UPSC Interview Transcipt of Anand Mohan (AIR 472, 2017)
My lucky day was 28th February 2018. I reached early and waited outside the UPSC gate, emotions kept stirring inside me, I was not sure whether to be excited or tensed. I was really looking forward to the Interview, so I was more excited than tensed.
The UPSC is a well oiled machinery and everything is organised so very well. The document verification and all other formalities work like clock work, there is no confusion anywhere. The staff their tries their best to make all candidates at ease.
During document verification we were grouped in groups of 6, each group would be interviewed by one panel (but we don’t know which one yet). After the verification is complete we were taken to wait in another room, I was lucky to be in the company of two chill human beings in my group. We started talking about current events and our home towns. By the time the attender came to call me for my interview, I was so at ease with myself. This made my interview experience all the more pleasant.
I drank a glass of water and followed the attender and on the door read the name: Mr. Arvind Saxena. I was made to wait outside the door for a few minutes. Those few moments were undoubtedly the longest in my life. My heart started beating faster. I closed my eyes and reminded myself of all the things that I had been through to be at this moment. I couldn’t afford to screw this one chance that I got. Saw my parents faces with my eyes closed, touched their feet in my mind and entered the hall.
There were 4 other members besides the Chairman, one of them was a lady member.
I went in with a smile and greeted all the members and took the seat when asked by the chairman to do so. The Chairman then took my DAF and started going through it all the while reading it aloud for all the panel and myself to hear. I was a little confused as how to respond, should I agree with him, or should I just nod and listen. Anyway I held my poise, smiled and occasionally nodded. The chairman stopped once while going through my work experience and asked me how long I had worked and what I had done since resigning my job.
The other members were also gong through my DAF at this point of time. When the chairman read about my home state (Kerala) the lady member and the member seated opposite to her looked at me a gave me a very warm smile. I believe atleast one of them were from Kerala.
After going through the DAF for a couple of minutes the chairman kept it aside and looked up.
Chair:- In today’s newspaper there is a heartbreaking image of a person employed in cleaning the drains standing neck deep immersed in filth. How do you assess their situation and how long do you think the current situation would continue?
I briefly explained how certain sections of the society have been long subjected to this injustice.
At this point the chair interrupted me asked me why only certain sections of society have been subjected to manual scavenging.
I tried to explain the link between the caste system and how certain castes have traditionally been employed as manual scavengers. (Chairman was happy with this response, he nodded asking me to continue with my answer). I explained to him how Indian Railways is itself one of the largest recruiters of manual scavengers in the country. But I ended my answer on a positive note citing the various schemes which the government have launched to eradicate manual scavenging.
Chair:- You are a mechanical engineer, so tell me a few technological solutions to eradicate manual scavenging.
I told him about the Green Corridor Project launched by Indian Railways whereby all the toilets in certain routes were replaced by bio-toilets.
In Kerala, recently robots were used to clean the drains, so I was able to recollect the same.
I ended on a light note by referring to the fatberg exhibit that was recently put up on display in the London museum and how technology was used to excavate the 130 tonne fatberg out of the London drains. (The chairman seemed amused and interested and listened with utmost interest.)
Chair:- There is huge shale gas reserves in United States. Why has US waited so long to exploit them?
I was not sure but answered, that the reason might be more geo political and economic, rather than technical difficulties in excavating shale gas. I mentioned about how US controlled oil fields in the Middle East and how they built up huge oil reserves by exploiting the same.
Chair:- It is said that the US will outrun the GCC countries in oil production in the short run. How will this affect the middle east? What will be its implications for India?
I explained how this might cause the econmic weakening of the middle east, which might inturn lead to the aggravation of the already unstable political situation in the Middle East.
I further explained on how India is dependent on the Middle East for its oil imports and how the Gulf countries support a huge Indian diaspora and contribute to the bulk of forex earning for India.
The chairman then asked the next member to take over.
M1:- Have you heard to the Kachhaitheevu Islands? What is the name of that region? (sic)
Gulf of Mannar.
M1:- There are some issues regarding India and Sri Lanka in this region. Are you aware of those? Elaborate?
The territorial dispute regarding India and Sri Lanka and the issue regarding the fishermen of both the countries.
M1:- If you are an administrator how will you solve this long festering problem between India and Sri Lanka involving fishermen?
Reaching an understanding between the countries on demarcation of maritime boundaries by taking into consideration the traditional fishing grounds of both Indian and Sri Lankan fisshermen.
Using technological solutions (GPS trackers) to let the fishermen at sea know their precise location and thus eliminate the accidental crossing of maritime boundaires.
And finally I said that the only long term solution to the problem is to find alternate livelihood solution to the fishermen.
M1:- Do you think alternate livelihood generation for fishermen feasible? How can you convince people who have for generation employed as fishermen to find alternate livelihood?
I suggested that the alternate livelihood generation need not be in an altogether different area. Diversification in livelihood generation can be done in the fishing sector itself, for example by setting by food processing plants to process the fish catch and convert them into other value added products.
M1:- Recently Kamal Haasan have launched a political party, what is the name of that party?
I couldn’t recollect the name of the party so I told that I had read about it, but unfortunately couldn’t recollect the name. He smiled and handed over the baton to the next member.
M2:- What is the mechanism used in old winding clocks?
I said that it involved a series of springs and gear trains, where the springs were used to store the mechanical energy and which was translated into the accurate movement of the clock hands by precision designed gear trains. (He was not very happy with the answer and I think was expecting a more technical response).
M2:- What is industrial revolution 4.0?
Knew it well, so explained in detail.
M2:- How do you view the evolution of AI as a human being?
As a natural extension of human creativity. But the fears regarding AI are not ill founded and there needs to be discussion and debate and proper guidelines need to be laid out as to how AI technology needs to be developed. Was able to bring in the Elon Musk, Zuckerburg faceoff and other recent developments.
M2:- Do you think, humans will become outdated and machines take over?
M2:- In your estimation how long will man take to build a machine with capabilities equalling the human brain?
M3:- So you like reading Fantasy. What way will fantasy impact the society? (Reading fantasy was one of the hobbies listed in my DAF)
Told how fantasy and fiction in general have captivated humans for time immemorial, how fantasy is a means to escape the harsh realities of mundane everyday life while also being a powerful catalyst driving positive social change.
M3:- So will you recommend reading fantasy to students or scientific literature?
(I don’t remember my exact response to this question, but it was at best an average answer)
M3:- There is lot of migration that is happening both domestically and internationally, what are its advantages from the Indian perspective?
Talked about how India is advantageously placed on the demography of the world. How India’s young demographic dividend will be able to supply labour force to the rest of the aging world.
M3:- Are there any disadvantages to such migration?
Finally the lady member took over.
M4:- So let me continue with migration (smiles). You come from Kerala where there has been a lot of migration to the GCC countries, what are the sociological implications of this migration?
M4:- How do you think the sociological setup in Kerala has affected the politics in Kerala? How is it different from the rest of the country?
M4:- What is the origin of Malayalam language?
M4:- So Malayalam is not as old as some people claim? (In an oblique reference to the classical language status given to Malayalam language)
M4:- Is Tamil the base language of Malayalam?
(Was generally able to answer all her questions well, she was smiling throughout which gave me more confidence)
Chair:- Your Interview is over. All the best.
Coming out of the interview panel, I didnot know what to expect. It was definitely not bad, but I had no idea whether the board was happy or not.
What followed was a long grueling wait for the results. When it finally came out I had scored 182/275 for the Interview :-)
So all went well after all :)
