 fine thank you ma'am welcome ma'am Dr. Sandhya Lakshmi H.O.D. of English so I could I see the here okay your post okay thank you so much ma'am your times I mean the floor is yours for you okay thank you can I start mr. Aditya yes ma'am please yeah happy evening to all the participants on behalf of the PG department of English so I get a college and Shankar is Academy I extend my hearty welcome to the resource person this John Sirani IRS Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Chennai and all the participants at the outset let me first tell you what so kakeda is because many of you have come from other colleges and you'll be wondering what it means so kakeda so kakeda is a Japanese word which means value creation creating values the SOCA system of education prioritizes values over knowledge they believe in value building values rather than knowledge building and the SOCA system of education was preponder in Japan by Maki Kuchi Sunesh Baru Maki Kuchi and after him it was taken up by Jose Toda so after these two stalwarts these two great people it was taken up by Dr. Daisaku Ikeda a Japanese poet, academician, educator, peacemaker who has won more than 300 doctorates from different universities of the world he took up this SOCA education and he founded the SOCA University in Tokyo Japan our chairman Dr. Seidu Kumanan who is also a poet, educator, academician and a peace lover he has more than six institution under Seidu Vallyamal Trust he was deeply inspired by one poem of Dr. Daisaku Ikeda that is on mother so the poem talks about the nobility of motherhood and our chairman was deeply impressed by that and he started a women's college in Madanakupam in the year 2000 exclusively for women with just 70 students today we have more than 18 departments functioning in shift 1 and 2 catering to more than 4,000 students it is all because of the hard work of our chairman and the hard work of all the principles who have guided this college so we have had a lot of historic moments in our college we have called so many great people for our college but today is a very very most important I think one of the most important days for our college and our department particularly because we have a very young person a lady that too who has one in life who has shown the success story who will be a motivator and who will inspire so many people because she has achieved such a great stages such a great position even at a very young age she is none other than our resource person Ms. Jansirani Ayaris she is the Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax Chennai ma'am I am reminded of one quote when I think about you ma'am that a confident woman a woman who truly knows her worth and force to be reckoned with you are such a person ma'am because when I look at you I find you's quite young at this age you have come to such a great position so our colleges most of the students of our college are from middle class or rather lower middle class background and your presence and your words will definitely induce them inspire them and motivate them we are highly thankful to you ma'am for joining us on this day in spite of your busy schedule thank you so much I extend my most cardial welcome to you for this webinar thank you thank you thank you for the nice words thank you ma'am and I welcome Mr. Ramesh Aditya from IAS Academy who was with us who actually helped us in organizing this webinar today right from the first day we have been talking about it at so many times every day he used to call me and message me and it is like a joy venture and he I extend my cordial welcome to him at this juncture I'd like to thank our management of a chairman Dr. Sethu Kumanan secretary Mrs. Kogilam Kumanan our principal Dr. M. Samshit our advisor Dr. P. Rajidakani who always motivates us to go beyond our limits to call such great people and to be assured to motivate our young minds so the floor is yours ma'am girls participants we invite you from on behalf of the college and IAS Academy you have the most intelligent diligent determined focus and charming person here with you today to enthuse you and inspire you get maximum from her please ask her question at the end of the session thank you ma'am the floor is yours ma'am thank you thank you for that intro can I start yes ma'am yes ma'am so warm good evening to everyone present here initially I thought only participants from Soka College but I guess it is open to people from other colleges also so at the outset it's a I would like to it is a very nice initiative by the college during these difficult times to think beyond regular education needs also you have thought well ahead of time keeping in mind their future career options also you are even enduring during during these times you have thought about it and you have arranged this in association with Shankar Institute so it is a very laudable thing that you have done with that but I mean making use of all this advancement technology organizing this seminar to you know to be accessible to a whole lot of people especially women women folk it's a great initiative but I would like to congratulate you on that note first so before we go into the so today we have gathered you on this platform basically to give you an overview about what civil service examination is all about to have civil service is one of your career options when you finish your colleges and come out you should have it at the back of your mind that civil services is also one of the carrier options than the regular routine medicine engineering teacher whatever other options are available to you so before I go into the topic I just like to give a small intro about me so I am Jhansi Elizabeth Rani from 2012 batch of virus income tax posted currently as deputy commissioner income tax Chennai so before this in I was in the Indian defense account services 2010 batch I had no working experience in the defense department but I wasn't the training so while it was in training I gave a subsequent attempt and I got selected in the 2012 attempt and I got into the income tax department since then I have served the department in various profiles so before going actually delving into the subject or delving into what exactly civil service examination is about the pattern of the examination what you have to do like to give you an overview of the what civil services is all about because you need to know why the main question which will arise in each of your minds is when I have to when you say I have to offer civil service a career option over the over the other regular options why should I go for civil services this is the first question which will come in a young college goer or whoever wants to looking whoever is looking for career options the single word answer for why I should prefer civil services get your option from my perspective is change so change is the single word answer as to why you should prefer civil services as a career option over others when I talk about change don't get me wrong what change when I mean change there's an intrinsic meaning to that change change is not that I want to choose civil services as a career option just for a change or because it sounds something different from the routine career options medicine engineering teacher technician musician whatever it might be a civil services on something different something very different so I want to go in for a change not exactly I don't when I mean change I say you have you when you you can choose you should choose civil service a career to bring about a change in your life as well as a change in the lives of people or the society at large so this is the main reason why you should choose civil service as a career option change if there is one thing which is permanent in life and in the world at large over the years over centuries since time immemorial there's only change which is which has been permanent every change has been constant in all our spheres of life be it the dress we wear the food we eat or the social event with which we take part in we are always looking for a different way to organize things different way to consume things because and when we do things differently it gives us a kind of satisfaction and sometimes pleasure depending upon the type of activity which we indulge in so this change is a very very important thing in life so in order to bring about a change in your life as well as a change in the society at large is very important to have to have multiple career options and when you say career options civil services not only a career it is a life by itself so I would so change is the only it is the main reason why you should choose civil services now when you talk about change rather than being very simplistic what is this change exactly what what we are talking about now there is a visible and invisible part of this change which you're talking about now when I say it gives you you have to make a change in the lives of people or you have to make it will contribute to a change in your own personal life you'll be wondering how this change is manifesting is going to manifest in my life or in the lives of other people so there is an invisible and the visible part of this change which I'm talking about when you talk about the visible part now you all must be aware that when I take up civil services I'll become an IS officer IPS officer now the civil service examination is one single examination which will which which is conducted to have recruitment to make recruitment for a list of group and group B services 24 in number so how am when you get recruited so through the by getting just placed in this part of you must be aware that once you where to become an officer be whatever services I'm posted in I will get a social prestige or an identity in the society so this is the only thing visible thing which all you must be aware of that is the only thing prima facie which you will have and when I say change I think that is the first thing which will come to your mind but there are certain other aspects of this stage visible parts of this change very intrinsic to the civil services when it comes to civil service as a career option we talk about so obviously social prestige and social identity is one aspect of civil services the second aspect which comes into is you have an immense sense of self-satisfaction when you take up civil services as your career when you join a routine when you join any other profession which is like medicine or or an engineer or whatever may be a teacher or 90 professional or whatever other alternate carriers which we are talking about which we are known to whenever you get recruited there is a standard set of procedures there's a standard set of responsibility which is assigned to you and the corresponding monetary fact so these are the two aspects which will come into picture when you talk about other career options so when when when if you have seen the IT company is recruiting and just taking IT as an example happens most of the in other careers it also happens like this when you go in for a job the two things which will be guiding your entire service in that organization will be one is that your responsibility or your role what is your role and what is the corresponding monetary package so you tend to work in a particular fashion a particular structure more considerably over the entire length of your career and goes on like an SMB line one after the other and in course of time that that need for identity or self-satisfaction goes missing whereas in civil services when you get recruited for civil services you tend depending on the service wherever you are posted or recruited you tend to deal with a lot of things a diverse fields be it administration if you're recruited for IIS general administration social welfare you tend to work with the marginalized sections of the society and police maintenance of law and order if you take my case attacks administration you have a couple of lot of other services the customs trade for still a telegraph railways you have a lot of other services so you get exposed to a lot of variety of diverse fields and then you function as a tool of change the kind of satisfaction which you will have when you accomplish that but that change is immense and it is incomparable to any kind of monetary package which will be delivering either which will be taking home either in India or abroad in other professions so this change which we are talking about the important thing is a self-satisfaction apart from the identity which you personally acquire of the social procedure acquire in the society the kind of self-satisfaction which you have when you become a tool of change and you're able to deliver something to people around you in your own way it may be your family members yourself or your own your own locality or the society at last depending upon where you're posted and the role you are assigned gives you a lot of self-satisfaction and it changes the face of your future generation but what is that which we are looking for when we look for after studies when you take up career what does that we're looking for one is we're looking for an identity in society the second we are looking for a self-esteem and self-satisfaction all it should eventually change the face of our future generation now civil service comes as an all-in-one package when you choose civil service a career option all these needs get satisfied in that one package when you make the right choice so this is we're talking about the visible and the invisible change now there are other aspects when you talk about it also builds your self-esteem when you work in diverse fields your self-esteem by being by being capable enough to deliver a different deliver to the different needs of the society by being as a tool of change you also build up self-esteem in duos and you also learn a lot your personality development happens in course of time you interact with a lot of people so and they always say that you learn you learn very little only from the books or from on your own you learn a lot by interactions with other people with the society so it is very important change which we are talking about when you choose civil services as a career option apart from the intrinsic aspects of change you also have other extrinsic aspects which are very miniscule when compared to the intrinsic aspects though I would like to list them you have job security when you talk about civil services you have the the the you never retire when you take when you take up civil services a career option they say that you never retire you work in government and even when you retire you are most probably wanted somewhere because of the experience which you have acquired and the acumen professional acumen which you have these Indian civil servants and wanted not only in India post retirement or even during service they are wanted in private sectors another non-profit organizations for their valuable experience which they carry not only in India but also abroad because civil service functions on a different aspect in different other countries when compared to India there is no other examinations in the globe in world over like this civil service examination conducted by UPSC the in other countries the civil servants are recruited either the recruitment body goes to the colleges and they just recruit them based on a screening test or they go and pick up specialists depending upon the job or the role which they want to pick pick up specialists it is only in our country this examination has been conducted for decades together we have people from different backgrounds taking up this examination and all are placed on a similar platform that is what I mean all are placed in a similar platform you have people from different fields doctors engineers IT professionals you have teachers whoever who have who have graduated from arts commerce whatever background English literature they all you have people from different backgrounds participating or giving this examinations and the kind of rich resource which they bring into the system is very is very commendable and once they come into it the kind of background which they have it is a it is a good hot spot when they come into the field they come with their with their own backgrounds but at the level of examination level you're required to learn a lot of subjects which will prepare you for that bird's eye view of all the different functionalities which is required for the required once you are posted in the whatever service you are posted so I mean the examination consists of I'll talk about once I finish this general info I'll talk about the pattern of the examination so the the I was talking about the examination pattern in other countries so this examination pattern is very unique to India you don't have such a system in other countries where people from different backgrounds opt for such a common examinations come into the system with rich background and which with rich resource and contribute to this result called change so that is why Indian bureaucrats are wanted not only in India but during service post retirement would also abroad so change is the one thing which is very very it is the basic reason what is the one more group it is a very great reason to choose civil service as a career option so I have spoken about the visible and the invisible aspects of change primary being your ability to make a change in the lives of other people as well as in your own life eventually when you become part of the service you will develop yourself as well as you will contribute to the development of the society the moving on we talk about more when we take up your questions we'll talk about the specialty of civil service a career option before that let me give a bird's eye view of what civil services is all about now this civil service examination is being conducted by your union public service commission which is headquartered in Delhi when you talk about the pattern of the examination there are three levels of examination that is you call the preliminary level the mains and the interview which is called the personality test it is not a normal interview in the common parlance which you call as an interview with other professions it is called as a personality test so at the preliminary level you have two papers you have paper one and paper two paper one is about general studies it is termed as general studies where you have a list of subjects and paper two is about aptitude test so first paper when I talk about a list of subjects it is for each paper is for the paper one will be for will be a hundred questions second people will be of 80 questions both will be of 200 marks two hours duration now the question the topics or the subjects which you have to cover for the first paper will be the general subjects which we have all studied in our schools geography history quality environmental science science and technology and current affairs of national international importance so these are all general subjects which the syllabus will be the UPSC syllabus will give you an outline of what you have to cover for the preliminary part of it and the curriculum and the textbooks will be is available open in the market and it is not a great deal and once you clear the preliminary examination now you have to clear the preliminary examination to qualify for the mains examination and it is only kind of a screening test once you clear the preliminary examination the marks which you secure in the preliminary examination will not be counted for ranking purpose in the final stage once you clear the preliminary examination you will be admitted to the mains level now while the preliminary examination is a objective type that is choose the right answer types you'll be given four options you have to choose the right one among the options given there is a negative marking also it is one-third negative marking is there so when successfully passed the preliminary examination will progress into the main stage now at the mains level you have paper you have nine papers of which two are qualificatory in nature when I mean qualificatory that is you have to just secure qualifying marks one is the English paper and the other is the any Indian language these are qualifying in nature only once you qualify in these two papers the other papers will be taken for evaluation purpose so what about the other seven papers the syllabus is the almost the same as what you have studied in your preliminary except for the optional subjects now in your preliminary you will be learning only your general the subjects which I told the general papers now in your mains you have to choose one optional paper there is a list of optional subjects available from that list you can choose whichever optional you are comfortable with you can have a look at the optional papers the post syllabus the question papers previous yes question papers and you can choose whichever is suiting your personality and which is suiting your aptitude which you are comfortable with the language you have languages also any languages also as an optional paper you have literature options I mean Tamil literature or Hindi literature you have optional papers like that also so you you can choose one among them and you have two papers in your optional papers paper one and paper two and apart from that you have four general studies papers and one essay paper now after qualifying in your mains examination you go to the next level for the personality test or refer to as interview level in the common parlance when the interview level interview is for a qualifying mark of wrong 275 marks so it appears at the interview level interview is not similar to interview which happens in other disciplines it is more of an assessment of your personality who you have been how they will assess you on how as a person you are capable enough of dealing with the very challenges in in in that that you will make you may have to face in the once posted in the government so it will be an assessment of your personality it will be in discussion mostly a discussion about it may vary from factual basic factual about your background to general issues which are national international importance and associated events so it is generally a discussion so it is a assessment of your personality whom you have whom as a person you are grown over these 20 to 23 plus years whenever you appear at your interview stage so these are the three levels once you clear your personality test you will be ranked based on the cumulative marks which you have secured in your mains examination and interview level you will be ranked based on the total number of marks which are secure and this examination is conducted for recruitment to group pay and group B services put together for there are 24 services in the list based on the rank which you secure you will be allotted the service based on the rank and as well as the number of vacancies available in each of these services you will be allotted either one of the service so you have the IAS IPS Indian administrative service Indian police service Indian foreign service then you have the Indian revenue service income tax customs postal and telecom railway service railway traffic service Indian defense account service estate service on the chair is the service on the cherry police service which are common in the category of group B so like this you have category of 24 services which you are recruited so once you get recruited based upon the service which you recruited in you will be allotted post and you will have to you first you will be allotted the service and you have to undergo fix it months of training there's a foundation course which happens three months of foundation goes depending upon the service which you are allocated it will happen at different locations and then you go to parent academies of the service which you are selected to have a training post which you will be posted in your prospective profiles so this is a bird's-eye overview of the examination pattern when I say civil services first question which you have I think I would I have answered the first question which would have come up in your mind that why I should choose civil services as a career option when referred to other disciplines so I told you that the single word answer is change now apart from that you will have a lot of questions as to what is the eligibility criteria to appear at this examination there is no fix it eligibility the only criteria eligibility criteria is that you have to be a graduate and you have to be an Indian citizen this is your only criteria if you see that civil service is one of the best examples of democracy available in our country if you see what is the best example of a democracy you can just blindly say it is civil services examination because it gives equal opportunity to everybody with respect of the background which you come from you might come from I'm talking about the background not only both educational background about your financial background whether you are from a poor family you are from a rich family or from a middle-class family or an effluent in English or not a clue in English or you are from a commerce background arts background science background or you are from an IAT I am civil services treats you treats everybody on an equal footing it is immaterial as to whether you are a school topper or a college topper or you're a gold medalist or a silver medalist civil services says that I treat everyone equally for me what matters is that what have you done for this examination in that particular attempt and most unique part of civil services is that each attempt is a separate attempt it is not like why you're civil services still today even being conducted for civil for decades still stands out separately is that it is not like any other examinations like once you have prepared the next time I can sit back and relax I can just prepare for before one month or 15 days and then go give this exam no it requires a dedicated preparation for each and every attempt that is why still we are conducting sessions like this which we are having today for decades for years together when I started preparation way back in 2003 till today 2020 so many years and seeing that you know still people still it's it remains it is not one which can be easily gone and it is not one examination where you give the books and you ask them to prepare and you sit down and you just clear it off like that now the most important qualities which you require for clearing this examination is not knowledge let me put it very clear it is not it is not one of those examination which is which is which rests its success on knowledge of course knowledge gathering is essential but it is not only it is not only it not only depends upon knowledge gathering the two most important aspects for any civil service aspirant is discipline and perseverance so if you have these two aspects during your preparation definitely you are you are to succeed in your attempt whether it be even be in the first second with a little bit of discipline and perseverance knowledge gathering will happen in due course anybody who is serious about this will come in will spend their time and will gather the knowledge but what is important is that should have some amount of discipline and perseverance to succeed in this examination so so it is one of the greatest tools of democracy available to us make you use of it utilize it and offer it today the country needs young talent with novel ideas to give solutions to the challenges of the changing times so I appeal to each one of you to keep or to stay or to take to take your attention off from the routine and just think of civil service as a carrier option it is it is not only a carrier it is a life by its own when you become part of the services you will realize that you living a life of your own and you are making immense change and impact not only in your lives in lives of others your inner circle outer circle and the society at large so I would like to stop here and I would like to request the participants to participate because it would be more useful if I could respond to their queries and I would like I would give my concluding remarks putting together your queries in the end so I would like to keep the floor open for questions now if any and I will give my concluding remarks based on the queries which the students have thank you ma'am participants can raise their question there I think there are three questions in the Q&A box ma'am okay yeah so ma'am can you see the box yeah yeah yeah I can see so I would like to start from the general questions what is the perfect age to write civil service examination once you're 21 years you're eligible to write civil service examination now if you take me I started my preparation when I finished my undergraduate so it was just 20 so I was not eligible to appear so I spent one year till I was 21 to prepare so there's no age limit when I should start now when I went for a session in Coimbatore I think also organized by Shankar last year there was a candidate who started a preparation when she was in 12th standard so I was really surprised to see that they're starting off at a very early age now with the technology advancement and more and more of you know reach of information I think people are getting aware and starting off early so there's no one but particular age as soon as you're 21 depending upon and it is as far as civil service concern my advice would be start early both for your benefit and for the benefit of the government will set up so it is good for you that you start early because you have other distractions one you once you once you age you have other distractions so you start early once you finish your undergraduate when you're fag end of your undergraduate I think it is the right time that you should start now there's one more general questions like how you should learn about society there is no one criteria one way which I can tell you how to learn about society to learn about society in due course so you have to you would have learned about society in your say 17 18 years of your lifetime you would have learned a lot many things you know own way though not in a very large way but then when you become part of civil services or whatever in your whatever you are placed whatever capacity of working you learn about society when you interact with them and when you contribute and when you take part in their problems or when you become part of the problem solving setup you will learn about society in the deuce course so there's no one methodology we can learn about the society in from textbooks how many years I prepared for the exam now I told you I came to the field when I as soon as I finished my undergraduate so that was 2006 I 2006 I came into the field and I cleared in my 2010 batches in 2010 second attempt I cleared my first time I clear in my first item I gave my first in 2009 I didn't clear my preliminary I cleared the entire all the three levels of examination in my 2010 attempt and I got selected in different account services and 2013 attempt I got I appeared I didn't get through in 2014 again got selected in civil services and thereafter have not given any time so you can see a couple of say I started off in 2006 so you may say four or five years I've spent in preparing for the exam but each one takes different time it's not mine is not a criteria for you each one takes their own time some may cure it in their first attempt second attempt depends upon the dedication and the quality of time spent in preparing for the exam now what will we learn and training the post recruitment in civil service examination now depending upon there will be three months of foundation course where it will be general general training as in general administration then you have a lot of extracurricular activities you will have people from all services being put together mostly to be kind of an inter-service coordination post those foundation post training you will have dedicated training or fix the number of months depending upon each service has their own number of months of training starting from 12 year 12 months to one and a half years to two years depending on the service where you are posted you learn about what you learn about the subjects which you are going to deal with now if you take me I can only talk for myself to take me so we were in our training categories we were taught about taxation so this because that is the one we are going to implement in our career so we had to learn about taxation so and if you take about police they will be learning learning about law and order so it is like that for each independent depending on the service which you are selected in apart from three months general course it will be the service based or service oriented training is it compulsory to take coaching in any institute it is not compulsory but then it is always nice when you give up your first attempt you are new to the field and it will be difficult for you to keep track of things which is happening around you and it is always good that you congregate in either small groups to have a connect otherwise because it's not a examination it is not a three months examination or four months course or you just prepare for one month you read something and you go and give it is a one-year long examination your examination the preliminary examination starts in May and you give your mains in December you take up your interview or personality test in the subsequent March to April so it's like a one-year long examination so in order to keep you first when you are a first-timer it is always better for the first attempt to go and join an institute to have a basic understanding what the system is what the examinations about what is what is the requirement of the system and to align yourself with the requirements of the system is always necessary that you join an institute but you can there are a lot of people who have prepared without joining an institute also but in these times when there are a lot of distractions and in order to keep yourself it is always good to associate with other people and to know where you're lagging from it is it is a give-and-take policy you learn a lot from others rather than self-study so to keep you both mentally active and to take away that fatigue or to keep you always on the track it is always good for the first attempt you join an institute and you prepare subsequent attempts it depends upon your personal choice whether you join an institute or not depends upon you because some people prefer studying on their own some people find find it good when they have a helping hand so subsequent attempts yes it is up to you depending upon your personal demands and choice but in the first attempt I it is advisable to join an institute and study how many will take to complete this course I guess how long it will to complete this course I told you it it will require one year of dedicated preparation to before you give your first attempt because it will take to accommodate yourself with what the field is about because all our education system prior to both our school colleges would have function in a very different way but here when you come to civil services you will try to and you will have to unlearn things which you have learned you will you will require to unlearn things which you the same things which you might have learned when you come into the field and read who you will see that it is all very familiar to you but will you learn it in a different way for civil service examination there will be a why how analytical base for each and everything which you have already learned so you will learn things which are known to you in a new fashion that's all but then you will at least need that six to seven I would require one year of preparation before I would advise one year of serious preparation before you give your first attempt so thereafter it depends upon your level of preparation your first and thereafter suppose if you don't make it in your first attempt the second attempt it depends upon the activities which you are engaged in whether you're working or you're solely dedicating depends upon the time which you put in whereas well and one more thing when you give your there are I told you there are three levels preliminary means and interview level if you don't suppose if you're a preliminary and you go to your main's level if you're clunking your mains you have to again come and give your preliminary and then only you have to go through all these three stages so one year of dedicated preparation is good yes and one thing I yes I wanted to I thought I'll keep it to the end for the closing remarks good that somebody has asked this question give some good ideas to read newspaper it's difficult to create the habits taking long time to read now reading newspaper is one habit which we everybody which all of us have to cultivate reading newspaper him from from times when I used to prepare till today Hindu as is being the single subscription for civil service preparation so I would advise you to read Hindu newspaper now skip all the political news what is required for civil service examination is core national and international news which is of relevance to the examination and not political news concentrate on events which are happening around you and obviously for a first time reader who's very who's who doesn't have any reading habit reading Hindu newspaper for that matter any English newspaper will be difficult it will take its time but when when when you start to read a Hindu newspaper will take any we're between two and a half to three hours when you sit down and read an English newspaper for serious preparation it will take for two and a half to three hours but don't worry as you progress it will all I mean the time which you put in in reading newspaper will come down as you keep on reading so it will happen unconsciously not necessary that it has it will not happen consciously so don't expect that you read once once a week because when you are a first-time reader you have to get accommodated the language use we'll have to get you have to you have to get used to the habit of assimilating the news and understanding it vocabulary all that is there so as you put in one to two months give yourself sufficient time don't be very harsh with reading a newspaper even if you take them since all in your college college now at different years maybe even if you're final year start the habit of reading newspapers be aware of what is happening around me even if not for civil services be an informed citizen start reading newspapers and it initially it will take two and a half to three hours some it may take more than three hours also don't worry don't be so harsh on yourself so get accustomed to the reading habit first so as time progress maybe after two months three months it will come down to one and a half hours so you start reading in your newspaper so how many attempts can we make depending upon the category there are different categories of as in your caste background when you're in OBC category you have you have nine attempts and then you have a general category six attempts and then you have your schedule cast category so depending upon the category which you belong you will have the number of attempts you can take there is the restriction number of attempts you can take now Indian Forest Service there is one query about Indian Forest Service and Indian Foreign Service so Indian Forest Service there is a separate examination for that foreign service Indian Forest Service comes as part of Indecible Service examination as I told you that it is one of the services in the entire list of the 24 services so there is no separate preparation for that the same will apply to Indian Forest Service for a service they have the same preliminary examination conducted by UPSC and the mains examination onwards they are they have a separate examination same three levels appear for them the preliminary mains and the interview level personality test which is our best option subject it depends upon now when you have to select your options it depends upon your it depends upon the interest your own interest it depends upon the interest which you have suppose if you're a former student or if you're an art student for that matter arts may interest you now and if you will have an interest to take your own background you might have a graduation in commerce you have graduation history you may have you may be a science graduate can I take the same options for civil services you can take but just have a look at the syllabus and the question papers because many times what happens is that you may have it is the studying a subject for three years as part of your college education and studying the same for civil services as an optional subject are two different things it's a different volume so you have to go through the syllabus and question paper and see if you're comfortable with the syllabus and the question paper and then decide just because you are done a graduation in that particular background don't blindly choose that option because you are very familiar with that subject if you take for example I did an undergraduate in history but then when I attempted I didn't give an attempt but then when I looked at the syllabus in history and my and the question papers I was not very comfortable or confident enough to give the options in that subject so I went on take public administration as one of my optional and I went I progressed because of studying public administration one of the optional in civil service examination I went on to my post graduation as well as my in public administration so studying an optional subject for the purpose of civil service examination is different from what you do in your college as a particular subject so you have to I cannot give you one over the counter prescription as to this is a best option what might be suitable for me might not be suitable for you so you have to go through the list of optional subjects have a look at the syllabus and the question papers and take an informed decision after consulting seniors or when when you join an institute have reviews from two three people or more than you know at least because see once you put an invest your time and effort in a subject then going back it's not advisable though people have done it and I myself have done it change options but then it is not advisable when you can say at least when you prepare for your means you would have prepared at least four or five months for that particular option subject so it is better that before you choose and invest your time in it you discuss with your people in services seniors were prepared as well as your institute wherever you're joining before choosing an option how to study for an exam I already told you so you have to be when you're a first-timer you just join you can join on you can study on you know just join or you join in institute first first time it is advisable to join in institute and start your preparation so I told you the syllabus so just the curriculum basically you start off with the NCRT books that is a basic textbook to just start off for the examination so you follow the textbooks as well as the newspaper so newspaper is the part of the entire civil service examination so that is the most important part of it rest the you follow the syllabus and the textbooks which are being prescribed for the examination so what a what is the topic that we should get started there's no specific topic I don't get what is the exact question so how many years or months it will take to complete this course I've already told you that there is no specific time limit advisable before taking the first item you put in at least one year of serious preparation thereafter depends upon your level of preparation you can be my either cleared in the first attempt or progress on to the subsequent attempts so what are the general things we should concentrate for studying exams so there are no as far as civil service concern general things you start off with the newspaper the general thing if you ask me you start off with a newspaper newspaper is the it is general as well as specific in its own way so you once you cultivate the habit of reading a newspaper and you are very comfortable with I think 30 to 40 percent of civil service examination is done with minimum preparation time for civil service have already answered that what is your role presently income tax I'm currently posted as deputy commissioner income tax and I'm taking care of assessment of corporate companies right now can we clear the exam the first time take several attempt how to prepare which is the correct way you can clear it as I told you again and again it is it depends upon the sincerity or the dedication which you put in the first attempt there is nothing that you cannot clear this examination the first attempt it is all in your hands so you just the two things which I told you dedication and perseverance and knowledge gathering you have to have a bird's eye view of all the topics or the all the subjects which I have told you like history geography quality science and technology environment current affairs and you will be through I think you shouldn't have any hitches in that on that come so how will we how will interview happen is it is conducted by there are different panels which is being formed by UPC so it's called a board so there'll be a panel of members from different fees so one will be a board map the chairperson the other will be members so you will have usually you will have people from diverse fees asking questions from your background you will have situation questions as in they will give you a particular situation and ask you to give you solutions there might be questions from your educational background from your first from your extracurricular activities whatever you are given in your DAF form so questions can come from anywhere in that DAF form or it may and it may have one or two situation-based questions also so it happens in Delhi and it is a panel of members appointed by the board so which will be easy to clear UPC or TNPC now it again depends there is no one I cannot tell you that this is easy or that is easy but given the syllabus and the curriculum of the syllabus and the requisites of the examination I think in my perspective UPC is more easy or the time and the effort which you put it if you go organized and if you are very systematic UPC is not I understand your question is whether you TNPC is easy or UPC is easy UPC is not that not it's not that a hard nut to crack when compared to TNPC because again the syllabus and the knowledge gathering which happens is very minimal it is purely based on smart work and the certain techniques which you acquire during the course of preparation now this is one example where even during the preparation phase itself you become a more mature person you will acquire more techniques you will have to acquire more techniques in clearing this examination rather than pure knowledge gathering so it is up to you now why you prepare our candidates who have at the same time when they prepare UPC they give all comparative examinations and once you prepare for UPC you can give the other examinations even without much preparation except for touching on of you take Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission you can touch upon Tamil Nadu specific aspects only apart from the regular UPC preparation you have made so once you have prepared UPC you have you can give a hell lot of other comparative examinations it is likely superior package once you master that you can give once you prepare for UPC you can give any other comparative examination comes like a bonus package for you so I would advise you to prepare for UPC always aimfully higher if I start my preparation problem is it possible to crack exam in two years what UG course you have completed yes it is possible I do not know which year of your college you are in whether you are in a final year or most probably a student that you are in a final year so I told you that only eligibility is you have to be 20 years of age and one year of dedicated preparation is all the more sufficient to practice examination and I have done my undergraduate in history and my post graduation public administration how to prepare for this examination can we do it at home or institute please advise I told you already I've answered this question you can prepare for your home but for first time was who do not know about the field and to keep you motivated and stay on track and to have interaction with other civil servants better for your first didn't join in institute and prepare it is very different to clear UPC it's not very different different in the sense it is you do not you do not know do do road learning here we just you just have to understand you will be very surprised when you take up this examination and you sit down for preparing will be very surprised to know that you will learning the basics what you have you know what you're learning but you are learning it in a different way so that's the key point in UPC so you will learn things in the way it has to be learned and with knowing the actual meaning questioning each and everything understanding it analyzing each and every concept so that is a difference between other examinations and UPS examination or what you have learned earlier you will unlearn and relearn the same thing in a different fashion so there makes the comes a difference in UPC so you said optional paper also has language and literature people can take life same language papers and qualifying paper and optional paper yes you can do that what is the best civil service job so there's no one best and there's no one least service every job is best in their own way so as long as you contribute and derive self satisfaction you enjoy wherever you are posted you're going to be a rule of change wherever you're posted so there's no one best job each one has its own perks advantages and disadvantages so you will have to balance each and everything so there's no one best civil service job in those entire category of services so a lot of questions about interview I just keep it to the end interview experience regulation only upresigning the current parents was eligible to appear once in again in civil service examination see for other central services you have to you can give your examination while you are in services whereas for all the services you have to resign and only then reappear in the subsequent attempts how to study current affairs in newspaper I've already told you that current affairs leave alone let alone the political aspects and concentrate on your events of national and international importance so they say newspaper reading is a must know in what ways you've studied how can we bring interest in reading because find it difficult so there is don't be very harsh on yourself as well as newspaper is concerned just take it read it like a story just don't have a mindset that you're just going to learn something you're just going to know about things which are happening around you so you just read it like how you read how you're going to read normal other entertainment magazines which you be reading the same same intonation you first approach in the newspaper and the don't worry about the time which you invest in it as time passes the time which is invest or spend will gradually come down so don't go in it go inside it with a negative mindset that I'm going to take I'm taking such a lot of time and it's not very interesting so you're not learning something you are you're just keeping yourself informed about things which is happening around you so just approach it in that way and definitely it will become an interesting venture is there any specific books I told you for civil service examination there are no specific books you start of the basic books for civil service preparation is NCRT then options they will prescribe you there are books there are a lot of books available in the market and as far as civil service examination concern there's nothing about books apart from the basic knowledge which you acquire it is about how you show your individuality in presentation of answers while the preliminary is objective type means is a descriptive type so it depends on how you show your individuality in your main examinations so you're very creative in how you present your papers apart from the understanding which you are secure by putting in by investing in the preparation process excuse me ma'am take a break take a breath please Can you read the questions to your ma'am? Can you read the questions to your ma'am? Because many questions are repetitive ma'am and your ma'am there is a question whether I can go to a job and I can pursue the course will it be difficult for me if I do both or should I spend the whole time for this preparation there's a question ma'am see whether I should I can take up a job and parallely do a preparation is up to you totally if you have that an ambition if you have that fire burning with you nothing is going to stop you let me tell you that there are a lot of people who have who are married with children going to job not a good financial background they have done it all together so there is no one thing which is going to stop you the ultimate decision-maker and ultimate resolution is in your hands so there is nothing which is going to stop you and see for as far as civil services preparation is concerned initial stage if you put in a solid four to five hours of solid preparation apart from newspaper reading it is good it will do but then one year of serious preparation is a must it should not be then I'll go for on and off preparations I will go for my job so you should it is all it all depends upon you to keep both to keep to have a balanced view both with respect to your job as well as your preparation so you should not lose sight of it that's the only consideration there's nothing that you cannot do so you has one question who inspired you to take this UPSA exam what was the source of inspiration I don't know whether it is a good thing or bad thing there's never been a source of inspiration for me and I don't know suddenly it I in the sense that I have never looked at somebody and aspire for this service just came to me still I have yet to find an answer for that so I don't have any source of inspiration I want to be part of the civil services I know what created an interest in me to offer civil services so I have more family background also in civil service my mother is my mother was a school teacher so I have no inspiration as such I had never I didn't have any inspiration as such for joining civil services and one question is how far the PG is useful to take up this UPSA exam post-graduation see under graduation post-graduation is all just a eligibility criteria to appear in this examination so any amount of as I told you already even if you have done your education IAT or IAM the experience which you gather there will some way be helpful to you in one of the other aspects during the preparation but whether I should do my PG and will I be more capable enough to handle this examination if I do a PG no not necessarily it is not necessary that you should go be a you should do a PG and you'll be more emboldened enough to give this examination more confident confident what is required is that your one year in that one year what is that preparation which you're putting in the civil services that is the only thing which matters as far as clearing this examination is concerned one question is whether she will be posted in the own state or somewhere else in India once she clears the exam so that depends upon the policies of the department or wherever you are posted suppose you are selected for IS IS there are three services which are two services I mean apart from Indian Forest Service two services which are called as all India services Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service now once you get selected in the service based on your ranking and based on your ranking you will be allotted the states they are called cadders so your preference might be say you're from Tamil Nadu your preference might be first preference I want to come to my home state Tamil Nadu so you should have secured that ranking to be able to be give your first choice so this is this is the criteria for all India services when you come to central services like for me now we are called as central services but then we are now once the IS and IPS once they are allotted to a particular state or a particular cadder they will serve the entire career in that state only so they will be posted in different districts in that state whereas to take central services depends upon initial posting might happen in your state in your own home state or not but subsequently you will get transferred to different states depending upon the there is a time limit for you to serve in a particular state and you will not be positioned in your home state for the entire career if you have happened to be selected in one of the central services you will have to be rotating all over India actually it is the truly all India services is the central services because they'll be roaming all around India so you cannot serve the entire career in your home state what are the common obstacles one faces in the preparation map preparation of circles yes what mainly people what I hear from aspirants and what I have experienced is that because of the end length of the preparation like you have to put in minimum minimum one year if you are going to clear it in your first thing you have to put in one year of concentrated preparation so in that one year it is very difficult for one because we have human beings the lot of distractions and then fatigue which creeps in and you are new to the field and you have to assimilate into though it is a bird's eye view have to assimilate a lot of subjects at one so it is basically the fatigue which keeps in and the lot of diversions that is the basics the things apart from the societal interference I think you'll be able to handle it either at your personal level or to family level all depends upon the cumulative support which one family as a whole extends to you so that I think which we can handle but at the personal level of preparation wise if you see the fatigue which creeps in that is I see first you have to join an institute so you form your own small group so that to keep you motivated so one of the other time there is one person to pull you up yes so because you know there is this human tendency once you are down when you see other person standing you wake up and yes I will also have to when that internal fire goes down there's something external to lead you up again so for that that is the only thing I think in the everybody every civil society faces this I think in due course each one will lend a helping hand to the other otherwise otherwise there are this faculty members when you join an institute the faculty members will bring you on track right so that is the only basic biggest difficulties now obviously I think as a team you will be able to overcome it in due course ma'am you have already told that you have to start with LCRT books and they are asking for some websites where they can get the syllabus and other materials ma'am no you just now it is all open source so you just Google you just type civil service syllabus and civil service materials you just get all of this HCRT books and materials and newspaper and everything is open source there's no one particular website there are a lot of websites which is available open source so there's no one particular website which I can subscribe you just type civil service syllabus and civil service materials and a lot of materials on the net I am one question is that I am a medical student what type of optional subject is best for me so again medical there is whether you are very comfortable in giving medicine as an option subject in your main examination only you have to take a decision whether I'm comfortable so I told you my example I was an undergraduate history but I was not very comfortable enough to the history as one of the options same way you have to evaluate evaluate yourself because there are I have seen people who have who are doctors and were taken medicine were succeeded in their examination but they have seen doctors who are not comfortable with medicine as an option for civil services and they have gone for our subjects and they have succeeded so it all depends upon you you have to have a again I tell you have to look at your syllabus the question papers and see whether you are comfortable in dealing with the option for civil service examination you have to decide so I cannot prescribe you but I would if given an option I would advise you to go in for something a little lighter option than medicine ma'am can you answer ma'am can we go some more questions ma'am I think I'll have five minutes go we'll take you they're asking about the personality test you are experience in personality test I wanted to answer that see personality test was I attended two interviews because 2010 attempt when I was selected in the defense account service that was my first interview so I was 22 years then and when I gave my second attempt second interview I was in the 2012 so it was like two years gap so it's 24 so in my first attempt 22 first interview was not very satisfactory even to myself so in the sense that I think I was not I was not more mature enough to handle it it's very nervous very anxious in that first item like everyone and don't be very desperate when you go my only advice when you take up an interview or personality test don't be very desperate and don't show to the board that you're very desperate for that things never come to you when you're desperate and this is most true for everything in life right and interview this personality test is not an exemption for that so don't be very desperate that don't show to the board even when you're even if you're desperate even if you're anxious don't show to the board that you are very desperate and that doesn't come as a one-off solution like you go to the door of the interview board and you say I'm not anxious I'm not desperate no you have to cultivate it during your preparation time itself you can say that if not for it I'm not telling I'm not going telling in the other way you always have to mentally stable in order to receive what the board wants from you and give the best out of you you have to be a very balanced person you have to be very calm and mature to handle the interview board so that I was lacking to be very frank and to accept I think in my first interview I was very desperate enough to finish it off and get a service so I was very desperate I was not able to handle simple questions which were known to me which I would have better answered if I was in a very calm state of mind so that was that that was the takeaway from my first interview when I attended my subsequent interview I was already in defense account service already in a service so the so I was not very desperate I'm just stuck stressing on the word desperate because I'm talking out of my own experience so when when when my for my second interview I already had a job so that gave me a lot of confidence and it was not desperate enough so even if I get it and if I not get it I was okay with it so that was my best interview and I handled there were a lot of situation-based questions and I handled it uh at least to my satisfaction and got me good score also in that attempt but the amount of preparation which I put in for an interview at my second interview is very less in the sense that the so the so for an interview that is why it is called as a personality test it is an assessment of your personality rather than the knowledge you have acquired so the kind of preparation which I put in when you compare my second interview I mean my first interview and second interview is very less my second interview but the kind of confidence and the calmness and the balance mode which I had was very good so as far as interview is concerned you have to have you you have to remain calm and trust in yourself and go with a balanced mind that is very essential in an interview the questions are more or less the same they're asking for the books or the optional subject for all is the same I think you have answered everything ma'am let me just put age limit almost the same type of questions ma'am okay so you'd like to say something more yeah I just would conclude by saying that have civil services as a career option on priority on your table when you look or when you think of your career options what you're going to do after your college they say that once you clear civil service you become part of the creamy layer of the society you become the cream of the society and you become the cream of society not only for you you become the topping or the icing on the society itself by creating a change not for yourself as well as for the society to make change for your future generation your inner circle outer circle the civil service preparation said when you come into the field don't come with an attitude of how many years I'm going to put in how many attempts I'm going to take doesn't matter unless you attend you reach that goal any number of years of preparation which you put in this field is worth in is worth take it from me I've spent four years of preparation in this field so I'm not a one-timer who I've cleared this in the first attempt so any number of years of service which you put in this is going to make you a more balanced more matured person to deal with the challenges of your everyday life as well as to respond to the challenges which you will be facing as a government servant so it would make you a very balanced person matured person in society and it will give you an identity and so should build up your self-esteem and give you a social identity and prestige in society so for the for your own personal cost and greater cost of the society I would like to invite all of you young talent to come with an open mind and take up civil services as a career option wish you all the best and hoping to see you all part of different services thank you ma'am thank you very much I think it is more than one and you're talking for more than one hour ma'am okay ma'am you have a complete you completely all the nuances of the civil service exam and how to have a first in the beginning itself how to have a change in the mindset and the exam pattern the necessary qualities required to take up a civil service exam like discipline and perseverance the books everything you have given us a very good picture of everything ma'am thank you so much on behalf of the SOCA fraternity from the management principal staff and students I extend my thanks to you ma'am for sparing your time and giving us a very very good presentation I think our girls are very much motivated people taking up civil service from our college ma'am thank you happy happy thank you and I extend my thanks to Mr. Ramesh Aditya who was behind all this organizing all this webinar thank you so much Ramesh sir and I thank my management my principal and even all the participants for making it a great show thank you all thank you wish you all the good luck thanks ma'am thanks ma'am for accepting our invitation and be here today and it has been a breathtaking one hour and 20 minute session and you answered all the questions actually to be honest with you you answered 60 plus questions today okay in observing the session being a silent observer today and I found that 63 questions you have answered and so when it is something very great that is why you know we respect you a lot and it has been a long session in kuyambathur when we travel down to kuyambathur with krishnamal college again so that shows your commitment towards young children and to women children thank you so much for your support ma'am Shankarayase academy is always interpret to you thank you my pleasure thank you ma'am and thank you Dr. Sandilakshmi ma'am for this wonderful opportunity and one beautiful thing is that the students who attended this session they didn't go out of the session till you completed your questions and answers ma'am so that's what I wanted to inform you that I believe that there will be more women children will come into services and taking you as a role model John Sirani ma'am and I think there is one child as type saying that ma'am I'm also John Sirani yeah I saw that so you have been a role model and you will continue to be a role model thank you so much ma'am Mishu great evening all together Mishu great evening to all of you online right now thank you so much thank you thank you thank you ma'am participants I have posted the feedback form and you can fill it and send it to us and the participation certificates will be mailed to you