i hope final will be the "FINAL"...

Being in the premises for my third CSE interview on 15th march with my colleague Abhishek who also happens my neighbour in NIFM as well as at native place ,there something more than coincidence as both of us were in the same board in which apart from us were cheerful fellows named Arun,Ankita, Divya. so after formalities were over we got to know that board was to be chaired  by Mr. P.K. Mishra, who himself had an illustrious career as a civil servant.for me it was a double sword as in last personality test in same board i scored 225 and it was like a discussion in a "dream" so familiarity of board was a big positive while the fact that i was already in the service so repeating the performance was a big challenge. 

As time passed i was left alone in the hall being 6th in the list with a CISF guy, i thought board has forgotten to take notice that i was also to be interviewed so after clocked ticked past 1 PM, i was really under pressure that i will be guillotined due to poor time management,then again Devendra,(same guy who was there in 2012) came and accompanied me to the board and recognised me and we chatted for few moments and said that after that i would not require to come again pointing that i will get I.A.S. this year (in any case it was my last venture in UPSC), as he quoted ex. of previous IAS fellows who made it in this board. and after chanting few mantra's of Goddess Durga, buzzer invited me...i entered glanced at the board and after initial salutations it began on somewhat known note...

CHAIRMAN-

Q- So you are working as Assistant Superintending Officer in NSSO?

A- No sir, I worked in NSSO earlier but after my selection in CSE 2012 as Indian Postal and Telecom Accounts and Finance Officer, I am undergoing training at NIFM, Faridabad.

Q- So it must be 2-3 months for your training? What are the topics for training there?

A- Sir, we are basically undergoing training in government accounting, auditing public finance and HRM.

Q- Is there any difference between government and private sector accounting?

A- Yes sir they differ in accounting principles.

Q- At some point you have played cricket think?

A- Yes sir I played it in school but could not pursue it now a day.

Q- So there is a statement by Anil Kumble in today’s newspaper that “Sehwag needs support and not sword”. what does it mean?

A- Sir it means that in this low phase of his career he needs support and opportunity to improve rather than putting him out of team.

Q-  If you were selector what would you have done?

A- Sir I would have judged the performance of sehwag against the team he is going to play and whether it is a test or one-day match?

Q- Suppose it is test match? Support your answer for that?

A- Sir, I would drop him because we need to disincentivise the poor performance otherwise it could have a negative impact on the team.

Q- You mentioned that you read some case studies on administration, what it is about?

A- Sir, in my leisure time I use to read case studies on administration.

Q- Tell me some recently you’ve done?

A- Sir, I recently studied a case study on Delhi Jail Board’s effort to privatize the water distribution system and make supply 24/7 in few areas. For that it had approached World Bank for loan and appointed PWC as a consultant.

Q- So what is the case in it?

A- Sir in this case the DJB has to stop the process and withdraw the application for loan from WB due to pressures from civil society and citizens. So we can learn what were the obstacles faced by DJB to procure loan.

Q- I am giving you a quotation. You comment on that “constitution operates in a social context/structure.”

A- Sir, the statement points that that constitution is a living document and it does not operate in vacuum. It operates in societal set-up and it’s up to different groups and individuals how they frame the policies and implement them as per the values of the constitution.

Q- So how you judge the working of it as a guide?

A- Sir, preamble acts as a guide to decide on the values which we cherish like secularism, socialism, justice, equality and liberty. So if we measure the performance on these parameters, we find that we are moving forward to achieve them but the speed is not up-to the mark due to compulsion of democratic process and domestic political compulsions.

Q- Are you sure these were the reasons for the performance?

A- Yes sir, primarily I regard compulsive domestic politics as the reason for slow process.

MEMBER-1

Q- So you are from Raebareli, but I think it is written as raibareilly?

A- No sir it is spelled as former one because it recognized by G.o.U.P.

Q- But some people still use the latter one?

A- Yes sir but it is due to historical reasons as it was spelled like that in colonial period.

Q- Can you spell sir Bareilly?

A- Sir am not sure but I think it is “Bareli”.

Q- No its Bareilly.

A- Thank you sir.

Q- You come from Shora, and I can see that you studied chemistry sometime. Can you tell me the chemical formula of that?

A- No sir, I don’t know.

Q- Have you heard of KNO3? It’s also called as “Shora”.

Q- There has been lot of issue going on in parliament with opposition accusing govt. of being soft on Pakistan in case of terrorism. Should we declare war on Pakistan for that matter?

A- Sir in present international system cooperation and coordination are only 2 ways for working on issues like terrorism. so we have to cooperate with neighbours on these issues like we have been following track 1 and 2 diplomacy channels but when Pakistan when confronted with documentary evidences, and telephonic conversations  replies that they are merely statements and not evidences so we are forced to strengthened our own internal mechanism like border vigilance. War is not a solution for such issues.

Q- You must have observing that there has been a discontent in last 2-3 yrs in public regarding issues of corruption; it was there earlier also but now there is a movement against it. Can you tell us why it is so?

A- Sir, though corruption was there earlier also but suddenly its visibility has increased due to rise of social media which has ensured free flow of communication esp. amongst youth so they can plan events on face book and this phenomenon has not been limited only to India, it also played important role in Tunisia and Egypt. Secondly an active civil society has highlighted the issue of corruption so public found as a medium of articulation in it. Also people who were fed up street-level corruption had realization that it’s their money and those in power should be held accountable for that.

Q- But this has led to a situation where credibility is under threat now nobody has faith in bureaucracy and everybody is looked with suspicion, why it is so?

A- Sir, I think this situation has led to a situation where institutional credibility has been looked down upon, but I think that still 90% of bureaucrats are very honest and hard working while remaining 10% may be corrupt but media presents the latter as representative of bureaucracy and there is no presentation of honest bureaucrats. I think media should present the other face of bureaucracy also.

Q- So why it is not there?

A- Sir, I would like to quote Hamid Ansari sir that media resorts to trivialization for the honest work and sensationalisation for corrupt practices.

MEMBER -2

Q- Ok, so your name is Anurag, its opposite is “Vairagya”?

A- No sir, its opposite is “Dwesh”.

Q- No, I think Anurag means attachment?

A- Sir, Anurag means “Prem” and in every love there is an attachment.

Q- So you said that you studied public finance, what is opposite of public finance.

A- Sir I don’t know but it could be private finance.

Q- No, its corporate finance.

A- Thank you sir.

Q- What is the difference between revenue, receipts, sales and turnover?

A- Sir, revenue refers to money receives in lieu of goods and services which we deliver, receipts are mostly unilateral payments in which there is no return of goods and service. Sales refer to value realized from selling of goods and services and turnover refers to relative change in the sales from any specific period.

Q- What is difference between commission, board and authority?

 A-  Commission is bodies which can be statutory or constitutional or executive like planning commission, while board is set up for any specific purpose

Q-  What is total population of Catholic Christians in the world?

A- Sir, I don’t know.

Q- Tell me what percentage of it resides in Latin America?

A- Sir, I've read it just half an hour ago but I could not recollect at the moment.

Q- There is an advertisement going on FM radio about NSSO, what does it says?

A- Sir, advertisement requests public to cooperate with investigators if they approach for statistical surveys on socio-economic issues as it would be beneficial for development and planning for nation.

Q- you had your education in Modinagar and Kanpur?

A- No sir, I had my education in Raebareli only, name of my school is on Mrs. Dayawati Modi who was founder of the school and my college was affiliated to CSJM University, Kanpur.

Q- Its Chandra Shekhar…

A- Sir, its Chatrapati Shauji Maharaj University.

MEMBER-3

Q- You must be knowing Mr. Sunder Lal Bahuguna, do you about Chipko Movement?

A- Sir, Chipko movement was started in Uttarakhand erstwhile part of UP. Earlier there was provision where contractors were issued licenses for forest products which was having negative impact on livelihood of people residing there and affected mostly women. So they started a movement under Mr. Bahuguna in which they hugged the trees when it was approached for cutting.

Q- There is also some movement going on near Delhi?

A- Sir, in which sector?

Q- It’s near Delhi, Haryana?

A- Sir, it may be demand for universal pension by pension perished.

Q- So what was your work profile in NSSO?

A- Sir, I was posted in field operations division of NSSO where I generally lead the team of two investigators and perform survey work.

Q- What was the duration of that survey?

A- Sir, normally it extended for 5-6 days with 5-6 hrs daily.

Q- Do you know there are countries where the duration of day and night is of 6 months each? How do they perform the work?

A- Sir, I don’t know.

MEMBER-4

Q- Do you like read something?

A- Maa’m due to my other demands I mostly pursued academic studies and newspaper, though in my leisure time I used to watch documentaries and read case studies from lee kuan yew school of public policy.

Q- So which type of documentaries do you watch?

A- Maa’m I have subscribed to a website documentary.net which sends links of various released documentaries and from that prefer to watch documentaries on socio-political issues.

Q- So national or international?

A- Mostly national.

Q- So you have done graduation in English literature?

A- No Maa’m am sorry to correct but there was a technical problem this year while filling DAF, as first it asked for stream of graduation then 3 subjects in which option of English language was not there which was my subject in graduation, so it took English literature as a subject while in last year we have to type the name of subjects in graduation.

Q- How come `English language qualifies as a subject?

A- CSJM University there is a system in which during initial 2 yrs we have 3 subjects while in last year we had to leave one subject and in my case it was English language.

FROM EXAM'S