, place and person. Take the example of train ticket booking. A person can book the ticket anytime which is not restricted to ticket window opening hours. This is freedom from time. A person can book ticket from the comfort of his home. This is freedom from place. And he doesn’t have to interact with the person at the ticket window. This reduces discretion and hence improves governance. So, this is how digital technology improves governance.

6. In what ways digital technology can help in grievance redressal?
Sir, on digital technology offers platforms where citizens can raise grievances. Clear timelines are laid down so as to ensure timely redressal of grievances. For example, there is a portal of UP Govt., whose name I am not able to recollect. Citizens can directly raise grievances and there are clear timelines according to which grievance has to be resolved. Similarly, there is twitter seva of railways, where people can raise grievances against railway services and get timely help.

M3

1. There is a big paper mill in Saharanpur. Tell us something about it.
Sir, the name of the paper mill is Star Paper mills. It was established in 1930s by Bajoria family. It has contributed to the development of educational institutions in the vicinity, such as Central Pulp and Paper Research Institute, IIT Roorkee’s Saharanpur campus for pulp and paper technology. The prime locational factor for this industry is the availability of raw material. Saharanpur has Shiwalik forests in the north, combined with Eucalyptus and Poplar cultivation in agroforestry. All this ensures sufficient raw material availability for the mill.

2. Is water availability a locational factor?
Sir, it could be. On west of Saharanpur, we have Yamuna river. Plus whole of western UP region has well developed irrigation network. So water availability is not a problem.

3. Any environmental impact because of paper mill?
Sir, it is said that Eucalyptus and Poplar extract a lot of groundwater and thus contribute towards groundwater depletion. As they are raw material for paper mill, this could be one negative environmental impact of this industry.

4. What about water pollution?
Sorry Sir, I am not exactly aware of the technicalities of that.

5. What do you know about easement act?
Sir, this is an Act of 1882. I know one provision of this act. It says that a person who owns a piece of land also has complete ownership over the groundwater under that land.

6. Supreme Court has said that water should be treated as public resource? Isn’t easement act contradictory to it?
Indeed Sir. We should respect the suggestion given by Honourable Supreme Court and make amends to this law. Water should be treated as a public resource.

7. Suppose we treat water as public resource. As an administrator, what steps would you take under such situation?
Sir, first I would like to place limits on how much groundwater a person can extract. Secondly, I would like to check the contamination of groundwater by various pollutants. These are the 2 things that I can think of right now in this regard.

M4

1. What is the difference between teak of MP and Assam?
Sorry sir, I am not aware of that.

2. Government’s role in governance should be minimum? Irrespective of whether you subscribe to it or not, what do you understand by it?
Sir, it means that government should minimise its role, simplify and rationalise its procedures, while creative a conducive environment for other players to deliver.

3. Then who will deliver governance?
Sir, it is the citizens and their groups who should play a major role.

4. Any philosopher who gave this idea?
Sorry Sir, I don’t know.

5. What was Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of governance?
Sir, Mahatma Gandhi emphasised about decentralisation of powers in the hands of local level institutions.

6. We have failed on that. Isn’t it?
Sorry Sir, I have a different opinion here. We have made substantial progress towards decentralisation. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments have granted a constitutional status to PRIs and ULBs. Having said that there are challenges also. And overcoming those challenges is a continuous process.

7. How are they funded?
Sir, it is mainly the State Government that provides funds to them on the basis of recommendations of State Finance Commission.

8. Are the funds sufficient?
Sir, there are problems related to funding. One major issue is most of the funds are tied. Experts have recommended that funds should be untied, which means that local bodies should have the freedom to spend funds as per local conditions.

9. Do we have capability to take decisions at the local level?
Sir, we have a lot of wisdom at the local level. One example of this is Kudumbshree model of Kerala, where local people are making decisions very effectively at the ground level.

10. Who appoints the personnel at local level?
Sir, there are publicly elected representatives plus the officials appointed by the State government.

11. Then State Government exercises control. Isn’t it?
Sir, state government appointed officials are to serve the publicly elected representatives. It is the publicly elected representatives that have greater decision making power in local institutions.

CP- Thank You.

Me- Sir, I want to express my gratitude towards the board and the Commission for holding our interviews in such testing times. Thank you very much sir.

CSE 2019 Personality Test Transcript 2

PK Joshi board

Name- **********

Place- **********

Electrical engineering

Hobbies - Lawn tennis and Cricket

Working in financial services (pvt)

Just as I entered I glanced at all members everybody had grim faces only chairman was smiling, wished and smiled at everyone

CP

Q Where did you do your schooling? Where is it located?

Q: Why working in a financial sector job why not core?

A: (Said was not proficient plus had did projects in data analytics ML which attracted me)

Q: Transmission losses sources?

A: (Mentioned 3 forgot to mention corona losses)

Q: Solar power how is it generated the principle?

A: (Photoelectric effect explained)

Q: Limitations of solar power

A: (Told 3 - Storage, grid parity , transmission ( AC-DC).;

Chairman said what about area I said yes sir and explained how difficult it has been to implement NSM

M1

Q: Data is new oil explain

A: Monologue followed knowledge economy how data is fuelling new age business etc.)

Q: Role of social media and how is it changing marketing

A: (Long monologue with real life examples followed -insurance credit , recommendation engines)

Q: Disruptive tech

A: (Told only one said sorry)

F1: Till now she was very serious and every answer I gave she frowned

Q: Domestic violence act and dowry act? Are these necessary because not benefitted? ? Aren’t they anti men

A: (Humbly disagreed that they have been useless said deference has been added She counter questioned so you are saying that 0 dowry cases?

Q: What will you do as DM for women empowerment?

A: Told a differentiated strategy depending on rural and urban areas

Q: which states are with low and high women literacy?

A: high said Kerala and TN while low can I take a guess?

She said why not - so I told Bihar and UP , She said very safe guess and everyone laughed

Q: How to improve women education

A: Told how we can capture low hanging fruits like infra improvements -like toilets; nudging parents towards education

M2:

Q. Was very stern and every time I told any answer to any member he would smirk as if I am telling a joke

Q: What is DPSP what is FR and difference?

Q What are grand slams? What different in surfaces

A : got carried away on this explained grand slams difference of surfaces and how ball travels he was clearly not expecting all of this

Q: Is India Non-aligned or changed

A: Said sir India is multi aligned while pursuing strategic autonomy

M4:

Was smiling throughout and went quick fire

Q: Yogi Adityanath how many times MP from Gorakhpur?

A: Dont know sir

Q: Logo of Australian open?

Told

Q: And which is that player – don’t know sir

Q:First 200 in cricket?

A :SRT?

And in test - told Dravid

He said no Umrigar

Q: First 300

A: Sir Sehwag in Multan against Pakistan memorable (everyone laughed)

Q: 5 classical dances and states

A: Told 3 and said don’t remember sir

Q: Why people prefer banking jobs and why engineers go to non-core isn’t it a waste’

Q: which kind of bowler you are? Told sir medium fast

Q: can you swing? - No sir but bowl good leg cutters he laughed again

CP: Thank you your interview is over

• Confirm this with other students in private, as student may not speak in public as it can cause harassment to students, after I leave.
• Also taking help of their parents, if students are still not able to speak up about this.
• Inquiring the teacher in-charge of this scheme, without letting him know about the identity of complainant students.
• If S/he accepts it, then take appropriate disciplinary action against him/her.
• If S/he doesn't accept it, then launch a departmental inquiry against him, appointing a member of Gram Panchayat in this inquiry committee.
• And in both case, appoint a representative of Gram Sabha to check the quality of food being served to students on daily basis. That representative should be changed on daily basis as villagers may not have much time for it and it also reduces chances of collusion.

Note:- I have enough time to write this answer, you would not have had much time to respond in that mock.

FOR Case 1: 

Step 1 : An impromptu visit on one of the days. It should not appear that teachers are being harassed on one complain ( which might not be true) because we never know, such a direct action can lead to worsening of the student teacher relationship in the future. And in a govt school, it is very important to maintain this balance as a teacher there has a lot of responsibilities + needs proper support & motivation from the govt. 

Rest steps will follow. 

The idea should be to have more impromptu investigations - accountability + respect for the governing authority (DM) increases. 

Single day firefighting strategy won't serve in the long run.

Hello All, Here are some transcripts which I have received . You can share me your transcript over PM / DM or Whatsapp :)

https://forumias.com/post/detail/Interview-Transcripts-of-UPSC-CSE-2019-1582198634

Can these two be merged?

My take/s:-

Case study 1:-

1. Firstly , I’ll audit the place where food is being cooked, how it is being cooked and what all ingredients are used to cook.
2. Secondly, I’ll try consuming the food myself to have my own experience of quality and taste.
3. As the complaint was initiated by just one student, I will deploy a mean to collect collective feedback of as many students and teachers possible, like a small survey asking to rate several parameters like quality, taste of food provided in past one week.
4. If i find any discripency, ill order a departmental inquiry. Will terminate the services and cancel license of food providers if and when found guilty(Raj Kumar Rao’s image flashing at the back of my mind). Will take actions against school management if they are involved too.

 Case study 2

1. Will issue an order to all educational institutions to check the validity and authenticity of qualificational degrees and documents  before hiring and cross check those of  who are already hired.
2. Will circulate an announcement in local media to nudge people for whistle blowing.
3. Will try conducting a webinar/ media interview or share on my social media like twitter or YouTube channel and let the residents of the district know about the incident without disclosing personal identity of the accused and caution them to stay alert.( example-Deepak Rawat)

Case Study 3

1.will try to conduct a sting operation by portraying myself as a common man visiting the shop to get entitled grains.

2.If i find the owner of shop at guilty red handed, like charging more than prescribed price or selling low quality grains, will seal his shop.

3.Post finding him guilty on the spot, will issue an order for departmental inquiry asking the owner to provide all the necessary documents to ascertain if any laundering has been committed or not. When further found guilty, will cancel his license plus seal his shop forever.

P.S.- as you mentioned that one feedback that you got was not to beat around the bush, it might be because you would be trying to catch your left ear by your right hand via moving your right arm around  your neck rather than holding it directly with your left hand. In other words, though you must be suggesting valid steps but would be doing in a wrong manner, like using lengthy sentences or trying to create a story or something like that and may be that is why you got that feedback. Try working on that and with God’s grace, you will nail all the future interviews that you will give. All the best!

For case study 3 similarly checking the official register/accounts could be first step to start with .

@Neyawn do you agree with approach which was suggested to me (i.e straightway start official proceedings)?
In any case do let us know what do you think a good answer could be in this case 

You’re welcome and thank you as well!

Talking about wether to  take a direct action first then starting departmental proceedings, here i would like to say that i will  first try to ascertain the situation in case study 1 with whatever best i can, in this situation it will be my eyes and tastebuds, akin to the way , wherein a judge pronounces his judgement after listening to both the sides, after his conscience is satisfactorily met that yes he has substantial evidence/material  in front to pronounce the judgement. 

Rest, experts will pool in their insights!

P.S.- one immediate action which can be taken instantly is suspension of services  provided by food supplier. For example, food in schools will be provided under mid-day meal scheme by some NGO. As soon as the DM gets to know about this complaint, s/he can suspend the org’s services till the time departmental inquiry is completed. Post the result, the same services can either be reinstated or terminated forever depending upon the proceedings of the inquiry. 

Thank you!

As Agog mentioned, the DM can search for  alternatives. You talked about feasibility. IMO, at that point, feasibility wont matter much because providing food to students will be utmost important. Also, departmental inquiry will take some time(on an average 3-7 days), so some other food provider can be hired for that temporary period and services of provider at fault can be suspended till the inquiry gets completed. 

P.S.-Don’t bother calling me Sir. I am too young to be referred to as a Sir. :P

regarding question on false positive of three types of testing , Rapid antigen test  has only false negative : 

These tests detect the presence of a foreign substance in a person’s oral or nasal swab that triggers the production of antibodies, and, therefore, can find infections.

But these are non-confirmatory tests. This means that those who test positive through rapid antigen detection tests are considered “truly positive” for Covid-19 but those who test negative must go for an RT-PCR test for re-confirmation
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/icmr-plans-to-scale-up-antigen-based-testing/story-CBYcw3K1zSEXAT6CNBQEGI.html

Please share it further to GHGN...

Looking forward to seeing maximum attendees.

Thanks