 Good afternoon, have a seat, have a seat. You come from Bihar, Saharsa and we find that history of India, modern East Asia, Europe. St. Stephen College you are coming from, very good, BA, you did in 2018, since then you are preparing for services I suppose and watching documentaries. Can I call you Selja, Ms. Selja, what, RLTB, RELAX absolutely, okay, so we are little advanced in here, so you have to speak loudly for us to hear, okay, a little more loud that would be nice, right. I find that you passed out in history functions and after that you have been bringing in value of the people who fought for the freedom of this country, bringing out issues of national security issues, okay, which has been neglected in the past, okay, do you feel it is a right move, the something which was neglected in the past now being brought in? Yes, I think that to a certain extent yes, it is the right move because we need to know the contribution of our freedom fighters and the other historical figures who give a lot of information about what had happened in the past and what can be improved in the future, so in that sense yes, I think reading about the rebellions and the revolts do play an important role in education as such of an individual. Okay, little controversial but it is only from the examination point, a few people say that you know we could have got our freedom much early if we had not followed the non-violence but we followed the path of violence, how do you justify this statement? Sir yes, it can be said that it could have happened earlier but then we could say that the after effects would have been very different, so if we had been doing it through a military coup then the history and then the future would have had a lot of impact of that event, so in that sense I believe that as a democracy we have been one of the largest democracy and so non-violence in that sense really plays a major role in making the nation as we are today. Constitution was made and some amendments were made to the preamble little later, what are those amendments to the… According to the 42nd Amendment Act the words secular, socialist and I think integrity was added in 1976. Why? Why was it not added? Sir the secular elements were already there but to make it more vocal or to make it more as such to make it more identical to the constitution it was added but it was already present in terms of the articles from 25th to 20th, 30th that begins with the religious freedom and the socialist principles which are already incorporated in the director principles of state policy. To become a civil servant your aim will be to work as for the constitution or work as for the direction of the political… Sir as a civil servant my work would be according to the constitution of India. What will you do when there is a conflict? Sir if there is a conflict then I would first give priority to what is there in the constitution if there is a clear directive that says that it should be done according to the constitution I would follow that and then I will look at the other aspects of that particular problem. Keep that always in mind. Shalija now with the coming election you keep on listening lot of announcement for free bees, free electricity, free water. Now what are your views about it? My views would be about the fact that these free bees have a lot of impact on the fiscal policy and the fiscal deficit of a particular state or country. So then the government needs to look at it critically whether they should be given or there are other electoral manifesto that they could possibly give. In certain extent I think free bees should be limited but then to certain low income people they can be given but it should be… Can you do it? Can you stop anybody announcing free bees before election? I think we cannot really tell the government to stop it but yes there should be dialogue or policy framework to really have… So dialogue is different, policy framework is different. Can you convince a politician by dialogue, not announcing free bees? Yes sir. Can you try but… I will say if it is given a chance. What are the… if I say India is a vibrant democracy, what are the features of Indian vibrant democracy? What do you call it a vibrant democracy? Sir I would say a vibrant democracy in terms of how the voters are belonging to different class and different caste and different regional and religious backgrounds. So what is the elections? Regular, impartial, fair elections. What else? Other would be in terms of the Anchayati Raj system. The importance of the grassroots level democracy and how it plays a major role in then furthering the democratic principles. What else? If the government goes straight, if the government goes straight, who stops government from going straight? Straight or straight? Straight, straight, away from, away from democratic norm. Who stops government? I think sir the people of the country through the elections. You have a provision of judicial review, judiciary? Isn't it a feature of a vibrant democracy? Yes. Okay, tell me one thing, why do you give vaccine and muscle in this region? Corona vaccine you must have also got it. They always give in this upper arm, this is called deltoid region, deltoid muscle is there. I think sir to the limited knowledge I have, I think that COVID vaccine was intramuscular vaccine, so it was given. No, they are a lot of other muscles also, why only this muscle? Even if it is intramuscular. Sir maybe it is easier or it is convenient to give it here, maybe but I have to look at it. Okay, what is a vaccine? Sir it is a, I could say it is a chemical composition of a product which induces immunity response to a particular disease for which it is made. So is it a chemical product or is it a biological product? Sir I think it can be a chemical or a biological product. Give me some example of chemical vaccine, how would a chemical vaccine have antigen? Yes, it would be a biological. Can you tell me some vaccine which is not taken by parental room, I mean which is taken by oral room? In the oral polio. So polio is what kind of disease polio is? Sir polio is a viral disease. How does it spread? Sir it is a viral disease and then it affects the, I think it affects the movement of an individual. No, how does it spread? How does it transmits? Sir. Like corona transmits through you know air or droplets or whatever. Yes, it can spread through droplets as well as through air also. Are you sure? No sir, it spreads through droplets and through blood. It is a water-borne disease. It is spread through dirty food or dirty water. Yes. You are interested in I am seeing archeological discoveries. So who discovered Pompeii? When was it discovered? Yeah. As far as archeology is concerned or the later? It was a very very famous city buried under the Mount Vesuvius volcanic eruption. When was it discovered that there was this whole city there? I think I have to look at it, I do not. Okay, alright. In India, can you tell me the oldest archeological find? I think in India, Robbers' brews food find the first paleolithic axe tools and the paleolithic remains in the Pune region. Pune region. There is also not far from New Delhi, Mangarbani, you know. Okay, you read about that, alright. Now you have also given foreign service as your option, one of your options, right? What do you know about Indian women in the foreign service? Are they enough, are they well represented? I think ma'am, to a certain extent now they have been well represented but more improvements could be made. You have any idea how many men are there in the service and how many women? Question, I am not ma'am, I am not of exact figure. Okay. How many women heads of missions are there at the moment, ambassadors? The rough guess. I cannot forget. You also have to look at the gender equality when you think that out of 33 foreign sectories, so far there have only been 3 women foreign sectories. Do you have any idea who is the first woman foreign sectories? I think I am not new from our DAO. Chokila Ayur. Yes, ma'am. You heard of Malabar exorcises? Yes, ma'am. What is it? It is a joint exercise between India, US and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region. And it has gained quite prominent importance in the recent times due to the Quad Summit also. It is seen as somewhat complimenting the whole Quad aims. You also got one more country. It began as three. It is also about Australia. Yes, in the last. What was the last exercise held in 2021? Ma'am, was it around the Japan region but I am not. Guam. Guam, yes. Pacific region, yeah. Why is it called Malabar exercise? Ma'am, maybe because Malabar as a coast holds a lot of importance in India. It started the first Malabar coast which was very scenic and beautiful. Malabar exercise. Okay. You know anything about the Moon missions? Chandrayaan. Yes, ma'am. I have read what I have tried. Okay, let me briefly. We've had how many so far? We've had two. Yeah, how were they successful? Ma'am, Chandrayaan one was in collaboration with NASA, I would say. And it had a lot of importance in terms of the discovery of water remains on the Moon. And the Chandrayaan 2 mission, I think it did fail. It crashed. Yeah, while it was landing, it crashed. Okay. And the third mission, when is it scheduled for? I think ma'am, it is scheduled in 2024. Yeah, it was scheduled for May 2022 but the pandemic has delayed it. What are unicorns? There was a report about how the first quarter this year, 14 new unicorns have been added. Ma'am, unicorns are the start-ups which have a valuation of around $1 billion in the economy. So in that sense they show the vibrancy of the entrepreneurial activities in the economy. And they've got a global identity now, no? Can you name some prominent ones? There are some which are led by women. I think one start-up I remember was Mishu. I think Mishu. And Nika. Nika is very, very popular. Yeah, okay. Thank you. Okay. You must have heard of Ram Sampra Poha. Yes, sir. Why is he so critical of the government? Sir, the reason I cannot say why is he critical, but he does talk about a lot of other ways through government. How can the governance in the country could be improved, but I cannot say why is he really being critical. No, he has a point of view. What are you saying? That I will have to read. What is the subordinate view of history? The subordinate view of history talks about the history from the point of view of those who had been left out by the earlier historiography of history. So one way is that in terms of the freedom struggle, we have always overlooked the choree chore incident and how peasants have a major role to play in that incident. So that is subordinate view of history, I would say, through an example. At the current level of our syllabus for this school, there is also a view that the outlook on history itself has to change. What is that? Sir, we need to look at gender issues and we need to look at these lower class people and their issues from a more broader point of view. Sir, we have gone faster. What I am asking you now is now there is a different rewriting history and all. What is that? Sir, that issue is about how history as a subject has focused a lot on the medieval history and Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal history. And we have in a way ignored the ancient history. So there is one view that talks about that. Have you heard of another author? I have asked this question of others also because I have been seeing. Vikram Sampath, have you heard of him? What is the controversy about this? Sir, he has published two articles on Pandit Veer Savarkar and there had been... Books. Books and there had been allegations of plagiarism by him, by certain historians in the US itself and India also. So that is the issue. Have you heard of a competition commission of India and the competition act? What does it look like? What is it supposed to be? Sir, the aims of a competition commission of India is to prohibit the monopoly in the economy, how certain institutions could be prevented from having a monopoly over the economy or any other aspects of society. Anything to do with Google on this? Yes, I can say to a certain extent how Google is seen as monopolizing the... On what issue? Sir, I think in terms of how social media or the news... In terms of predatory practices, in terms of art making a medicine, the value for the print and the quality at making the use items. But why didn't you do your post-graduation? Sir... In Delhi University, I was at the University of Delhi... Yes sir, that is one thing, but I have always planned to sit for civil services, though it took more time than I expected, but that was my aim always. What are the major sources of ancient history in India? Sir, the major sources are both material remains, the archaeology, along with the written records. In written records, we have inscriptions, then we have historical records, we have secular writings, we have religious writings, so all those constitute the... What has been, of course, Meghasthani is what has been written by him. Does it really make a source for ancient history? Sir, Meghasthani is Indika, which talks about the modern impact. It gives a lot of information on the aspects which are not dealt with in other sources. So, the four class system, which was present in the modern times, along with a lot of information about the political system that existed. Which year? He came to India and wrote his travelogue. Which language he wrote? The exact year, I don't remember. Language. Language you must have known. Language, I think it was in Greek. And which language Hohensang wrote? Sir, he wrote in Chinese. Mandarin? Mandarin. Approximately how many years he lived in India? Sir, Hohensang I think lived for 40 years. No, I think 7 years. But then I have to... I think 6 to 7 years. And which university he was working with? Sir, he worked with Nalanda University. Give some very great personalities from Bihar, their names. Sir, the first name would be Chattravartin Ashok Samrat, who did talk a lot about the secular notions during that time. And the second name would be Ajat Shatru, who... Ajat Shatru established the Patliputra as the Kingdom of the Arts. The other names would be the names of Gupta Empire, Samud Gupta, Skand Gupta. What was the headquarter for Samud Gupta? Sir, the headquarter was Patliputra. You are forgetting Kautilya? Yes, Kautilya. Hohensang, what did he do? I mean, what for he came and what followed his journey? Sir, he came as a part of Buddhist mission to India. He came to read about Buddhism during that time. And along with that he wrote the book... I don't... I'm forgetting the name of that book. But he talks about the religious characteristics of the times, along with he gives information on the political system during that time. I don't know whether there was a specific name of the book he wrote, anyway. So what did he do when he returned? Sir, the name of the book was C-U-K. What was? C-U-K, something, and then it translates into something in India. So what did he do while returning to China? Sir, that I had to... What I meant was, did he carry with him some literature or anything? He carried a lot of literature from the Nalanda University and... What happened to that literature? It is stored in China and then it is said that in China Buddhism as a religion flourished because of the works of Hohensang and one other icing. Every document was translated into Mandarin. For years the translation work went on. And that contributed towards Buddhism spread in China. So far Chinese history is concerned. Have you heard of Marco Polo? Yes sir, he was also a traveler in 12th century. He came to India in 12th century or 14th century. 13th century. He made two trips to Chinese empire. Who was the Chinese emperor at that time and what happened? What is the highlight of Marco Polo? Where from did he come? Sir, I do not remember the Chinese emperor. Venetian. But I think during that time of Tang dynasty I think he went to China during the Tang dynasty. Who was the emperor? I do not remember the name of the emperor. I think it was Kublai Khan, grandson of Changes Khan. What is his contribution to the interaction between Europe and China at that time? He describes the trade of the times, the economy especially. He talks about the trade from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf region. So in that sense he gives the name of the commodities of import and export and mostly focuses on the economic history. Did he come to visit India also? Sir, he visited South India. I believe but there was some... Some people say that. Okay. They say that Kublai Khan requested him to bring some Padres, the Christian clerics. And in the second trip he did carry some with him. But on the way they were so much harassed, they ran away and came back. They say that if they had reached Kublai Khan, perhaps China would not have been the best. It would have been Christian. Do you agree with me? Nearly taking a few Padres, Christian clerics would have made the difference. I would say sir, in certain regions it could have spread but as a mass movement that could not have been possible. Manguls are known for a particular warfare. What is the highlight of that warfare? You know, Idde, Changes Khan ran over a lot of Europe and Asia. Mangolians are said to have mastery over the central Asian steppe's horses. Horses? Yes, sir. And it is said that in the medieval times due to their expertise over this particular horse war and gorilla warfare, they ran over and over a large part. Thank you. Your interview is over, Shalja. I will give you a little bit of feedback. You are bright. So the first one is that go through the CD that would be given to your friend drive and go through if something can be improved. In our opinion, you are doing very well. The only thing is you don't have to lean forward while talking. You don't have to do that in UPSC because the room will be small, one third of it. Anyway, you will be near the chair. So you are doing very well. You are confident. You are knowledgeable. And this is your third attempt in appearance and interview which attempt? The first attempt. First attempt only. This will be the first attempt on 18th May. It is still the month's time. And we suggest that you putting a lot of hard work on things we already know. Don't take up any new subject. But accept the current affairs. There every day new things are happening. You have to be thorough. You have to be understanding the currents behind the events, the dialogues. India, US dialogue, if it is there. What are the undercurrents? That has to be understood. India, China? Why it has come to such a sorry pause that it is difficult to contain China by any nation? US is finding difficult to contain. Okay. Then you have eye contact with the members and chair person. That is a good habit. And it shows your confidence. And you are almost dressed. Almost. The only thing is we were a bit intrigued why you gave IFS later than income tax. So you prepare yourself. I think this question might have been asked. No, it didn't. But it will come. I am seeing IFS always down the list. No, no. The IRS is also going down. So anyway, you have to prepare for this. Obviously everybody cannot know everything. But to that extent your knowledge is quite wide and deep as well. So to that extent we are quite happy with that part of your personality test. It is a personality test, not an interview. Always keep that in mind. Try to speak a little louder. A little louder. Practice. And things about your district. You should know things about Bihar. You already know about Gupta dynasty and Maura dynasty. But forgetting Kautilya was a tactical mistake. He was the king maker. He was the king maker, ma'am. No, you don't have to give any explanation. And you want to ask anything from the board? Not any particular. I think I have to revise a lot on science and technology. Go ahead. All the best to you. Thank you.