UPSC Interview transcript of Shreshth Tayal (AIR-73, 2017)
At the outset, it is necessary to give a small background to give context to the actual interview. Everything else being usual, the one thing distinctive about my DAF were my service preferences. I had given preferences to only 9 services out of 24 [IRS(IT), IRS(C&CE), IA&AS being the top 3] and had not opted for many services including IAS, IPS & IFS. So in almost all the mock interviews that I appeared for, the questions would revolve around the service preferences or the related fields of taxation, economics, finance, etc. I was relatively comfortable with such questions and was therefore somewhat content with my mocks.
Though I had prepared for the GS portions as well following the advice of one of my friend, I was still hoping that my actual interview goes similar to my mock interviews with the questions majorly revolving around taxation and finance.
Since it was my first UPSC interview, I was overly nervous on the interview day and had no clue about what to expect. I reached an hour before the reporting time and spent that time walking around in a nearby open area talking to myself and organising my thoughts. Had to literally request dad not to ask / say / encourage / suggest me anything and allow me to be alone at that time! :P
Even in the waiting area, once the document verification was completed, instead of interacting with other candidates, I preferred sitting quietly and jotting down expected questions and their answers as I was having this feeling of being under-prepared.
I was assigned to the Smita Nagraj Ma'am Board and unfortunately, I was still very nervous when I entered the room and took my place. I believe I was completely overawed by the enormity of the situation and felt that my entire future depended on the next half hour. It was a mistake to think this way and it took me another few minutes to realise my folly.
The Chairwoman then began the interview and on noticing that I had worked in the corporate tax team at Deloitte, asked me how the corporates view the present economy i.e. whether they have a positive or a negative outlook towards it. Now in hindsight, I know it is a manageable question but at that time, my mind had completely stopped functioning and I chose between "Positive" & "Negative", completely forgetting about a third option of giving a balanced answer. I just blurted out "Positive, Ma'am." and when asked to substantiate it, I talked about random stuff about the economy that came to my head. It was amply clear to everyone in the room that I was nervous and wasn't very organized in my thought process. Hardly the kind of first impression you would hope to create!
At this moment, I took an imaginary deep breath in my head and said to myself that instead of being overawed by the situation, I should feel proud of myself for finally making it to the famed UPSC interview. That whatever happens in the next half hour, I am going to remember it for the rest of my life and should therefore put my best foot forward. This helped me clear my head and at that moment, luck favoured me as well with the next question.
The chairwoman asked me if I had any idea about a very recent controversy that had arisen with regards to the 15th Finance Commission. Now, my interview was on 23rd March, 2018 and atleast I had not read about any such controversy in any of the newspapers by then. It was only by 25-26th March that the issue with regards to the census, in the terms of the 15th Finance Commission, was covered extensively by the mainstream media. However, I have a habit of randomly scrolling through Twitter during my free time and only on the night of 21st or 22nd March, I had stumbled upon a tweet containing the letter written by DMK leader MK Stalin to the Prime Minister on this issue. I remembered this letter then and could therefore give some reply before the Board about how I was aware about the controversy. At this time I felt like hugging the founder of Twitter and pray that #GodBlessTwitter :P
As stated earlier, I had hoped that the panel notices my service preferences and the majority of my interview would flow from there. However, this is where I was left disappointed within the first few minutes of the interview. While in the mock interviews, all the members have our entire DAFs to go through, in the actual interview, I noticed that only the chairperson has the entire DAF while the other members only have our summary sheet! With the chairwoman not reaching the service preference page by then, there was no way the other members would know about it and they proceeded with the interview normally.
Two members on the Board had questions written with them in their diaries and I felt that they didn't focus much on the summary sheet and asked questions that they had brought with them. This was a disappointment as well as one hopes to get more questions from the DAF as you are better prepared about your DAF. I was asked about my views on the trade deficit with China, my views on changing of name of cities (Gurgaon to Gurugram), my opinion on Gauraksha. Majority of the questions were opinion based and it proved tricky to give very sensible balanced answers on controversial topics like gauraksha.
I was asked about any 'Innovative' measure in this year's Union Budget for promotion of Start-ups. Since I couldn't recall any such INNOVATIVE measure, I talked about whatever I could recall from the Budget in relation to startups. Eg: Few tax benefits that were extended. In cross question, I was asked if I was aware about any innovative measure that Japan had taken recently to promote startups. Having absolutely no clue about it, I politely accepted not knowing anything about it.
I remember being asked about my opinion on whether Ayurveda practitioners should be allowed to pursue masters in Allopathy. For a change, I did not give a balanced answer on an opinion based question and said that this should be avoided as the philosophies are completely different and for pursuing masters, it is necessary to have your foundation studies in the same field itself!
I was asked a direct question on the Quadrilateral Relations (which all countries come under it, against which country it is perceived to be); was asked whether India was situated in a turbulent region or a peaceful region. I recall being asked a very political question which took me by surprise - my opinion on the performance of the AAP Government in Delhi in the past 3 years. It was a tricky one as you don't expect such political questions in the interview and had to frame a balanced answer spontaneously.
I remember being asked about some particular weird term which I couldn't even pronounce back. I requested the member to say it again but I still had no clue about it and till date, I have absolutely no idea about what was the exact term, he had asked me about!
On being asked about similarities between Gandhi Ji and Nelson Mandela, I said that they both preached non-violence and they both had a futuristic outlook, were willing to forgive their oppressors and focus on building the future. On being further enquired about any similarity in their lives, I couldn't think of any at the time! The Member replied laughing, "THEY BOTH WENT TO JAIL!" Everyone laughed and I had to smile through my embarrassment of missing an obvious one!
The most unique question that was asked to me was that being a CA, what, according to me, would have been the Accounting Problems that would have been faced by the Government during Partition! This question took me by utter surprise and after taking a little time, I could only come up with some random answer (So random that I don't even remember what exactly I blabbered!).
One of the Member started the topic of Nobel Prizes and at this moment I started praying that he asks about the Nobel Prize in Economics this year since I was confident about that. However, he asked about the contribution of Alfred Nobel, after whom the prize is named! Most of the people I talked to after the interview knew this answer but unfortunately, I didn't and I had to accept that before the Board.
By now, almost 80-90% of the interview was over and I must confess that it had been a very average interview till then! Finally, it was again the Chairwoman's turn to ask the final questions and I had noticed that she had seen my service preference page and had kept it open in front of her for the past 15 minutes while other members were asking their questions. She began by saying that since I was a CA and CS who had worked in taxation, she could understand my preference to join IRS but why did I not give any preference at all to many other services including IAS, IPS etc.
I always had an apprehension that my service preference might hurt the ego of some member on the Board and to avoid just that, I first clarified that "Ma'am, I must first say that my service preference is not a sign of disrespect towards any service." The Chairwoman thankfully nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, yes! It is not a sign of any disrespect." Then I further continued about how I feel that specialization is the order of the day, how I know that there are people who desire to have diversity in their careers but I am the kind of person who wishes to become a subject expert and I feel that taxation is that subect which I wish to pursue.
The interview then concluded with a small discussion on tax terrorism which I could handle relatively comfortably. I still left the room with overall disappointment as the majority of my interview had been average. However, in hindsight, I feel that the one answer about IRS turned my fortunes and helped me score an above average score of 190.
I had honestly never expected such a good score and I am grateful that the Interview Board appreciated my desire to join the IRS and rewarded me for that.
Source- Quora
