Date of Interview: 26 August
Board: Sujata Mehta Madam
Education: B.Tech Mechanical Engineering, MBA
Optional: Punjabi Literature
Home State: Punjab
Hobby: Reading Punjabi novels
Work Experience: PSU 5 years

Chairman

Read the DAF aloud. Last portion of DAF she read was about my work experience

1. Explain your role in the organization?
2. Give examples of new initiatives you took?
3. What cost reduction did that initiative result in?
4. Suppose you want to design a scheme, how would you ensure that it reaches its intended beneficiaries?

Member 1

1. You have graduation in Mechanical engineering, but still chose Punjabi literature, reason behind that?
2. Is Punjabi literature more scoring?
3. Name two male and two female poets of Punjabi?
4. Among these whose name would you suggest me to read and why?
5. As fiction what do you see 30 years ahead? (My answer here included Industry 4.0)

Member 2

1. Who coined the term Industry 4.0?
2. When was it coined?
3. What effect does Taliban’s rise have on Punjab?
4. Who are factors that led to dropping in militancy in Punjab?
5. PM’s speech about Hydrogen based fuels on 15 th August. Is making hydrogen cheap?
6. What technology do we have today? Is it viable?

Member 3

1. What is the political situation in Punjab nowadays?
2. Which party do you see winning in next elections?
3. What are the three farm laws?
4. Why prominently farmers from Punjab are protesting?
5. Recently a Sahitya Akademy winner from Punjab returned his prize in protest against the farm laws. Who was it?

Member 4

1. Punjab was doing extremely well 20 years before, but not now. What can be the reason behind that?
2. Issues being faced by youth of Punjab?
3. The resolution for these issues?
4. Suppose you are made (some post related to agriculture), how would you ensure welfare of farmers?
5. Post 370, would the situation be normalised in Kashmir?
6. What steps can be taken toward greater integration?
7. Any skill you acquired recently?

Chairman: Thanks. You may leave now.

Source: Forum IAS

Board: Sujata Mehta Ma’am
Experience: IRS(IT) training
Hobby: Cooking
Home State: Tamil Nadu

Chairperson

1. What is citizen-centric administration
2. Rate IT dept out of 10 ( I said 10 )
3. What abt faceless then.. people are facing issues
4. Asked some forms related to IT which I don’t know

Member 2 

1. Tiruppur issues during covid
2. Names of schemes related to skilling

Member 3 

1. Why IAS ( i said I opted IPS)
2. Reasons
3. Disaster Management… my participation

Member 4

1. Why grandmasters in India is low?
2. Chess can be learned or talent?
3. Road and environmental clearances in Himachal Pradesh

Member 5

1. you want to work in tn right? yes
2. Will you go to Nagaland?
3. Problems in Nagaland? I said ans related to administration..
4. tell from police perspective.
5. How apprenticeship program can be done

Chairperson

1. Would you like to ask anything .. I said no.. ok u can leave

Again Member 1

1. Tell something abt cooking … what do you cook

Source: Forum IAS

Date of Interview: 02.09.2021
Board: Sujata Mehta Ma’am
Education: BSc honors and MSc in Botany: Ph.D. (thesis submitted in August) from CSIR lab
Optional: Botany
Home state: West Bengal

3rd attempt, 1st interview With Mask on all the time. Not even asked to remove it to verify it.

Chairman

1. Introduce Yourself.
2. You are going to be a doctorate very soon. After working so long in super specialised field do you think you will like the work of very generalist IAS?
3. Do research scholars get the respect they deserve in society?
4. Young IAS or IPS officers get better respect or not? Have you ever interacted? (Mentioned Bharat darshan trainee visits to our lab here)
5. How are they? Were they arrogant or willing to interact?
6. Should we continue research on gm crops?
7. Why we are not accepting it? Why USA accepted but UK don’t?
8. Will there be any ill effect of gm?
9. As a botanist, will you be in favour of promoting gm crops?
10. What you do as popular science communicator? (Hobby)

Member 1

1. After Covid, do you think we need more trees for immunity boost or pure air? Are we doing enough?
2. What else can we do to increase tree cover in metro cities?
3. Long talk on Iraq, Syria, Libia. They are building extremely good infrastructures eg. flyover even better than Delhi. Despite having autocratic ruler. Why?
4. Don’t you think law and order could be better maintained by autocratic govt?
5. How many districts are there in India?
6. As a DM of any of these districts after few years, what will you do to improve state of affairs?
7. What are SDGs?
8. Do you think India can achieve the SDG goals as promised?

Member 2

1. Why is the development of WB is Kolkata Centric? Why places like Coachbehar and Jalpaiguri are getting ignored?
2. It’s not about infra only, do you have enough educational institutions there? (Mentioned 2 recently opened univ there)
3. Why WB doesn’t want to share Teesta water? Why is the river so important?
4. Do you think we took advantage of Farakka treaty by not listening to Bangladesh’s demand?
5. Are there any flaws in these treaties?
6. Talk about some work permits and free movement between indo Bangladesh. Do you think we can open a border for local people in Bengal?(said it will increase illegal migrant issue)
7. But won’t people will be benefitted. They can go to work in the day and come back to India at evening. (Said we can do it on pilot basis, then open up if positive response and maintain proper transparency and safety measures)
8. You have studied in Bengali medium. What do you think about DU discrimination between cbsc and state boards? At the 10+2 level, how can we bring down the disparity? (Talked about neet. But will be difficult in social sci. Still, a common minimum syllabus may help)
9. You said same syllabus. But do you think you studied at presidency college say someone from Munger will have the same capability as you have? (Said capability is individual but education environment will take more time to be same)

Member 3

1. What was your thesis topic?
2. Significance of it?
3. Most of the faculties in IIT and other educational institutes are Bengali. Why Bengalis prefer academics so much? (Mentioned less conducive env for business here)
4. Can’t Laxmi and Saraswati go together?
5. You organized a women entrepreneur conclave. How do you see the idea of startup for research scholars?
6. Prosopis julifera. Invasive trees. How could you control? And 2 3 follow-up questions
7. You talked about NEET. Which state is constantly opposing neet?
8. What was their argument? (Gave wrong answer. Said language but he said rural people disadvantage. Accepted and said sorry)

Member 4

1. Name 4 biodiversity hotspots of India
2. Have you ever been to Assam/ Arunachal/ Meghalaya?
3. Are north eastern states poor? (Said poor if we see infrastructure but rich in biodiversity and ethnic diversity)

Source: Forum IAS

Date of Interview: 18 august
Board: Sujata Mehta
Background: B.Tech Mechanical Engineering,
Home State: Maharashtra
Worked: as an associate engineer at Eaton India Innovation center.
Hobbies: Naam-smaran

Chairman

1. Tell us about yourself?
2. What was the kind of work you were doing?
3. What is innovation? How is it diff from jugaad?
4. Does inavailability of resource have anything to do with jugaad?
5. Can you use jugaad in management?
6. What solutions did u provide to social problems?
7. (I told about a level sensor on vehicles to detect potholes.)
8. Will this be made for all cars?
9. What were other problems you addressed
   (Follow up questions)

Member 1

1. Tell me in short about renewable resources.
2. What is your patent about, tell us very briefly?
3. What is china iran 25 years agreement signed in march this year?

Member 2

1. what is difference between innovation and immitation?
2. What are core competencies?
3. Can immitation be a core competency?
4. What is CPI?
5. Why is it used?
6. What is a Business analyst?
7. How do they forecast the demand?

Member 3

1. So you did a diploma and then a three years degree? Did u get credits for that, a year off, etc?
2. What is national skill quality framework? What is national education quality framework?
3. In polytechnic did u visit any workshop?
4. What did u see there?
5. Did u get any hands-on training?
6. Did you do any workshop activities at all?
7. Where was the workshop?
8. What are your suggestions to improve the polytechnic course?
9. Who is heading walchand now?

Member 4

1. So u did transportation engineering?
2. Ok automobile engineering? Yes, tell me about e scooter and e vehicle that bajaj is launching.
3. What are electric vehicles?
4. What are the pros and cons?
5. What is naam-smaran?
   (Chairman madam answered on my behalf saying it is similar to meditation)

Chairman

1. Is there anything that we have not asked?
2. Ok, let me ask you about floods in your home district Sangli.
3. I corrected saying Ratnagiri is my home district.
4. She said oh Ratnagiri had a greater loss this year, what are your suggestions for flood management?
   Thank you your interview is over.

All the best. Godspeed.

Source: Forum IAS

Date of Interview: 31 August 2021
Board: Sujata Mehta
Home State: West Bengal
Background: B.Tech (Aerospace)

Chairman

1. Introduce with background and work experience
2. What were you doing for two years
3. Employment opportunities for Aerospace in India
4. Did you opted for campus placement? (said No)
5. How do see the recent decision of DGCA to allow Grounded Boeing 737 Max to operate.? The rectification in the design flaw of Boeing 737 Max is claimed by the Company itself and not by any independent authority..? Do you think there is a need for independent verifying agencies where the life of lot of people are at stake.?

Member 1 

1. Have you participated in any tournament of TT.? (said No)
2. Have you done any internship or training during Btech? (Yes) What was that?
3. What you did in Flight testing (from DAF)
4. Where do you see yourself 5 years from now.?
5. What will be your priorities if you are made DM of a district?

Member 2

1. How are you today..?
2. Why you choose anthropology as your optional.?
3. There are people in India in different parts of India say Bengal and Punjab, they have nothing in common and they are very different. How do you see this.?
4. Differentiate between patriotism and Nationalism
5. What would you choose between the two.?
6. How to improve relations between India and neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh

Member 3

1. You are an aerospace engineer. Do you know about different types of drone technology? Regulation of drone in India?
2. We see a lot of similarities between the people of Kerala and West Bengal: they eat boiled rice, fish, love football, can be seen in campus all across India, Communism. Why so in your opinion..?
3. What does budget travelling mean..? (Chairman stopped the member)

Member 4

1. So you are from Kolkata. Have you ever been to Guwahati? (said No) Or any other place in North East? (said No)
2. Which states are called North Eastern states? (said 8 including Sikkim)
3. Why Sikkim is also included in North-Eastern states despite west Bengal in between.?
4. Why the human development index of North Eastern states is low as compared to other states say West Bengal.?
5. How can you improve the situation as an administrator?
6. How will you use your aerospace knowledge if you are made DM of a district in North East India?[I am not able to recall few questions and also the questions may not be in order]

Source: Forum IAS

Board: Sujata Mehta ma’am
Background: B.com Hons and M.com
Home State: Gurgaon, Haryana
Optional: Commerce and accountancy

Chairman 

1. Introduce urself with ur academics
2. What are doing since 2019
3. Why civil service
4. Why billionaire increasing in india with poors are also increasing
5. Why stock market booming
6. What is unicorn
7. How startup helps

Member 1

1. What is reagon economics (didn’t answered)
2. Why we win less model at Olympics
3. What need to done to win more Olympics
4. We have the infrastructure already how to use it (counter)

Member 2

1. Why Haryana winning more medal in wrestling
2. Can this culture can be imitated in other states (based on my reply)
3. What is IFRS
4. What is Ind AS
5. Tell me some IFRS

Member 3

1. What is international accounting standard board ( didnt answered)
2. Should cricket included in Olympics and why it’s difficult to include cricket in Olympics
3. Why we r not hosting Olympics
4. Why 2047 plan to host Olympics (it’s too late)
5. Why SEZ failed in India
6. Why not build SEZ near ports

Member 4

1. (psychologist, as he saw my body language again and again and even looking at my shoes also)
2. Gurgaon is unplanned and how to plan outer Gurgaon
3. As a DC of border dist whats ur priority

Chairman

1. Do u want that we ask qs from some specific are ( I said maam no specifice area but If u want we can discuss more) Share ur good experience with any govt dept
   Share one bad experience also
2. Do u asked for any help from govt in lockdown (I said no)
   Ur interview is over

All members seemed satisfied and Chairman was happy

Note – Chairman was circular (that marriage waali) and two members were only at a distance of 1 metre. Table was like a meeting table

Source: Telegram