UPSC Interview Transcript of Saurabh Baranwal (AIR 235, 2017)

UPSC Interview Transcript of Saurabh Baranwal (AIR 235, 2017)

Interview transcript : Civil Services Examination 2017
Interview marks : 191/275
Background :
Graduation : IIT Kanpur in Mathematics and Scientific Computing
Optional : Mathematics
Attempt : 3rd
Interview : First
Interview date : 18th April, afternoon session
Interview board : PK Joshi Sir

I entered the room. Wished good afternoon to chairman, lady member and other members. Chairman asked me to take seat. He went through my DAF ( detailed application form). He read (loudly) you have done graduation from IIT Kanpur. You have good CGPA. (This made me comfortable. )
Chairman : You were preparing for civil services after graduation ?
Me : Yes sir.
C : You have to teach dispersion and skewness to Class 8 students. How will you teach ? (graduation based question)
Me : Sir I know about skewness but I am not able to recall dispersion. I had studied statistics in my second year. I have taken courses mostly of pure mathematics.
C : So you don't know about standard deviation, and then went to ask some more terms of statistics . (graduation based question)
Me : Sir, I have studied these concepts. But it has been a long time. So I am unable to recall.
C: Suppose you are secretary of agriculture under Agriculture ministry in UP govt. Suggest some measures to double the farmers income in UP.
( In Mains, I wrote essay on farmers' issue so it was a prepared one.I gave data with detailed explanation)
Me : Sir, UP is agriculture based economy. 77 percent people of UP live in rural areas. So agriculture should be given focus. In Bundelkhand region, soil is hard and rainfall is scanty. We need to improve the irrigation facilities in that region. 84% produce of Bundelkhand region is foodgrains while its climate is more suitable for oilseeds and pulses. We need to encourage farmers to make a shift towards pulses and oilseeds. Cattle productivity is low in UP. We should import high quality semen to increase productivity in animal husbandry sector. Farmers have poor linkage with the market. We need to connect farmers to the market and remove middle men. Food wastage is very high in UP. Focus should be given on setting up more food processing units. In UP, large number of farmers are sugarcane farmers. In UP productivity of sugarcane is low as compared to Brazil and Cuba. We should focus on improving productivity of sugarcane. That's it.(I had to stop else would have given a speech)
C: Suppose you are going from Delhi to Agra via road. Speed of your vehicle is 60km/h and on return there was congestion on road so your vehicle's speed was 40km/hr. Tell me average speed.
( when he mentioned the word 'congestion', I thought he was going to ask me about congestion problem in Delhi )
Me : (Chairman directed me to use pencil and paper in front of me ) After calculation I said sir it is 48km/hr.
C : Why aren't we taking average of 40 and 60 to calculate average speed ?
Me: Sir, distance and time are basic units not the speed. So average speed should be total distance upon total time.
C: Tell me what kind of mean it is ?
Me : Sir, harmonic mean.
Chairman asked member 1 to ask questions.
M1 : So you have lived in UP. UP has four regions, western UP, eastern UP, Bundelkhand and Awadh UP. Western UP is developed. Tell me measures to develop the other three regions.
Me: Sir, In Bundelkhand region, soil is hard and rainfall is scanty. We need to improve the irrigation facilities in that region. 84% produce of Bundelkhand region is foodgrains while its climate is more suitable for oilseeds and pulses. We need to encourage farmers to make a shift towards pulses and oilseeds.
M1 : (interrupted me) Do you know that Bundelkhand has huge amount of water below 20 feet?
Me: I am not aware of that sir.
M1: okay continue
Me: Sir to address irrigation problem we need to encourage river linking judicially. Sir, in eastern UP land holdings are very small. We should promote consolidation of land holdings and cooperative farming. In Sultanpur, which is part of eastern UP, from Kans tree, badh is made which is used for making charpoy. Such products can be exported outside to improve economy of the region. For development of all three regions, problems of agriculture needs to be addressed. Sir, to achieve higher growth rate, focus should also be given to handloom and handicraft sector. In these area, there is problem of poor marketing, low availability of credit. We should encourage formation of weavers' cooperative society, credit needs to made available and for marketing, e-commerce platform can be used.
M1: Tell me some handicraft products of eastern UP.
Me: Sir, Varanasi Sari and Chikankari works of Lucknow.
M1: (interrupted me) Lucknow is not part of eastern Up.
Me: Sorry sir, I am not able to recall other products.
M1 : Except UP, which other places you have lived.
Me: Sir, In my third year, I lived in Hyderabad for 2 months and during my 11th and 12th, I have lived in Kota. ( I was excepting some comparative study of UP's some regions and these areas.)
M1 : Ok leave it. You have lived in Kanpur for five years. Tell me reasons for decline of textile industries there.
Me : Sir post independence, textile mills were taken over by Jaipuriyas and other rich class. They started gaining profit which they used in expansion of textile industries and not on modernization of these industries. This led to closing down of many textile mills. So govt. took over some textile mills in 1971 to address problems. But due to irregularities and inefficiency, industries couldn't pick up. Later in 1970s, trade unions became strong force and they hindered smooth functioning of these mills.
M1: Do you see any revival of these industries at present ?
Me : Sir, I don't see revival at present because focus in Kanpur has shifted towards leather industries and hosiery units. But it should be revived given the skilled labour present in Kanpur.
M1: You have mentioned about the leather industries. Tell me measures that have been taken by government to clean Ganga river.
Me: Sir, Ganga Action Plan was launched in 1985. Recently in 2015 Namami Gange programme was launched. Under Namami Gange, effluent monitoring networks are being set up. 68 sewerage treatment plants have been constructed so far and 12 are under construction. River surface cleaning is under process. Under Ganga Gram Yojana which is component of Namami Gange programme, villages along Ganga river are being made open defecation free. Supreme Court has ordered shutting down of many leather tanneries to prevent Ganga pollution.
Chairman directed second member to ask questions.
M2: He asked some question on finance and math.
Me: I tried the problem on rough paper. But said calculation of answer will take time. He said leave it.
M2: Kashmir is part of Pakistan.
Me: (I interrupted) No Sir, it is part of India.
M2: Let me complete the question ( all members started laughing ). Kashmir is part of Pakistan. This is said by Pakistan. Then member stated some fact about Kashmir. Then in the end asked me, tell me issues of Kashmir and their solutions.
Me: Sir, Kashmir has two problems. One is alienation of people living their and second is cross border terrorism. To address cross border terrorism, we need to have bilateral talks, back channel talks, high level talks. And to address the problem of alienation of people, we need to engage the youth in education and employment. We should promote tourism and other economic activities.
M2: We are doing bilateral talks with them since long time. Still issue has not been resolved.
Me: Sir, Kashmir issue has become emotional issue. Pakistan's political parties use Kashmir to gain votes during election. And sir emotional issues take time in resolution.
M2: Will you go with your wife there in such a environment ?
Me: I didn't say a word. (just smiled)
M2 :So from where tourism sector will get earning. What about Geelani ?
Me: Sir, we should also have back channel talks with them to ease tension in the region.
Member 3
M3: So you mentioned about cross border terrorism. Why don't we call it cross LoC terrorism, because everything is happening across LoC now ?
Me: Sir, under Shimla Agreement in 1973 LoC was defined. Though it is across LoC. They do have cross the border. ( I got nervous here)
M3: You seem little bit confused. Tell me what is near Kashmir.
Me: Sir, Siachen Glacier.
M3: Tell more about it.
Me: Sir In 1984, under operation Meghdoot. India occupied it.
M3: First time Indian Army went to this place ?
Me: Sir 1980s. (As I wasn't sure about year so I told him decade)
M3: 1980 is the right answer. Can you tell me exact coordinate from where dispute starts ?
Me: Sir, NJ9842
M3: What is the exact dispute ?
Me: Sir in a agreement, it was written that "thence from the north."
Pakistan and India has different interpretation about this line. Pakistan says that it has land till Karakoram. India says that division should be vertical.
M3: (He corrected me). For India border line go in west side. But it's not a big mistake. Pakistan has given some land to China. Why aren't we taking land directly from China ?
Me: Sir, there was a agreement under which it is written that if dispute between India and Pakistan gets resolved. India and China can renegotiate about that land. Because Pakistan is good ally of China. So China will not return the land.
M3: Tell me year of signing of that agreement.
Me: Sir, I don't know.
M3: Tell the decade.
Me: Sir, 1960s. ( This I guessed )
M3: Good, I wanted to ask you about CPEC but I can see that you will be able to answer that question. So I am asking you a a different question. Suppose corridor comes to India via Kathmandu. Should we join it or not ? Give arguments both in support and against.
Me: Sir, given the economic integration in the region, we will also derive benefits from it. Since India wants early completion of BCIM corridor because of its economic benefit. India should join the project.
M3: Now one argument in against.
Me: (After taking few seconds) Sir, govt of India has raised concerned over Chinese infrastructure projects due to lack of transparency. China says that its projects have only economic objective. But India has concern that projects might have hidden political objectives. So India should also take that point in mind while joining such projects.
M4 was a lady member.
M4 : What are the issues of women and child health ? Tell me government programmes related to that. (Hobby related question)
Me: Mam, women have two issues low BMI and anemia. More than 50% women are suffering from anemia. In children, issues are stunting and underweight.
Government programmes are Janani Suraksha Yojana for encouraging institutional deliveries. National Creche Programme for providing creche facilities to working women from age of 6 months of child till 6 years of child. SABLA scheme is for nutritional support to adolescent girls. Mission Indradhanush is for immunization of child.
M4 : Don't you think ICDS is a non starter ?
Me : Mam, stunting has reduced since 2005-06 according to National Family Health Survey. It is 38.4% according to NFHS 4.
M4 : Suggest some measures to make teaching a attractive profession.
Me: Mam, in last 15 years years China has improved its education quality. Reason cited is teachers, there, are given good residential facility, hostel and mess facility. These kind of perks attract young minds to join teaching profession. And Mam, we need to improve quality of teacher education. In recent budget, government has proposed Integrated B.Ed. programme. Such measures are step in right direction.
Chairman said your interview is over. I said thank you sir, thank you mam and thank you sirs.