My UPSC interview for the post of Deputy Super-indent of Police ( Assistant Commandant )
My interview was held on 3 OCT 2012 in the afternoon session.Though I forgot some questions, i remeber many and have presented them to you.Please give feed back of how I did.I was the first candidate to be interviewed and my interview went on for 45 minutes.My board chairman was Mr. Prashanth Kumar Mishra (PKM) .There were 4 other members in the board including one lady. I will refer them as M1(lady), M2, M3, M4. This is how my interview went along as I entered the room.
Me: Good Morning Sirs , Good Morning Madam
PKM : Good AFTERNOON Mr. Ravi kanth Varma
Me: Sorry Sir , Good Afternoon.
PKM: So you are from West Godavari District of AP
Me : Yes, Sir.
PKM ( referring my DAF ) : You said , you were a team leader at your college. What are the criteria of becoming a team leader in your college.
Me: Sir, Academics were a factor along with extra curricular activities. I'm a debating champion of our college.
PKM: What in your view are the qualities required for a leader?
Me: Sir, In my view leader is the one who creates an environment in the team from I have to do it to I want to do it. If that is achieved Sir, they go extras mile to complete the tasks.
PKM: What else?
Me: Sir, Leader should have a Vision.
PKM: What is the Vision you had for your team.
Me: My team comprises of people of different academic levels sir, So my vision was to make everyone pass with good %.
PKM : Tell me one more quality of a leader?
Me: Up on necessity sir, leader should lead from the front to motivate his men.
PKM: Ok, One more quality?
Me: LEader should invovle every one in making startegies for the achievement of the vision. He should encourage everyone to bring forth their opinions.
PKM: U mean to say he should be accessible.
Me: yes sir.
PKM: What did you do as a team leader to become accessible to your team?
Me: Sir, I have conducted exclusve doubt raising sesions for them, both exclusively and also up on necessity at an individual level. Even before exam I cleared many of the doubts for them along with providing my notes.
PKM: ok, tell me one more quality of a leader?
Me: Srry sir, I am not hitting any as of now.
PKM: What about Decision making?
Me: Yes, Sir. It is highly important.
He then passed on to madam ( M1).
M1: You said you were a debate champion. I will give you a statement and you can argue for or against it. Conventional education where answers are written by the students is better than the modern examination system of OMR sheets.
Me: Mam, I will argue for it.The very purpose of education is to enhance knowledge and interpret the viewpoints. Through conventional type students can express the understanding of their knowledge and write their opinions about it. Where as in the latter type, examination is all about quantity of information and person with highest amount of information is winning the prize. I feel quality of knowledge is always better than quantity of knowledge.
M1: OK, good. ( And passed on to the next person )
M2: Did you do your project work in your Btech? In which domain ?
Me: I have done my project work in the insurance domain and I have done it in a private company rather than under a professor.
M2: Did you work on the real time project?
Me; No sir. I was placed as an intern in an project that is completed and I was assigned to develop additional components to it.
M2: Did you work with a team?
Me: No sir. Since I was taken as an intern, I was placed under the guidance of a professional and I completed my project under him.
/* He then passed on to another member. I'am surprised because he did not inquire into the domain of my project nor the technologies I worked with. */
M3: The economics are very closely related to technological advancement and development. But India is not concentrating on it and we are only importing the technologies. What do you think is the reason for this?
Me: Sir, After independence we are faced with a myriad of problems related to people and other basic necessities. We have many people who are below the poverty line and we made the development of the people as our primary goal and have invested majority of our resources towards them. So, we fell back few steps in the development of technologies.
M3: Forget, India. What about whole of east. They are very less developed technologically compared to west.
Me: Sir, majority of the eastern countries face same problem as us where many of the people are denied even basic necessities. It is very important to look for human development rather than technological development.
M3: What about west?
Me: Western countries achieved independence way before eastern countries and they have successfully addressed the basic necessities of the people before moving onto the path of technological development.
M3: What about work ethic?
Me: Work ethic of Indians is highly spiritual in nature and they look for goodness rather than materialism but west has a highly materialistic mindset and they look out of material benefits of everything they do.
M3: Is Caste system a hindrance for us?
Me: Caste became a road block for national development in pre independent India. But presently the barriers are broken and the mainstream development is taking place. Also caste system is basically a division of labor in India previously and I do not think that hindered technological advancement. For example, Iron pillar at Mehrauli was not built by people of higher caste but by a guild of blacksmiths who developed their own technology.
PKM : Boss is always right, particularly in disciplined forces. Do you accept it?
Me: Yes Sir. Boss is always right in disciplined forces.
PKM: Why?
Me: Sir, Boss is more experienced than us and experience is of highest importance is dealing with highly critical and dynamic situations that police forces face. So, knowledge of the boss combined with his experience becomes the guide to follow as I believe he always acts in the interest of the force and country.
PKM: Your boss gave you an order which is very illegal and he is adamant on it.What will you do?
Me: Sir, Firstly I cannot decide if the order is illegal or not, as that pertains to questioning the knowledge of my superior which am not entitled to. And Sir, is there any way I can talk to my Boss about the order ?
PKM: Ok, you will try to put your view point before him and he does not accept.
Me: No sir. I will not put my view point alone. I will talk to my subordinates about this matter and will take a comprehensive opinion. If they feel that the order is correct, then there will b no issue.
PKM interrupting: They too feel it is illegal.
Me: Then I will put the view point before my boss as a view point of the entire unit instead of my view point.
PKM: Even then he does not listen. Will you still follow the order?
Me: Yes sir. I will trust the knowledge of my boss and I will order my subordinates to follow the order.
/* He then asked M4 to ask me questions. *?
M4: I will ask you only few questions.Taking the example forward, if your boss asks you to go and wreck a village nearby as a retaliation to the attack on your camp. Will you follow that order.
Me: Sir, wrecking a village is a gross violation of human right which is against the very basic principles of the organisation I will not follow that order sir and I will be ready to take punishment for disobeying the order.e M4: You said writing article is your hobby. What are some recent articles that you have written?
Me: I have recently written on child labor and a creative way of managing the wealth of Padmanabha Swamy
M4 interrupting me : Ok, you have written an article on child labor, can you give me the framework of your article .
Me: Sir, In my opinion more than 90% of children in our country are undergoing child labor. If some children are undergoing labourage in fields and factories and other such places , remaining children are undergoing labourage in the form of education in schools and colleges.Education is thrust up on them and their creativity and passions are getting killed in order to get better marks.So I feel that as a labourage even.
M4: Dont you feel that your position is a bit extreme. All parents according to this are punishable.
Me: I'm moved by the plight of children sir and i do not feel that my position is extreme. Children should be encouraged to follow their passions.I believe situation is changing now and parents are encouraging children.
PKM laughing: Yes, it is changing gradually.
M3 interrupting : Are you forced anytime?
Me: Never Sir. I'm lucky.
PKM: Ok, Ravi kanth you can go.
Me: Thank you very much sir.
My interview was held on 3 OCT 2012 in the afternoon session.Though I forgot some questions, i remeber many and have presented them to you.Please give feed back of how I did.I was the first candidate to be interviewed and my interview went on for 45 minutes.My board chairman was Mr. Prashanth Kumar Mishra (PKM) .There were 4 other members in the board including one lady. I will refer them as M1(lady), M2, M3, M4. This is how my interview went along as I entered the room.
Me: Good Morning Sirs , Good Morning Madam
PKM : Good AFTERNOON Mr. Ravi kanth Varma
Me: Sorry Sir , Good Afternoon.
PKM: So you are from West Godavari District of AP
Me : Yes, Sir.
PKM ( referring my DAF ) : You said , you were a team leader at your college. What are the criteria of becoming a team leader in your college.
Me: Sir, Academics were a factor along with extra curricular activities. I'm a debating champion of our college.
PKM: What in your view are the qualities required for a leader?
Me: Sir, In my view leader is the one who creates an environment in the team from I have to do it to I want to do it. If that is achieved Sir, they go extras mile to complete the tasks.
PKM: What else?
Me: Sir, Leader should have a Vision.
PKM: What is the Vision you had for your team.
Me: My team comprises of people of different academic levels sir, So my vision was to make everyone pass with good %.
PKM : Tell me one more quality of a leader?
Me: Up on necessity sir, leader should lead from the front to motivate his men.
PKM: Ok, One more quality?
Me: LEader should invovle every one in making startegies for the achievement of the vision. He should encourage everyone to bring forth their opinions.
PKM: U mean to say he should be accessible.
Me: yes sir.
PKM: What did you do as a team leader to become accessible to your team?
Me: Sir, I have conducted exclusve doubt raising sesions for them, both exclusively and also up on necessity at an individual level. Even before exam I cleared many of the doubts for them along with providing my notes.
PKM: ok, tell me one more quality of a leader?
Me: Srry sir, I am not hitting any as of now.
PKM: What about Decision making?
Me: Yes, Sir. It is highly important.
He then passed on to madam ( M1).
M1: You said you were a debate champion. I will give you a statement and you can argue for or against it. Conventional education where answers are written by the students is better than the modern examination system of OMR sheets.
Me: Mam, I will argue for it.The very purpose of education is to enhance knowledge and interpret the viewpoints. Through conventional type students can express the understanding of their knowledge and write their opinions about it. Where as in the latter type, examination is all about quantity of information and person with highest amount of information is winning the prize. I feel quality of knowledge is always better than quantity of knowledge.
M1: OK, good. ( And passed on to the next person )
M2: Did you do your project work in your Btech? In which domain ?
Me: I have done my project work in the insurance domain and I have done it in a private company rather than under a professor.
M2: Did you work on the real time project?
Me; No sir. I was placed as an intern in an project that is completed and I was assigned to develop additional components to it.
M2: Did you work with a team?
Me: No sir. Since I was taken as an intern, I was placed under the guidance of a professional and I completed my project under him.
/* He then passed on to another member. I'am surprised because he did not inquire into the domain of my project nor the technologies I worked with. */
M3: The economics are very closely related to technological advancement and development. But India is not concentrating on it and we are only importing the technologies. What do you think is the reason for this?
Me: Sir, After independence we are faced with a myriad of problems related to people and other basic necessities. We have many people who are below the poverty line and we made the development of the people as our primary goal and have invested majority of our resources towards them. So, we fell back few steps in the development of technologies.
M3: Forget, India. What about whole of east. They are very less developed technologically compared to west.
Me: Sir, majority of the eastern countries face same problem as us where many of the people are denied even basic necessities. It is very important to look for human development rather than technological development.
M3: What about west?
Me: Western countries achieved independence way before eastern countries and they have successfully addressed the basic necessities of the people before moving onto the path of technological development.
M3: What about work ethic?
Me: Work ethic of Indians is highly spiritual in nature and they look for goodness rather than materialism but west has a highly materialistic mindset and they look out of material benefits of everything they do.
M3: Is Caste system a hindrance for us?
Me: Caste became a road block for national development in pre independent India. But presently the barriers are broken and the mainstream development is taking place. Also caste system is basically a division of labor in India previously and I do not think that hindered technological advancement. For example, Iron pillar at Mehrauli was not built by people of higher caste but by a guild of blacksmiths who developed their own technology.
PKM : Boss is always right, particularly in disciplined forces. Do you accept it?
Me: Yes Sir. Boss is always right in disciplined forces.
PKM: Why?
Me: Sir, Boss is more experienced than us and experience is of highest importance is dealing with highly critical and dynamic situations that police forces face. So, knowledge of the boss combined with his experience becomes the guide to follow as I believe he always acts in the interest of the force and country.
PKM: Your boss gave you an order which is very illegal and he is adamant on it.What will you do?
Me: Sir, Firstly I cannot decide if the order is illegal or not, as that pertains to questioning the knowledge of my superior which am not entitled to. And Sir, is there any way I can talk to my Boss about the order ?
PKM: Ok, you will try to put your view point before him and he does not accept.
Me: No sir. I will not put my view point alone. I will talk to my subordinates about this matter and will take a comprehensive opinion. If they feel that the order is correct, then there will b no issue.
PKM interrupting: They too feel it is illegal.
Me: Then I will put the view point before my boss as a view point of the entire unit instead of my view point.
PKM: Even then he does not listen. Will you still follow the order?
Me: Yes sir. I will trust the knowledge of my boss and I will order my subordinates to follow the order.
/* He then asked M4 to ask me questions. *?
M4: I will ask you only few questions.Taking the example forward, if your boss asks you to go and wreck a village nearby as a retaliation to the attack on your camp. Will you follow that order.
Me: Sir, wrecking a village is a gross violation of human right which is against the very basic principles of the organisation I will not follow that order sir and I will be ready to take punishment for disobeying the order.e M4: You said writing article is your hobby. What are some recent articles that you have written?
Me: I have recently written on child labor and a creative way of managing the wealth of Padmanabha Swamy
M4 interrupting me : Ok, you have written an article on child labor, can you give me the framework of your article .
Me: Sir, In my opinion more than 90% of children in our country are undergoing child labor. If some children are undergoing labourage in fields and factories and other such places , remaining children are undergoing labourage in the form of education in schools and colleges.Education is thrust up on them and their creativity and passions are getting killed in order to get better marks.So I feel that as a labourage even.
M4: Dont you feel that your position is a bit extreme. All parents according to this are punishable.
Me: I'm moved by the plight of children sir and i do not feel that my position is extreme. Children should be encouraged to follow their passions.I believe situation is changing now and parents are encouraging children.
PKM laughing: Yes, it is changing gradually.
M3 interrupting : Are you forced anytime?
Me: Never Sir. I'm lucky.
PKM: Ok, Ravi kanth you can go.
Me: Thank you very much sir.
Congrates Ravi !!! You were very fluent and structured in your answers ..all the best.
ReplyDeleteThis is Somesh Saravana from Chennai. Am a Asst. Manager with IOB(Indian Overseas Bank). My best wishes to ur future as a Asst Commandant.
ReplyDeleteI too had appeared for the exam and cleared prelims. Then I had physical test at Bangalore BSF STC. I cleared it and had Medical exam next day. But I was dropped with the reason 'Overweight'. I appealed the decision and got my re-medical dates a month later. But my bad luck that the date clashed with my TNPSC Group 1 Mains exam. I had to choose between the two and I chose TNPSC coz I could reduce my weight to only 74 kg from 81 kg earlier. But the required weight for my height(176 cms) was 69 kg or below.
Will write the exam again next year as I didnt apply this year. Hopefully I clear and atleast get a chance for an Interview in UPSC campus. My best wishes to u again in ur future career Mr. Ravi. (Am a subscriber of GK Today website like u and benefited from Suresh sir's modules immensely)
Good Luck Sonu Somesh and Thank you Ankur Jangir
ReplyDeleteSir...congrats...thank you for this interview presentation to us...u did superb to my knowledge...all the best sir:)
ReplyDeleteDear Ravi, Thank you very much for sharing this & all the best for all your endeavors. I too inspired in ur views and intelligence.. You did really well..
ReplyDeleteExcept the answer below, I like everything you said. If you could explain me, I will think about it..
"boss gave you an order which is very illegal and he is adamant on it"
"PKM: Even then he does not listen. Will you still follow the order?"
"Yes sir. I will trust the knowledge of my boss and I will order my subordinates to follow the order."
Not only you, your team feels it is incorrect, then why should you follow it? Y cant you try to reach his boss?
I can agree if you follow after boss's boss approval.
If it is an emergency action, you would not have time to discuss with your subordinates too.. The only way is to follow the boss order as he/she is more experienced and has the decision making power and the dictator for you.. But if there is a chance to discuss s/b discussed with the next level in the hierarchy.
I only have different opinion on this, you are very perfect in everything else.. I like your presence of mind and the way you present your opinion.
>>Is Caste system a hindrance for us?
DeleteI think caste system is still barrier to development in India, to strengthen this argument, i will site few recent instances : Various sociological studies,
recently study sponsored by MHRD found that, how SC/ST are discriminated in midday meal scheme,
how Inter-caste marriage sparks riot in Tamil Nadu and 148 dalit houses torched, and no entry into temples, etc are definitely roadblock for development.
But after independence, due to positive discrimination, low caste political mobilization, tribal upward mobilization,etc are contributing for development.
I like your rest of the interview.
Given the context which this subquestion was asked, I cannot go in length to explain caste system. Moreover I wanted to present positive facts in my interview. I did not want further grilling on this topic and so I had to cut short it with an diplomatic answer.
Delete