IAS Interview Experience

Civil service exam is one of the most sought-after exams. It helps to bring the best people which serve the country at different levels. Life of IAS is filled with challenges but it also provides an opportunity to make a difference in the life of people.

While giving an interview, keep in mind that first and foremost don’t pretend and be yourself. If the question is tricky, reply politely that you are not aware of the answer. Make sure, whatever you say, say it confidently. And the most important thing for the interview is to remain calm throughout interview.

My interview was scheduled for 22 Jan 2022. We were told we will be interviewed by the Satyavathi Madam board. The interview began at around 2.30 PM and went on for 25 minutes. Questions were asked from a diverse set of topics. Here is the list of some questions that were asked by the panelist.

Name: Prabhat Ranjan, Age: 29

Optional: PSIR(Political Science and International Relations)

Medium: English, Board: Satyavathi Madam board.

Member 1:

• Question: The bretton woods conference took place around 1944, and three important things came out of that, can you elaborate?
• Answer: The world bank, IMF, and the GATT (The general agreement on tariffs and trade). However, GATT is now in a new form that is WTO.

Member 2:

• Question: Have you heard the concept of the water divide? Is there any water divide passing through Haryana?
• Answer: It is a separation between two water river sheds wherein a separation between two rivers is made through that particular belt. There is a water divide passing that separated the Ganga Yamuna system from the Punjab river system.

Member 3:

• Question: I think you have studied stable and unstable equilibrium, so why do we use these days words with a negative connotation that is disruptive economic policies. Why not reformist economic policies.
• Answer: The semantics behind choosing disruptive economics or disruptive policies is attached to the fact of how they are very different from whatever has happened before and secondly there is also a lot of potential for these kinds of policies, or initiatives to disrupt a lot of sectors in terms of the livelihood of people involved over here. It is not going to be kind of rosy for everybody, it may hurt some sectors or certain people at the same time, people who profess these policies believe that eventually, it will all be better after some time.

Member 4:

• Question:India has been very keen that there should be reform in multilateral institutions like the world bank so what is India’s stand and why it is so difficult to reform institutions like the World Bank or IMF.
• Answer: India’s insistence has been on a number of things including the way voting shares are kind of distributed at the places like the world bank and there are long-term concerns about the sovereignty of states that the world banks and other institutions often provide. The unites states holds the highest share in voting and some decisions have to be passed with an 85% majority the US has 16% of the total vote share so effectively it holds a veto.

Member 5:

• Question:Since you belong to Bharatpur, and Bharatpur has Kewala Dev National park, why is it called Kewala Dev National park?
• Answer: Kewala dev is the name of Lord Shiva and the bird century has the very ancient temple of Kewala Dev. That is why the national park was named after ‘Kewala Dev’.

Member 1:

• Question: What do you understand about Nordic countries?
• Answer: Nordic countries are group of 5 countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, as well as the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.) and they are called Nordic countries as Nordic is derived from the local Scandinavian-language “Norden”, The literal meaning of which is ‘northern islands’.