UPSC INTERVIEW 2011
Me: Good Morning, Madam. Good Morning Sirs.
Shashi Uban Tripathi (SUT) : Good Morning, Vikram. So, are you doing training?
Me: Yes, Madam.
SUT: Where?
Me: NADT. National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur.
SUT: Oh..Nagpur (as if it was something new to her). So, Vikram, tell me, in very brief, about your academic and professional life?
Me: Madam, I completed my B.Tech in Biological Sciences and Bioengineering. Then, I worked in a start-up company working in the field of intellectual property and then I am here, in the IRS.
SUT: But, what did you do at Vellore?
Me: Madam, I had enrolled for a Ph.D program in Biomedical Devices and Technology. This program was good in the sense that I could enroll without having to do my masters. This program is an integrated Ph.D program among IIT Madras, Shri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum – essentially a blend between medical science and technology.
SUT: So, you were there for how many months?
Me: Four months.
SUT: So, why did you leave?
Me: Madam, I wanted to do research on tuberculosis but there were not many professors working in this area. In fact, none in the IIT Madras was working in this field. This program required that one has to necessarily have a guide from IIT Madras and one from either of CMC or SCTIMST. They were suggesting me to change the problem but I was not interested. Fortunately, I got into the services. But, still I would like to work on TB in future.
SUT: But, that’s not possible given that you are into service and would have to do justice to your current job. Ok, so you read non-fiction. Which books have you read?
Me: Madam, I’ve read the ‘Google Story’ by David Vice, ‘Ideas and Opinion’ by Albert Einstein, ‘The Audacity of Hope’ by Barack Obama, ‘India Unbound’ by Gurcharan Das, ‘Imagining India’ by Nandan Nilekani..
SUT: So, can you tell me in very brief one of these books which you liked the most and why?
Me: Madam, the book which had the maximum impact on me is “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama; the main reason being the way in which he has written as to how he got the idea of bringing change in the world. In one of his stories, he mentioned that his daughter had to be hospitalized and during this time, he saw the reality of healthcare in the US. He mentioned as to how healthcare reforms were the need of the hour. Similar is the case with his views on foreign policy.
SUT: But, if that is the case, then why is Obama’s popularity dropping by?
Me: Madam, I agree with you that his popularity is decreasing but I think the reason is the political constraints and compulsions in which he works.
SUT: But, compulsions are everywhere.
Me: Yes Madam, you are right. I know he hasn’t delivered but I sincerely hope that he does in the remaining period of his tenure.
M1: Ok Vikram. You have been running from pillar to post from Kanpur to Bangalore to Vellore. During this time, have you done anything for the society? Can you elaborate one incident which shows that you did something for the society?
Me: Sir, I worked with an NGO named Jagriti during my college days. Jagriti works in the field of education for the children of migrant workers. They have set up around 22 centers at various brick-kilns in Kanpur. We used to go there and teach. At one of the center, there was a girl named Sarita who had Rheumatic Heart Disease and needed a heart-valve replacement. The operation was to cost around Rs. 1.8 lakh. We, in our college, could manage to raise the amount and got her operated at Bangalore.
M1: But, that must have been a team effort. What was your role in this activity?
Me: Sir, I went along with Sarita and her father to Lucknow to get all the medical check-ups done. I collected all her medical reports, scanned them and mailed them to various charitable hospitals throughout the country. In the fund-raising, I had to coordinate with each hostel representative.
M1: Mr. Vikram, you appear to be so soft. Do you get angry? Have you ever beaten somebody? (laughs all around) I mean, physically or verbally.
Me : (I smiled for a second or two). There was one incident which I can recollect in which in our college, there was use of plastic glasses for drinking water, milk and tea. Inspite of repeated urges to the Mess Committee, when there was no action, I got very angry.
M1: So, it was a verbal fight.
Me: Yes Sir.
M1: So, have you ever beaten somebody.. I mean physically?
Me: No Sir, that I used to do in school..not any more.
M1: Vikram, what according to you is your best quality?
Me: Sir, my sir told me that although I am not very talented…
M1 (interrupts): I am not asking about your weaknesses but your strengths.
Me: I think that would be my being dedicated to my work.
M1: You are a student of psychology. How do you measure motivation?
Me: Sir, measuring motivation is something very difficult, the main reason being that it is something which is very subjective. The only way one can measure is through one’s actions. If somebody does something with full commitment and to the best of his/her capabilities, I think he/she is very motivated. He/she has found a purpose of life.
M1: So, can you give an example which shows your dedication?
Me: Sir, recently, I along with my friend were given the charge of making identity cards for all 152 of our batch. It was done because although it is the responsibility of the administration but since they had not done it well, our institute purchased a new identity card printer and we were supposed to design the card from scratch. We managed to do the task from designing till taking the final print outs one by one.
M1: So, did you work for long?
Me: Yes sir. Sometimes, it used to become 10 o’clock 11’o- clock and one day, I could sleep only at 4:30 in the morning.
M2: You have worked in the field of intellectual property. Can you tell me about your opinion on whether we should go ahead with GM food-crops or not?
Me: Sir, I think that we should not go ahead until we are absolutely sure about the safety of these crops. We, in India, do not have an independent regulatory body, that can testify that “Yes, everything is fine.”
M2: But, ICAR approved of the GM study?
Me: Sir, but as Jairam Ramesh, Mr. Jairam Ramesh has pointed out there are contradictory studies as well. Some studies have been done by Monsanto, which itself is a corporation and hence there is an underlying conflict of interest. Until we have a clear-cut conclusion that green signal can be given to GM crops, we should not go ahead with them.
M2: Tell me, what is ‘gene-erosion’?
Me: looking thoroughly confused…I asked him to repeat the same.
M2: Gene-Erosion i.e. the same as “terminal technology’’
Me: Sir, the terminal technology is the brain-child of Monsanto. It essentially means that a farmer can grow the crop using the GM seeds purchased from Monsanto only once. The next time, he has to sow the seeds; he would have to purchase the same from Monsanto again. This technology has been widely criticized as it is detrimental to the interests of the poor farmers of our country and the world.
M2: What are the different types of Intellectual Property in India?
Me: Patents, Trademark, Copyright, Trade-secrets, Service-Mark
M2: Anything else..
Me: thinking.
M2: GI
Me: Yes Sir, Geographical Indications. In Goa, there is …(i was forgetting “Phenny” here)
M2( started giving his inputs..i felt relieved because I was not able to recollect any other example of GI): They are very important e.g. Darjeeling Tea, ..(he gave one more example but I am not able to recollect that).
M2: Tell me about the importance of intellectual property. I mean, why do we have IPRs in the first place?
Me: Sir, the main intention behind IPRs is to foster innovation. It is basically a reward for the inventor for the efforts he/she has put in to come upto that invention. For example, a pharma company has invested so much in R&D to design a miniscule drug, we need to make sure that after the drug is invented, nobody else is allowed to freely manufacture the drug and sell in the market. A time-period of 20 years, in the case of patents is given to a company to sell that drug exclusively.
M3: What is Neemuch famous for? (Neemuch is in MP and is my place of birth)
Me: Sir, it is the eye-donation capital of india. The number of eye-donations from this district is the maximum in India.
M3: What type of donations are these?
Me: Sir, they are cadaveric eye-donations.
M3: Ok..but this could also be due to the population of Neemuch. Do you know the population of Neemuch?
Me: Sorry Sir, I am not aware of this fact.
M3: How long did you stay in Neemuch?
Me: Sir, till my 7th standard i.e. around 13 years.
M3: And you still don’t know the population of Neemuch. Ok, what else is Neemuch famous for?
Me: Sir, Neemuch is famous for opium-production.
M3: What are other places in India very opium is produced?
Me: Sir, Chittorgarh and Kota in Rajasthan..
M3: Any other place
Me: (Did not answer…I was thinking..may be, I think ‘pretending to think’ would be a better phrase here.)
M3 : In MP
Me: (did not answer..genuinely thought this time but it didn’t help)
M3: Are you aware of any war that was fought on the issue of opium?
Me: No Sir, I am not aware.
M3: Something in which East India Company was involved. It relates to an important event in history.
Me: Sorry Sir, I am not aware of the opium-war.
M3: What is “law of attraction”?
Me: Sorry Sir, I do not know.
M3: Do you not go to the bookshops? You have interests in reading non-fiction books.
Me: Sir, I do visit bookshops. I go to Crosswords..
M3 (interrupts) : This is a very famous book. The exact title is “The Law of Attraction – The Secret”? It was a best-seller for a long time on the stands.
Me: Yes Sir, Secret – I have heard that book. Is it that book which is a kind of self-help book?
M3: Yes, it is a sort of self-help book.
Me: Sir, my friend had recommended this book to me
M3: But you haven’t read it, did you?
Me: No Sir, I haven’t read it.
M3: Ok, in the book “Imagining India” by Nandan Nilekani, what has he mentioned specifically about the English language?
Me: Sir, Nandan Sir says that English is responsible for the IT revolution in India. Since we knew English and we could couple it along with our computing skills, we were able to successfully market ourselves to the developed countries and the entire outsourcing boom came. Also, English is a major unification force in the country. Since the South-Indians could not speak Hindi and the Hindi-speaking people in the North India have trouble learning the languages of South-India, both can interact in English. Hence, English brings us together.
M3: Inspite of the fact that English is a colonial language and not our own.
Me: Sir, Nandan Sir has said that the IT revolution occurred in India and not in China because Indians could communicate readily in English with the companies of the West. Hence, English was crucial in bringing the IT revolution.
M4: Vikram, have you heard of “black swans” in the context of public administration (I don’t know why he asked me this question..public administration was never my optional)
Me: No Sir….Does it mean ‘’something bad’’.
M4: No, it means that something unexpected. Do you think that unexpected events are a hindrance in public administration?
Me: Yes Sir. For example, the Japan earthquake. Nobody knew that it is going to come but it…
M4 (interrupts): Can you take an example from India?
Me: Sir, 2-3 days back, a police officer was burnt alive by a group of miscreants in Sawai-Madhopur district. There was fire in IOC godown in Jaipur. Suddenly, we had the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. So, something that comes without anticipation creates new hurdles in the already challenging life of the administrators.
M4: So, is there a strategy where in one can anticipate these events?
Me: Sir, it is possible. Through disaster management, we can create systems so that we can anticipate if an earthquake/flood/drought comes and what should be our strategy to tackle them. If we see the case of the Japan earthquake, authorities in Japan could disseminate the information to every Japanese citizen that a Tsunami is going to come within an hour.
SUT: Who are opium-eaters?
Me: Sorry Madam, I do not know.
SUT: Ok, your interview is over.
Me: Thank you madam.
As I stood up, Madam told me that opium-eaters are the Chinese and one board-member who was mentioning about opium-wars was actually fought between the Chinese and the East-India company. I thanked them once again and moved out.