Vaccine expected by August-15.......    Oct-4 Brace for impact !!

CCMB director opines that vaccine is not possible before Jan-21.

any ideas??

// Help needed//

I tried to download my application using the link:https://www.upsconline.nic.in/viewapplication.php

however, the disclaimer " information is incorrect" is popping up. Can someone please check the credentials and confirm whether it is same for all.

https://news.abplive.com/health/covid-19-vaccine-not-possible-till-15th-august-development-will-take-months-health-ministry-1283079

   Covid Vaccine not possible before 2021'

Earlier, the government officials on Friday told the Parliamentary panel on science and technology that it will not be possible to make the Covid-19 vaccine till at least next year.

The earliest possible time by when a vaccine against Covid-19 would be ready in India could be the first quarter of 2021, officials told the Rajya Sabha standing committee .

Notorious milestones (tombstones)  of 2020

March14: 100+cases

March 29: 1000+cases

April13: 10,000+ cases

May18: 1,00,000+ cases

Jul16: 10,00,000+ cases

*****************************

it took 14 days for the cases to double from 62,500 to 1,25,000

15 days for the next doubling from 1,25,000 to 2,50,000

20 days for next leap from 2,50,000 to 5,00,000

and finally 21 days for the latest number from:  5,00,000 to 10,00,000

what happens next....... i hope this be the end of every damn number. I wish an iron man comes up and destroy this thanos with a snap.

 the erratic monsoons are already impeding the containment process. on the other hand, the decreased temperatures increase the onset of respiratory disorders which increase the risk of getting infected.....

let's hope for the best.

just a random thought:-

elections are ahead. so, the government will not take any decision that is unpopular.

youth are a decisive force that change the game. so, they will not ignore our concerns....

if anyone of us have concerns regarding the exam date / attempt extension/...., enough that we get public attention. it gets snowballed and gets noticed. don't forget the day when shashi tharoor picked up a change org petition about prelims postponement and made it noteworthy.

step1: agitate

step2: make it noticeable

step3: some random politician picks it up

step4: it gets news coverage

step5: the govt ignores, condemns and finally concedes

step6: pressure group tactics worked out.

though the MPPG- Jitendra singh agreed soon for prelims postponement, MHRD- Nishank was too adamant to concede to postpone jee. but at the end, the mass campaign paid off. so, if at all any of us have some genuine demands, lets put it in public forum (I mean twitter) instead of just murmuring in an echo chamber.

my only concern is about the risk of getting exposed to virus. if a vaccine is available, then its fine. if not, it will be a hell broken loose. yesterday, a man travelled from delhi to guwahati with his corona positive report just to show the callousness of the security personnel.  (https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/coronavirus-man-flies-from-delhi-to-kolkata-via-guwahati-with-covid-19-positive-report-in-pocket-2264090)

so, such inconsistencies even if witnessed by 1% of candidates, will be like punishing the innocent.

(in one of the earlier attempts, UPSC asked a question about farmers as a pressure group. this will be the students as a pressure group theme)

5) suppose if a person gives prelims, and lateron he catches the virus, he may  spend the next fortnight in hospital. that effectively reduces his prep time for mains, which is clearly unfair . unlike jee exams which are a one-time performance capture exams, CSE is a multi level exam, where the candidate should excel at every stage. It will be unfair to punish someone for no fault of his.

6) the above point is applicable if he is in the 97% (recovered) category, better he loses a fortnight. But, if he is in the 3% category, he succumbs. It's a statisic for the rest of us, but it is a  life for his family.

6a) even if 1% of the aspirants catch the virus (1% of 6lakh), we end up with 6000 patients. and by a conservative 3% succumb rate, 180 of them will bid farewell.  interestingly, 180 is a sacred number. it is the number of vacancies for the so called elite services  among the total vacancy posts .  everyone of us want to be in that elite 180, but no one want to be in this notorious 180.

7) life is a gamble of assumptions, and i assume that unless the vaccine comes out or unless the cases get plateaued, the chances of exam being conducted is less. Bengaluru and parts of kerala which successfully contained the first blow of virus, opened up and unfortunately they are facing a second wave of infection.

8) fighting with a microbe is not similar to fighting with a person. none of our governments have experience in that. hence they are just selling optimism. and we have to buy what they sell. Even a single careless individual can spoil the entire game. its 100%  not in our hands to be safe. it's like the joker arranging two ships with alt explosives in  dark knight.// "my life is in the other's hands and his life is in my hands."// only if we all of us act sensibly can we get out of this pandemic. its a test to our collective intellect.

All the best.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/vaccine-trial-in-three-phases-covid-peaks-in-delhi-aiims-director/articleshow/77068026.cms

Coronavirus vaccine likely by end of 2020 or early next year, says AIIMS director:

"Anekantvad"

some thoughts on people comparing JEE with UPSC-CSE :-

1) JEE exams are feeder exams. If JEE doesn't take place, engg. institutions lose the student input and the infrastructure lay waste . CSE is recruitment exam, the govt. can simply extend the existing tenures of retiring personnel to meet the resource crunch. so, literally govt doesnt lose anything by postponing exams. (on a lighter note, it saves one year salary) whereas, by postponing JEE exams, it loses one year admission fees.

2) the number of students to be trained at mussorie may not be more than 200. whereas, the number of engg. passouts will be more than 40,000. so, the pressure on infrastructure is different. (if JEE is postponed, the next year colleges should bear 80,000 (40k of this year, and 40k of the next year) student pressure. and that's unavoidable. whereas, UPSC can temporarily change the training norms and absorb the 400 officers training  (200 + 200)

3) Number of exam centres for Jee ( in terms of count of cities) , is geographically higher than that of CSE.  (a personal example: Journey to my nearest JEE centre needs a single bus journey of 50minutes, I can even start on a two wheeler on the date of exam. whereas journey to my nearest UPSC centre is of around 8 hours with 3 buses, and every bus be on schedule, and it demands a night stay before the exam date)

Though UPSC gave centre change option, i thought that they would increase the number of exam centres. but thats not the case.

4) if a healthy student falls sick after writing JEE exam, that will not affect his future schedule. He will wait for a fortnight and then carryon with his counselling process . That's not the case with CSE aspirant. if he falls sick due to his exposure because of prelims exam, he loses a fortnight and thereby his mains. as a corollary, he also loses the count of one attempt.

check this video. relevant.

Two perfume bottles collided with each other and enriched the forum with fragrance....

Draft a change.org petition with that and share the link. Address it to PM,UPSC, and we will sign it..

edit1:- Please suggest changes (if any)

Lateron, we can use the finalised version in our mails/tweets/petition/ ......

 I am not a politician, I don't need any political mileage/credit  out of this. All I need is 'the purported change'. Lets spread the message far and wide. Copy-Paste- Tweet- Retweet -- Petition- Pray 

Moderates might have lost then, but we can (?) win now by ushering the power of social media.

// Jai Gopal Krishn Gokhale... Jai Feroz Shah Mehta//  

(meanwhile, lets not forget to revise our syllabus)

****************************************************************************************

We, the aspirants, hereby request the Government of India to pay attention to our concerns on UPSC-2020 scheduled to be held on October-2020:

1) The number of cases of Covid-19 is not plateauing . Even the vaccine is not available as of date. In these times of uncertainity where the pandamic is inching towards two million and started spreading beyond cities, we feel unsafe to take up any assignment that requires movement beyond our native place.

2) Though the Hon,High Court of Karnataka showed sympathy to the concerns of students, it allowed to conducting the KCET exams. The way those exams are conducted revealed the terrible state of affairs. The standard practices which looked good on paper didnot translate well into practice.

3) The officials can sanitize exam centre n-number of times, but the candidates (and accompanying guardian) have to traverse through the secondary infrastructure (local transport, hotels for stay, buses/trains for primary transport). On an average 6 lakh candidates take up the exam and are accompanied by a guardian who is most probably a parent in the immuno-compromised age group of 50-60 years.

4) Since most of the students live outside the "City of exam centre", the time of interaction is not just the 2 hours of exam time, but atleast a day and half journey (including both transits). Had there been no exam, this time will be spent by the aspirant and his parents in a relatively risk-normalised native place. Hence, conducting examination particularly at a time of Pandemic Peak which unfortunately coincide with the moonsoon outset is unviable. Moreover, routine health disorders like asthma and minor respiratory irritations get exacerbated in the monsoon period. All these make the already grim situation more dangerous.

4) Unlike other entrance examinations, The UPSC exam process is a three-stage performance capture structure. After giving prelims, the candidate has to get ready for Mains within 90 days. Suppose if a candidate gets affected by Corona virus due to his prelims journey, he loses a fortnight of preparation time and it affects his chances of clearing Mains exam. On the top of this, he also loses the count of one attempt. This is sheer inequity.

5) Several aspirants are already working as frontline Covid warriors and still combating with the pandemic. Conducting the exam on October-2020 will be highly discriminatory because they cannot focus on both the exam preparation and the discharge of duty. Also, some part-time working aspirants are already struggling to meet the end meet. The inequalities of society are deepened by the Corona crisis. It will not be 'Just' to conduct exam at this juncture.

6)The basic objective behind a open competition based recruitment exam is to ensure parity and remove arbitrariness. But, in the given unprecedented situation, conducting the Prelims exam on the 'tentative' date of 4- October 2020 goes against every principle of Equity and Parity.

Hence we request the authorities to merge the UPSC2020 cycle along with 2021 cycle along with the proportional increased posts and providing a compensatory attempt to those whose last attempt ends by 2020. Meanwhile, as estimated by various research agencies, the extremity of pandemic gets subsided and the vaccine is available for mass consumption.

We wish the authorities heed to our petition and ensure parity in the selection process.

Please sign the petition for postponement of prelims:-

https://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020

(meanwhile don't stop preparing)

a gentle reminder:-  Please go through the link  (https://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020) and kindly sign the petition and share the link. You can also copy the matter and use in mails/tweets/official correspondence.

https://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020

The idea of posting a draft was to allow copy-paste-tweet-retweet-mail-remail..... So, not at all an issue.... Moreover, the content of the petition is resultant of various discussions and suggestions on forum. So, it's a sort of traditional/community knowledge WIPO... All the best. Spread the link, and at the same time don't stop revising......

""""***************

Link - Please sign the petition for postponement of prelims:

https://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020

It seems that all the pro changers should attempt some new full length mock test and post their scores here to prove their prep level... 

Let me clarify one thing. If any candidate is feeling that by getting more time he can prepare well, its wrong.. 

Suggest a openly available/telegramable test. I assume that all of us have 1000's of pdfs in harddrive that were never opened. 

meanwhile.....

in UPSC Bhawan

****

2019cutoff :-98 (prelims) 751 (mains) 961 (final)

And Pradip Joshi ji appointed as chairman of UPSC. Earlier he worked as chairman of Chattisgarh and MP PSC boards

as directed by chanakya, i wrote test-33 of gsscore. 63 attempted. 57 correct .. final score 110/200.

final comments:- could have done better by answering 3 or 4 more bits.

i should work on some advanced macro economics sort ( if at all they be asked), and some current affairs part in depth..

****

ball to ball commentary:-

1 pulitzer don’t know 2 cvigil direct 3 doctrines direct 4 disq direct 5 day direct 6 goods direct 7 util curves elimination 8 psbloans elimination 9 cgtmse direct 10 rbi sch guess 11 digi pay direct 12 hunter don’t know 13 arya samaj strong gut feeling 14 swadeshi direct 15 karachi direct 16 settlemt direct 17 communal easiest bit ever 18 mahila sabhas heard for first time 19 quit indi direct 20 ambedkar don’t know 21 acts another easy bit 22 jute read it somewhere 23 seas wrong guess 24 boung direct 25 vembanad reverse guess from options 26 passes read somewhere but left out 27 fronts read somewhere but left out 28 rivers reverse guess from options 29 peaks I know about gurusikhar, then wrong guessed other 30 pvtg read about abujmarias and rest is option reverse working 31 NSS read about NCC-NSS at school. 32 cttees don’t know at this depth 33 sch easy 34 siva reddy read somewhere 35 plan bee read somewhere 36 rodra saw it for first time 37 sppel saw it for first time 38 art 178 easy 39 rupa easy 40 cj hc easy. Why should he exclude gov 41 spl status got confused with options 42 autonomous just this mrng discussed with a friend 43 pil bad guess about british. 44 rights another easy bit 45 jurisdiction easy 46 thrift easy 47 keynesian confused hence unattempted 48 elasticitiy easy 49 pfms confused hence unattempted 50 utkarsh easy 51 diem 25 unknown 52 nab unknown 53 philips curve fumbled due to options hence unattempted 54 IAT first time 55 capital reciept easy 56 fiscal deficit easy 57 zbb reverse guess from options 58 public instructio committee easy 59 chavang kut any kut will be of mizo. Hence easy 60 kailasa temple don’t know at this depth 61 kalidaasa easy. I heard both stories on AIR 62 IVC I thought they would have eliminated aryan debate. My bad 63 sarcenic style don’t know 64 jain god wrongly marked. I regret for this 65 bronze easy 66 mughal zamin easy 67 pari khanda don’t know 68 puppets reverse guess from options 69 samudrayaan don’t know 70 saffir simpson first time 71 palm oil read an editorial and marked correct. One of the most satisfying bits 72 mist and fog easy 73 minerals don’t know 74 IEMF first time 75 UNNaTEE confused hence unattempted 76 wipo easy 77 GRIHA read on pib 78 chakrashila I knew that its in assam,but nothing further 79 terms the term rhizo means root. That made the answer easy 80 crocodile don’t know much 81 ecological succession easy and eliminatio based 82 replan couldn’t recall much 83 pygmy hog don’t know at this depth 84 carbon credits confused hence unattempted 85 ramsar easy and eliminatio based 86 bioleaching read somewhere but left out 87 forest rights the paper setter is lenient to give such easy options 88 solar mission don’t know 89 hygo easy 90 oic worked from first option and great 91 osaka don’t know 92 ecosoc read in shankars 93 sacep don’t know 94 launchpad don’t know 95 prithvi 2 confused hence unattempted 96 cac read somewhere and attempted. Luckily its correct 97 exercises my banker cousin made me "rat maro" these 98 DPC a bit confused, but should have attempted this 99 RISAT 2B easy 100 folds don’t know much


overall:- I don’t think saraswati samman, pulitzer are asked in upsc some options are given in a very easy way some questions have flavors of previous papers. could have answered three or four bits score 110/200

I made a promise to myself that i will never involve in "reservation" debates, because it is a never ending bubble gum. but i have two updates.

1) GSSCORE test 33 has  some interesting bits. have a look. i made 37 misses and 6 wrongs and ended up at 110.  esp. some unknown current affairs bits are asked. i even made two silly mistakes. (Detailed above)

2) the change org petition which we drafted and raised 24 hours ago garnered 1100+ supporters. Those who are willing to support can sign athttps://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020and share the link further in your social media circles.  yet continue revising.

some doubts

a) Is aryan invasion still considered as probable reason for fall of IVC

b) will upsc ask questions like military exercises list ( i think they will be asked in bank exams)

c) are awards based questions asked in upsc (--do--)

Hope it helps, sorry for any typos, in transit and using smart (?) Phone. Will check again for mistiked in pc at night

Yes yaar, but  it seems that papersetter didn't think so deep. Sometimes thinking beyond becomes a problem .. if you see the same question paper, there is a question on ivc downfall. I overthought that " since Aryan ancestry DNA sort of debate is going on, that should not be a reason for ivc downfall", but at the end , it turned out that the paper setter had not updated so much and my answer became wrong. Thus I learned a lesson, " sometimes it is not good to fly too nearer to the Sun"....   

// Technically you are not wrong, but contextually, the key says so// 

wah..!

Good news

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livemint.com/news/india/russia-all-set-to-register-world-s-first-covid-19-vaccine-next-week-hope-they-have-tested-it-says-fauci/amp-11596897110644.html

An appeal and an explantion:-

1) one of our forum members - @chanakya,  started an initiative to write a full length Prelims test per day and share the analysis atDaily Prelims test - ForumIAS. we request more participation . preferable timings 3-5 everyday. for more details visit the above link.

2) The postponement petitionhttps://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020started two days ago already received 3400+signatories. Please go through it and share it in your social media circles. Interestingly, I found two other petitions with similar reasons going on internet. It validates our point.  Some of the forum members are DM'ming me whether they can copy the content to use in emails,tweets, quora answers. Feel free to use the content in your mails addressed to various authorities and in your tweets. Also, don't forget to go through the reasons cited by the signatories.

//Happy Sunday. All the best. Happy revising.//

// Kuchh to log kahenge, logon kaa kaam hai kahanaa//

Sent mails to Letters to editor segment of "The Hindu" and " IE". Will have to see if they publish them..

Positive news on vaccine may help this aug13 th initiative...

( If possible, send similar mails . Let's see whether they respond)

1) India to have vaccine by December

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.moneycontrol.com/news/coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-serum-institutes-adar-poonawalla-says-india-to-have-vaccine-by-december-5677581.html/amp

2) https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.indiatvnews.com/amp/news/good-news/sputnik-v-world-first-coronavirus-vaccine-russia-ready-putin-vaccine-price-availability-details-641320

If the students stick to the stand #noexamstillvaccine , there are chances for postponement

Bhai , I don't deny your point. But, we have to do what we feel is appropriate. Whether it bears the fruit or not is probabilistic. But, if we don't try at all, the chances are just zero...  

Process of change:- first they ignore you, lateron they mock you, but at the end .... you win"...

// Karmanye vaadhikaraste.. maa phaleshu kadaachana//

Unfortunately in our country can-ness and can't-ness is gobbled up by have-ness and haven't-ness.   

Anyhow, let's do what we individually feel as appropriate. All the best.

**********

If anyone have not gone through the petition, kindly sign at 

 https://www.change.org/postponeUPSCprelims2020

I heard that neet-Jee students are starting some sort of online campaign on August13. If you find it relevant, you can participate. 

Spread our message on social media platforms . Standard hashtags #postponeupscoct4, #noexamsincovid,  #noexamstillvaccine...  Try writing mails to all the concerned..   all the best . Happy revising.

Sorry to disappoint you bhai, " our" vaccine will take more time 

https://wap.business-standard.com/article-amp/current-affairs/don-t-want-to-launch-covid-vaccine-under-pressure-says-bharat-biotech-cmd-120080900371_1.html

Eagerly looking forward for Sirji's speech from Redfort.  ... Mitron...

Weren't they sure even in March-april

I have a proposal for tomorrow. I need  volunteers who knows how to make notes. 

Lets take downtoearth fortnightly magazine from June-2019 edition. till this July-2020

Total 14 months (and subsequently 28 fortnight editions). I did a mock run. It took me 2 hrs to read those 60 pages (actually 45 pages sans advertisement per edition),

Each of us should read a month (2editions) and make notes from prelims and mains perspective.

This has overarching benefits in environ and scitech segment of prelims and in GS-3 of mains as well as as somepart of geography (GS-1)

kindly let me know .

Each of us will be spending 5-6 hours , but will be getting a 14 times benefit. That way, by tomorrow 11PM, all of us will have repository of notes on varied topics

Edit1:- I already picked up March-2020 edition

why this silence yaar, till now discussing about everything?? sudden silence

About down to earth initiative:-

1) we will start from June-2019 onwards .

2) We will make notes from mains perspective (GS-1 geo, GS-3 Snt, Env)

3) D2E can be found at telegram search "downtoearth11"

4) Geography and you is not freely available. hence we cannot do it.

@AureliusM is going with December 2019

@sadhika is going with january2020

@sulawesiis going with march2020

@Rudra12is going with april2020,

others, let me know of your selection.

other details updated here:- https://forumias.com/post/detail/Downto-earth-magazine-notes-1597342038

https://forumias.com/post/detail/Downto-earth-magazine-notes-1597342038

interested and note' able people can join.

is pandemic class neutral? Just because SrBacchan  or a sewage worker can get pandemic doesn't mean that it is class neutral

sensible

https://theprint.in/india/governance/upsc-aspirants-call-for-merger-of-2020-and-2021-exam-cite-covid-disruption/482371/?amp&__twitter_impression=true

Some friends are forwarding whatsapp/tg messages asking for money for PIL.

if at all , they approach you,  "take your own decision"so, beware and check twice while dealing with money.  Here is a link warning

https://www.change.org/p/department-of-personnel-and-training-postpone-upsc-prelims2020/u/27527506

it lists out all concerns and creates a easily sharable platform. see #postponeupscoct4. almost all these tweets copy paste same reasons.. now, theprint website shekhar gupta made a cover article on this. this promotes visibility

even earlier in april, a petition went like this.

i personally feel that upsc is very big and true to its name it is UnPredictable Service Commission.

let's see what happens

Let me share a breaking news:- Some are going to the extent of calling to scrap the 2020cycle itself and proceed with 2021 . this is not even naive.. this is something more

https://thefederal.com/news/corona-fear-upsc-aspirants-do-not-want-exams-this-year/

meanwhile,

bhai, every success belongs to all aspirants .. no one can claim credit.. its collective responsibility.  I wanted to voice my concerns and I did it by sharing links.  Some liked it, some did not. Its natural in a big country like ours.  Some people really tweeted in a war like fashion. they tagged everyone. right from srk to ssr to local ministers....  and as a matter of fact, i am not member of that PIL group (I even don't know what PIL they are drafting !! fingers crossed) 

So, if any real credit should go, it should be for those PIL candidates and advocate Alakh. lets see what happens. 

Only God should know bhai

God ji, your comment is as understandable as directly watching the season3 of German - Dark without subtitles

true, it was not upto the mark, but it is equally pathetic that court dismissed case in less than 7minutes. looks like even the court is answering GS-10 marker question

1) one of the forumites (i think the word is not wrong), messaged about the mental anxiety and pressure:

           I hereby suggest to use some meditation techniques like kapalbhati and switching off social media.

           you may not learn kapalbhati in lockdown, but you can just switch off the social media devices.

2) he also said how " the postpone or not " is very tense::-

         i suggest the folks to let this tension be for dholpur housemates. if you have specific concerns just address them, and then continue preparing . // karmanye vaadhikaraste maa phaleshu kadachana//                                    this thread is strictly for speculation and we donot have any jotish pandits here. so dont involve in anything which you dont know. there was reservation debate, postpone or not debate,  guj vs kerala debate, even yesterday there was some namecalling sort of thing, some posted how corona is affecting them ........... all things happen here . on the lighter side,some people shared memes,  funny youtube vidoes......     on the other side ,  even there was daily prelims test initiative, there was notes on downto earth initiative, there were youtube guidance posts,  there was good info. about book releases .......... so, just like the real world, even this thread is a mix and match bag. 

if i want patanjali paste, i will just go to shop and buy it.  Just, because the same shop keeper is selling some lemon pickle paste, i will not buy it, because i know that i want " patanjali paste ", similarly, lets have a clear objective on mind and focus on what we want... be selective in what you focus.. all of us are 18+ and we can think on our own. (atleast the govt thought so and gave us right to vote)