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Fighting world hunger

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

My interview in CGPSC 2012


For CG PSC interviews, I could not find any experience shared on the web. Here is my experience with the PSC boards. Hope it would prove useful for future aspirants. In case you have any queries to be clarified, mail me at kvishwanathr@gmail.com.

There were 16 candidates for the Afternoon Session of 11 Nov 2014, all were made to sit in the document verification room. There were only two boards to take the interviews- so all of us were divided into two groups by random chit selection.

Regarding document verification- read the instructions sent by PSC carefully. There might be some necessities like having Semester (or Year)-Wise Marksheets instead of final Marksheet. However, if you could not manage to bring any of the required document, enough time would be provided to submit the same.

I was the first to be interviewed by M S Painkra sir's board. I was a bit nervous as my regional knowledge was little weak. I entered the room with 6 members and one empty chair in the front. Though my medium for the exam was English, It was, for the most part in Hindi. However,I was using English terms and often sentences which were difficult to explain in Hindi for me.    

Me: May I come in? I wished everyone with a single- Good afternoon.
CM: Please take your sit.
(He started with my name, residence, my work experience, etc. which made a little comfortable in the tensed situation.)

CM: Why you want to join Administrative Services?
(Suddenly I found, the formal interview has begun.)
Me: My answer was revolving around connecting with the people, larger motivation, changing the lives of thousands, etc.

CM: Do you know, the nature of the job in the Administrative Services? Everyday you will have different problems, frequent transfers!
Me: My answer was about my love for dynamism which breaks the monotonic routine...

CM: Are you aware with the problems of CG?
Me: My answer was a little descriptive covering developmental problems, infrastructural problems, healthcare, law and order problems including 'Naxalism' (I was caught with this key word, it was little scary again.)

CM: Do you think Naxalism is a law and order problem?
Me: My answer was a yes with a mix of other factors mainly developmental, economic, social disparity and social support.

CM: Why in northern Chhattisgarh region like Balrampur Naxal activities have been reduced? Do you think Naxalites are not getting social support there?
Me: My answer was justifying that Naxalism can be reduced if there are enough deterrents like establishment of police headquarters, citizen participation in the main stream society, etc.

CM: In Right to Information Act (RTI) 2005, what is an 'information'? Does it covers Jindal Steel Plant?
Me: My answer was very brief. Regarding it's application to Jindal Steel Plant, I was not sure and guessed no.

(It was over with Mr Chairman and other members took the charge one by one.)
M1: Who is the most famous mathematician in India?
Me: My answer gave credit to everyone from Aryabhatta to Ramanujan.

M1: Do you know about Guru Ghansidas?
Me: I gave the basic details, contribution, birthplace, etc. He asked me about his year of birth, which I could not answer.

M1: Who was Pt Sunderlal Sharma?
Me: I gave a brief details.

M1: What is IT Revolution? When was it started in India?
Me: My answer covered what is a revolution, Information Technology and then a mixed form with a little background in India from 1970s to 1990s.

(Next member took the charge here. He inquired about the company I am working.)
M2: Tell me how your Engineering background can be helpful in administration?
Me: My answer was about various projects, schemes, activities involving engineering basics and analysis.

M2: Tell me how you would ensure good quality in a road construction work?
Me: I covered different stages from tendering to final testing.

M2: What are PPP and CSR? Is CSR voluntary?
Me: I answered briefly with the binding provisions of CSR activities.

M2: India and China are being called by a term which we can find in the media often. Can you name it?
Me: Emerging Economy! (His appreciation was really helpful for me)

(Next member took the charge here. It was the time for some real googlies!)
M3: Often we come across many similar words like law and regulation, parampara and (not able to recall), sansktiti and (not able to recall), mulya and manyata and some more. Can you differentiate between them?
Me: Started one by one, found very difficult, finally gave up at mulya and manyata. (I was spared and was not bowled with extra balls.)


(Next member took the charge here. He had a very good knowledge and interest in Economics.)
M4: You talked about development. Can you define it?

M4: Can you differentiate Growth and Development?

M4: You might have heard about Sustainable Development. What is it?

M4: How a country is categorized as developing or developed?

M4: There are developed and developing countries, developed- means their development is over now. Do you think a country can be developed?
Me: My answer was about how a country is categorized as being developed which I had answered earlier.

M4: What are first, second and third world countries?
Me: I was wrong here in the differentiation. He gave me a long background during the cold war and about the book which first talked about it and then I was asked about the writer. I could not answer.

(Next member took the charge here. He was patiently hearing till now, so I was afraid a bit. He was very much interested in only one thing that why I want to leave a high paying job for administrative one.)
M5: Why you want to come to CG?
Me: I answer has points which I told to CM earlier. We had a little discussion about people working for social service. He was not convinced fully.

(My interview was over. I thanked them and left the room.)
The interview went for about 30 mins. Overall the board was very cordial and patient.
I got 95 marks in the interview with an overall rank of 25.



 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Deception

“Hey Ram, Garlands are not ready and it’s time for Netaji to come. Bring them fast!”

The  head  of  Madhavpur  village  in  the  district  of  Kalahandi  district  in  Indian  state  of  Odissa said in hurry. He was serving the village for more than 10 years, tall, healthy body, muscular arms and a serious face with a calm nature. Everybody in the village revered him for his acumen. 


The  village  is  a  typical  example  of  an  Indian  village  with  lack  of basic  infrastructure. There was a primary school in a small building of two rooms with children like cattle  packed in a cow shed. Two wells -one for the upper caste and other for the lower caste people, are  the main  source  of  drinking  water;  people  depend  on  the  rain  God  for irrigation completely. This time the rain God seems unhappy with this village; the only road to the nearby city was looking like excavation of an ancient civilization.
  
People  know  how  to  read  and  write  just  to  increase  the  literacy  rate  of  the  state.  Educated youth did not find the farming work up to their standard, and they used to go  to  cities  like  Surat  (Gujarat)  to  get  some  work  in  textile  mills  and  coals  fields  of Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand.  

 “Yes Sarpanchji, they are ready with me. I will be back within a minute.” 

After the elections, the village was to be fortunate enough to have Netaji on its soil at least  after  three  years.  The  whole  village  was  waiting  eagerly  to  have  a  look  of  him  from morning. The school was closed, as it was before some days on Polio Day then panchayat elections followed by legislative elections. Today people were asked not to go  to  work;  men,  women  and  children  were  in  colorful  dresses, women  had  finished their work. The school was well decorated up to the school road; sitting arrangement is also so nicely arranged.  

Just in front of the stage there are children standing in rows, then chairs for women  followed  by  men.  Everything  was  nicely  planned  and  the  credit  goes  to  a  group  of people  who  came  to  the  village  yesterday  morning  with  everything  with  them,  from decorative things to chairs. Everybody was eagerly waiting for Netaji.

The dreams, which Netaji showed before the elections when he came to this village last time on an election campaign, were still fresh in the minds of the people. It was the month of May, the temperature was 44 degree, and there were hot winds all over the area. No one could dare to go outside in the Sun, so the life used to be started long before sunshine and then when it was 8-9 am, the life ceased until 4 pm.  

There was no one you could find except a group of youth was playing cards under a  tree near the school as school was closed in the summer.

“Hey, a group is heading towards us.” someone of the group said looking towards the road. 

“They must be going to the fair in the nearby village, see they are wearing all white.” 

With in some time, a group of people in white and white was in front of them. They were puzzled to the number of people in the group. None of the group had any idea about anybody of the group coming.  

“Hey Suresh, how are you! You don’t remember me?”, someone in white and white said. 

“He…..llo uncle, sorry I could not see you.” Suresh stuttered.  

He continued, “We just got frightened seeing such a huge group with you, what is the matter?” 

“We are here for the election campaign, we are campaigning in all the villages in the district on foot for one month, and it is our last village as I am from this village, we will take rest after in our home. Please go and call Sarpanchji.” Netaji said wiping his sweating.

Within sometime many people were gathered on the school ground. All were happy to see  Netaji after  so  long  and  to  know  that  Netaji and  his  group  were  on  foot understanding their problems, going village to village for so many days. After a brief speech, all were convinced to cast their vote in favor of Netaji

Netaji, before  entering  into  this  profession,  was  a  part of  this village. When  he  got failed in higher secondary for the third time, he went above the worldly attractions of working  in  the  field  and  studying.  He  had  only  one  work  of  sitting  on  the  village Chaupal with his friends all day long and talking about some serious topics. Only these things had sent him to the state capital from the village Chaupal.
  
Today even the electricity was there from early morning to welcome Netaji. However, it used to be there for sometimes in a day to offer tribute to Edison.

“Sir,  it’s  time  for  you  to  go  to  Madhavpur  village.  Car  is  ready,”  Netaji’s personal assistant said.
“Hey, what is the need of hurry?  Can you not see I am watching ‘Tour to Switzerland’ on  Discovery? You want  to  go  there  in  this  summer  or  not?” Netaji blasted  without losing his concentration from the TV.

The  garlands  lost  their  fragrance  and  the  children  got  exhausted  standing  on  their ground for so long without playing. The movie songs, which the people were enjoying, now were irritating them because they had enjoyed them for more than five times, they could even sing the whole song by themselves. 

Suddenly, there was a sound of motor in everyone’s ears; suddenly there were many cars before them. The front car’s door opened and two men come out to go to the next car  and  open  the  door.  This  was  probably Netaji’s  car  as  it  was  a  bit  different  from others to have a red light. All this happened like work of Djinn.  

Netaji came  out  of  the  car  with  a  man  with  arms  and  he  was  following  him  like  his  shadow. Netaji was  leading  his  friends  to  the  school  ground.  The  whole  picture  was  similar  to what  happened  in  campaign  time  but  the  behavior  of  Netaji  and  the  men coming with him.   Children,  youth  and  the  old  with  open  hearts  welcomed  Netaji and  his caravan.

Children’s  hands  were  now  free.  After  formal  introduction  and  welcoming  program, Sarpanchji  invited Netaji to the dais. Netaji with his shadow guard went to the dais and before starting his speech, he said something in the ears of his assistant Mr Mohan.  

Netaji started his speech- “Dear brothers, sisters and mothers; I thank you from the core of my hearts for your valuable support and trust on me….” There was a big round of applause from people side. He smiled as the acknowledge, then continued, “…I beg your pardon for coming late today. However, since you people have entrusted me  for  serving  you,  I  was  busy  in  your  work  until  now.  Even  before  coming  to  the village, I talked to the electricity department that this is my area and everyone should  get electricity. I can understand the importance of electricity in your lives….”

He stopped to have a sip of water. Then continued, “….That is why, I am late, please pardon me. I am in politics just to serve the people and serving you people is my karma and everything for me…. Now there are so many employment opportunities for you because of the industries around our village…. It was my  responsibility  to  get  the  employment  for  our  youth,  I  insisted  the  government  to have new industries here…..”  

This  made  the  youth  somewhat  disappointed,  as  it  was  true  that  after  the  elections there were many new industries came up around the village. It seems the local people were not eligible for the job, as they did not have the security money and the so-called extra money for other services. Therefore, there were outside people who came for the job.  

Netaji stopped for a while and there was thunderous sound of clapping and it went on without stopping for a second, even the children were giving a great response though they were not getting the base of the matter. However, it seems everyone was enjoying the speech.

There was a sudden music, which came altogether from nowhere. It gave a pause to the enthusiasm of the audience. All were looking surprised. Netaji took out a small box like instrument from his pocket and went back from the mike. The audience could hear only the whispering sound of Netaji. Netaji talked about some two minutes and after having finished the talking, he talked to his assistant in ears and he again came to the 
dais.  

“Dear brothers and sisters, there is an important meeting with the chief minister today about the rural development programme and the drought case. I regret; I have to leave for the meeting now. I promise, if you have any problem; you are always welcome to come up with your problems. The doors of my house in the capital are always open for the common people especially for you whose blessings are always with me…..” 

The assistant interrupted, “Sir, vehicle is ready.” Netaji with his friends marched towards the car. Everyone was watching the group and the car entered into the pool of dust and was out of their sight within no time.  Some people were looking sad but there was a wave of happiness in the children, who had not to wait for long now for getting the sweets.

“Yes, Mr. Ramesh the timing was good. I was not getting anything new to speak when the  by  heart  speech  was  over.”  said  Netaji while talking  in  his  mobile  when  they stopped in the nearby city near a bar. The whole troop had some food; they bought some colorful bottles from there, got some chicken, and again started their journey.

After  the  meeting,  the  village  came  back  to  its  original  life.  The  problems  were  not stopping even for a while. Because of the drought, everybody was in trouble including cattle.  All  the  water  resources  were  thirsty  themselves,  without  power  it  was  not possible  for  the  people  to  use  the  irrigation  facilities  they  installed  after  spending  so much  money  and  time.  Finally,  it  was  decided  to  report  all  these  to  Netaji  and Sarpanchji set off for the capital.  

It was early in the morning; some women were sweeping their courtyards, some were fetching  water  from  the  well.  He  was  on  foot  to  the  nearby  village.  Walking  on  the rough road was not so easy and the pain he was feeling, was the proof of it. The mist was all over the trees like a white blanket. He was thinking about the problems all the way and you could see the Sun at the horizon when he reached the village.  

He had to wait for an hour to get the bus to nearby city. The bus was all full; some people including women were hanging like the branches of a tree, it was as everybody was preparing for the bus from night itself. Sarpanchji, anyhow manage to get some space on the roof of the bus where some people were already there with their stuffs.  

The bus took two hours to travel hardly 10km from the village to the city. All the way, it was moving like a ship on the ocean. People on the top had to bend themselves many times when there were electric poles crossing the road, branches of trees hanging to the road and the subways. There could be a danger to people’s lives but they are quite accustomed  with  all  these  things.  They  were  enjoying  the  ride  with  their  talking listening to the songs on the local radio station. 

On reaching the city, he had some breakfast and then waited for another bus to the state capital.

Soon there was a call.

”Bhubaneshwar….Bhubaneshwar,”  

He  went  inside  the  bus  and  took  the  window  seat  in  front  row.  As  soon  as  the  bus started, Sarpanchji had  a  deep  sleep.  The  ride  was  so  smooth  that  it  did  not  bother anybody’s sleep. The road was no more the village or state highway, it was now on the national highway. You could easily guess the development of the country by seeing the quality of the roads, which were a part of the golden quadrilateral project connecting all the four important metros.

It was like a nap for Sarpanchji, when someone awoke him.

“Sir, we have come to Bhubaneshwar,” 

He collected his small bag and left the bus to take a rickshaw to the Netaji’s house.

He was on the gate when the guard asked impolitely, “Who are you?”

“I  am  the  Sarpanch  of  Madhavpur  Village,  I  want  to  see  Netaji.” Sarpanchji replied calmly.
“Do you have an appointment to see him?” Guard inquired. 

“No, I do not have. I am from his village, he surely will meet me” He replied. 

“He is busy for the entire week, come next week” Guard said. 

“I came from a distant place; you please go and inform Netaji, if he says he cannot see me, I will go” He said in somewhat angry mood.
“Sir, I am saying He is busy with some meeting, he cannot see you now.” Guard said with respect this time.
Netaji was seeing all these from his window where he was busy with watching some programs on the TV.  He called his assistant and said,” Go and ask Sarpanchji to come and wait in the guest room. Tell him I am busy in an important work.” 

Sarpanchji was now allowed to enter the house.

There was greenery everywhere; he was influenced by the automatic sprinkler system, which  was  watering  the  grass  continuously  in  all  directions.  There  were  beautiful flowers of different colors, which were enhancing the natural beauty of the place. On the side of the house, there were some cars with different models; all were kept in a very nice manner.

One could get the feeling of being in a car show room while looking into them. Out of all those, one, which he had seen when Netaji came to his village, was also there. Near the main door, there was a big black dog; it was looking like a leopard without stripes. It was the first time he was seeing such a dog.

The  assistant  accompanied  him  to  the  guest  room,  and  asked  to  wait  there,  where some people were already waiting. On seeing the crowd, one could understand easily, how important Netaji was. People were waiting there watching TV and commenting on the program, talking, etc. There were two big TVs for the public, who could see it in either ways. All were enjoying watching TV; it was as if they have come to watch their favorite programs there.  

Sarpanchji saw Mr. Mohan coming into the house. He recognized him as he was also there in the troop when Netaji came to his village. 

“Namaste,Mr. Mohan!” He greeted.
“Namaste… Sarpanchji, how are you and your village?” Mr. Mohan replied politely.
“Our  village  is  on  the  verge  of  destruction  that  is  why  I  am  here  to  see  Netaji.” Sarpanchji replied disappointedly. 

“Do not worry; everything will be all right soon” Mr. Mohan said and went to Netaji.

“Sir,  Sarpanchji  from  Madhavpur  village  has  come  to  see  you,”  Mr.  Mohan  said  to Netaji.  

Netaji’s concentration was on something else. He repeated, “Sir, Sarpanchji from Madhavpur village has come to see you.”

“Can’t you see I am busy, oh, one more shock for England! These days our boys are really doing well in cricket…” Netaji said in jolly mood.  

Mr. Mohan was standing without saying anything.  

“Ok, ask him to wait for some time, let me finish the match.” Netaji said without turning his eye from the television. 

Sarpanchji waited for about 5 hours. Netaji was preparing for rest after heavy lunch.  

“Listen Mr. Mohan, go and ask him to come after a week as I have to go to Delhi for an important meeting.” Netaji said at last, so that he could have a nap without anything in mind. 

Sarpanchji was dying of hunger and it was unfortunate of him that even after waiting for a long time he could not meet Netaji. He was thinking about the problems of the village all the way to the village.  

“How can our problems be solved?” He whispered.  When he reached the village, it was the time of cattle returning to home, some people were also returning with wood and some were coming from the city with their items.  

As usual, there was no power. He could see the dim light of lamps from the road. He disappointedly entered his home. His wife got the water for him, without a word he sat on the chair.  There  was  some  light  in  the  kitchen  room,  because  of  the  wood  fire  and  in  another room; his younger son was struggling to study under the earthen lamp.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Indians will be Indians!

We lost our chance to say, ‘Buddies, we are Indians of a new India!’ to the world.

THE LARGEST multi-sport event conducted in India so far, the 2010 Commonwealth Games being held satisfactorily now for 71 nations has showed that ‘Indians will be Indians’ and nothing can change us.


International Standard Terminal 3, Indira Gandhi International AirportAfter winning the bid in the year 2003 over Canada which has four times organizing experience, it was the first time any developing bigger economy got the opportunity to showcase its technology, infrastructure, skill and so called ’Indian Mind’ to the world. Though, we have an experience of organizing Asian and Afro-Asian Games successfully. However, how can we go against our age old Indian tradition, we started the preparation on the eleventh hour after some pressure from Common Wealth Games Federation in 2008.

Our so called ‘savior of society’, the media noticed the slow progress not before July 2010 when Maoists were taking a power nap, there was no bomb blast and for their surprise even our Indian Trains were not colliding. Our forefathers had understood our nerve to give us an adage ‘Subah ka bhula agar sham ko ghar aa jata hai to use bhula nahi kahte’ (If lost in the morning returns home in the evening, he is not lost actually).

The whole world turned their eyes on the Indian media after exposing a large scale corruption and unpreparedness, calling the venues as ‘filthy and unlivable’. This time, they must have done excellently in TRP. There was a rat race for sting operations; even an Australian TV reporter from Seven Network could not resist his temptation to show the security breaches to the world. It was the first time when Indian Media were ‘eye opener’ for the whole world. The Australian reported: C'wealth Games India's Shame’ headlined the Times of India, the national Hindi-language newspaper Navbharat Times headlined “Double trouble for the Games”.

Unhappy Shera, the mascot for the 2010 Commonwealth GamesI also learnt that the budget estimation was 1620 Cr (2003) which escalated to 11,490 Cr in 2010 (excluding non-sports development). Supreme Court has to intervene into out of interest area as the actual expenditure is expected to be a whopping 70,000 Cr (US$ 15.45 billion), 43 times more than the original estimation and 14 times more than 2006 Melbourne CWG 2006 expenditure (US$ 1144.4 million). The media’s allegations on the Organizing Committee must be true and Central Vigilance Committee (CVC) has found a large scale discrepancy in handling the money and resources. Equipments were bought and contracts were awarded at much higher prices with poor quality and management assurance, etc. However, it can be expected out of some Indian Minds as nothing happens here without the C-word.

"These rooms are clean to both you and us; foreign standards of hygiene differ from our perception." a second front officer of Organizing Committee was true to his heart. We consider ourselves 2-tier and accept the superiority of others over us. A temporary ‘beautification’ is resulted in 160,000 displaced people as CNN reports and bamboo screens have been erected around the slums hide from 1-tier visitors as The Daily Telegraph (London) reports. When ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ depicted our poverty to the world, there was also so much of home grown criticism. Should we follow the Ostrich’s way to solve a problem?

All these resulted in a tug-of-war in the Indian parliament, some resignations, some hot prime time bulletins and non-participation of some eminent athletes in this version of CWG. We lost our chance to say, ‘Buddies, we are Indians of a new India!’ to the world. When China and South Africa had established precedents of standard and success recently, we should have come out of our Indian mindset. I wish everything would go in proper direction to save us at least from humiliation in future.

‘As developing nations we must stand together. We cannot allow developed countries to go out there and take the last seat in the hall’, said the president of South Africa’s Olympic committee who was assertive enough to say that he is willing to clean any toilets to help ensure it goes ahead. Can’ we emulate him? I hope our media will not bother about their TRPs to discuss things to put the responsible into the ambit of law when everything is over. Good Luck ‘CWG 2010’!

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