Central armed police forces[Assistant commandant] 2013 Interview

Date- 23^rd June 2014

Venue: UPSC, Delhi

My interview was scheduled in morning slot and was asked to report at 9. I reached UPSC bhavan around 8.30 Am. The security said they would allow only at 9. At 9, we were allowed in after checking call letter and ID proof. At reception desk we were allotted table numbers. We were taken into a circular hall with dome shaped roof. There were 7 tables each corresponding to a particular board.

                Document checking too around 2 hours and interviews started only around 11 AM. I was number 4 in my group of 6 people. We got to know that our interview board chairman is Hem Chandra Gupta. My turn came at around 12 PM

                The peon escorted me along a long corridor passing through chambers of various UPSC members to Mr Hem Chandra Gupta’s chamber. After about 10 minutes , I was called in. Please find below a transcript of my interview.

Me: Good afternoon sir.

Chairman[CM]: Please take your seat. [I sat down] So you have studied engineering at amrita school of engineering. Where is it?

Me: Sir, university is located at Coimbatore while I studied at a campus in Bangalore

CM: ok. You completed graduation in 2010, what have you been doing since then?

Me: Sir, I have been preparing for civil services. Apart from that I got a central government job in 2011 but I am still waiting for joining.

CM: Hmm k. So why are you coming for CAPF ?

Me: Sir, I have always wanted to join a challenging and rewarding career option. I feel this job will suit my requirements

CM: You have mentioned volunteering as your hobby. What do you volunteer for?

Me: Sir I am associated with an NGO that works in education sector

CM: Ok ok . Recently an issue has come up with NGOs. What is it about?

Me: Sir, Recently an intelligence report has identified certain NGOs as acting against our national interests. According to report, certain NGOs are stalling development projects deliberately and this is being perceived as actions against national interest

CM: can you name the NGOs listed in report?

Me: Green peace is one of the NGOs sir. I am not able to recollect other NGOs at this point of time

CM passes over to Member 1[M1]

M1: Police to population ratio is very low in India. Can you tell me how much?

Me: Around 110

M1: Some say there are more number of NGOs in India than police personnel. Is it true?

Me: It could be sir as very little investment is involved and registration process is easier

M1: So Bharath, We have made several policies regarding education yet we see large number of illiterates. Can you tell me what are the number of illiterates in India?

Me: Sir its around 25% of population. But a lot many are not functionally literate

M1: Can you give me a number

Me: Sir around 250 million

M1: what was population at time of independence?

Me: I am not sure sir, maybe 500 million

M1: If you see number of people illiterate, it has increased over time . Why do you think so?

Me; Sir I think our education curriculum does not meet needs of people. For example a tribal community may be good at a particular thing but our education system does not recognise that

M1: Ok. But if you see even literates. Many are not able to find jobs, so what use is it to increase literacy rate?

Me: Sir, skill deficit is also an issue. We need to promote vocational courses. A person with skills need not look for a job, he can setup his own venture. This way we can unleash entrepreneurial revolution in the country

M1 passes it over to M2

M2. You have mentioned blogging as a hobby. What do you blog on?

Me: Sir initially I used to write on my personal experiences. Now Its mostly related to my preparation and sharing of notes

M2: Is blogging same as social media?

Me: Blogging is a part of social media. Apart from that micro blogging, facebook and other such sites also constitute social media

M2: Do you know Edward snowden?

Me: Yes sir. He was instrumental in revealing American snooping activities. This has caused cocnerns in different parts of the world

M2: Have you heard of cyber security? How to address it?

Me: Yes sir. Cyber security is a contentious issue now. Internet was initially designed for a small community, but today it has grown into a truly global medium. So we need better structures to govern it. Currently internet is governed by few bodies in USA. This raises security issues. We need a multilateral multi stakeholder mechanism. That’s regarding cyber governance issues. In domain of cyber security issues, lot of progress has been made. Today it is possible to send messaged in encoded format so that even if anyone snoops in they wont be able to identify it.

M2: Do you know NASDAQ? What are its activities?

Me:Yes sir it’s a American stock exchange. I am not aware about its activities

M2: Do you know DAC?

Me: Is it department of atomic commissions

M2 no response, moves on to next question

M2: You are from east Godavari. Can you tell me differences between the two?

Me: Sir both are agriculturally prosperous thanks to dowleswaram barrage which provides water for both districts. West Godavari has more industries. In east Godavari there is lot of scope for development of ports. Kakinada is famous for fertilise factories. Its providing employment to many people

M2: Yes. Two more are being proposed now. A lot is being talked about Godavari basin? What is it about?

Me: Yes sir, a project has been proposed to divert waters from Godavari to Krishna river. Currently about 600 tmcft water is being drained into sea while Krishna is completely dammed. So this project has been proposed. It’s a river inter linkage project. There are concerns about displacement and submergence in certain areas of Orissa and chattisgarh

M2: What about gas?

Me: Yes sir KG basin is present.

M2: what is the issue with it?

Me- Sir a private agency is involved in exploration activity. It has been alleged that the company is gold plating its costs so as to reduce governments share in profit

M2 passes over to M3

M3: Your state has been divided. Why has it been divided? Both speak same language, I don’t think there are many differences. Why do you think it split?

Me: Sir, it has both historical and economic reasons. Historically telangana was under nizam rule while coastal Andhra was under british. British developed ports, transport well while telangana lagged behind

M3. Ok ok. Can you tell me how many states were there at time of independence?

Me: I am not sure.

M3. No problem, guess

Me: I think 18 sir

M3. Today there are 29. Can you tell me how they formed?

Me: Sir initial demand for separate state ironically came from Andhra itself. It was first state to be formed on linguistic basis. Later on a state reorganisation committee was formed which recommended formation of states based on linguistic and administrative basis though it specifically mentioned language should not be the sole criteria

M3: So don’t you think this state split has violated language criteria?

Me: If we see it strictly on language basis, yes sir. Because there is not much difference in language apart from accent

M3. Can you tell me names of states formed not on linguistic basis

Me: chattisgarh, Jharkand

M3. Yes basically all north india states. They all speak hindi

Me: yes sir

M3. Can you tell me demand for states currently that are not on linguistic basis?

Me: Sir, there is vidarbha, . Also a proposal to split UP into 4

M3. How many languages are there in india constitution

Me: 28[Brain freeze. I don’t know why I said that]

All members shocked

Me: sorry sir, Its 18[I was wrong. Its 22]

M3: k k. can you tell me which is largest spoken language in india?

Me: Hindi

M3: k 2^nd?

Me: Bengali

M3: K 3^rd?[smiling]

Me: I think telugu sir

M3: Ok you have mentioned cricket. Tell me all world records held by india?

Me: Sir there are many records by individual players. One of them is Sachin . he has scored most number of runs, played most matches

M3. Ok what about other records?

Me: Sir we won world cup twice, that is also a sort of record

M3: What record? West indies also won many times

Me: Yes sir. I am not able to recollect other records

M3: Ok . tell me who has scored most of triple centuries?

Me: Sehwag

M3. Who has caught most number of catches?

Me: I think Rahul Dravid

M3. See all these are records. Ok tell me top 5 run scorers

Me. I don’t know sir but definitely Sachin would be in that list

M3: What about dravid? Any other Indians in top 5

Me: I am not sure sir.

M3: Tell me test and ODI ranking of India

Me: I am not sure. I think it is no 2 in tests and 4 in ODIs

M3: its 3 and 5

Me: ok sir

CM you may go

Me: I would like to thank you all for giving me this opportunity

Interview lasted for about 20-25 minutes. It left me with mixed feelings. While I felt i answered opinion based questions satisfactorily, I made major blunders on factual questions relating to languages in 8^th schedule and cricket.