Friday, June 20, 2008

Civils 2007 Interview of Vamsi IPS

Hi every one


….as every one does knew that my civil services examination interview was on may 2nd… …I have been assigned the board of Ms.Shashi Uban Tripathi (IFS), a former Indian high commissioner in the Canada's Indian embassy…so far as to my knowledge goes I have done the interview well …I have been called as a fourth member in the forenoon session of the interview chaired by Ms.Tripathi… I do think that the interview went on for about 47 to 48 minutes…the entire panel consists of 5 member with Ms.Tripathi being the chairperson and occupied by 4 intellectuals ...let us address the four members as M1,M2,M3,M4…. I did notice that the M4 is former SEBI chairman Mr.Damodaram… lets follow the convention as “ Ms.” for the chairperson…

Here s the process…


Ms.. Good afternoon
Me: Good afternoon madam, shall I take the seat…she just directed her hand and I did take the seat…( I did find that the M4 s missing in the scenario)
After getting myself seated,,,,

Ms.. so you are Andhra vamsi…just pronounced it as the one wrt the pronunciation of Andhra Pradesh…(when I’m supposed to recorrect the pronunciation… )
Ms. .is it pronounced so???
Me.. sorry mam its pronounced as Andra (the one that’s been in the word androgynous)
Ms. .what do you mean by andra??
Me. .so far as my knowledge s concerned it mean s extremely masculine in the English literacy…(she was unable to hear me and I repeated again…M3 did assist her with respect to that and just laughed at me saying that you are a macho..i too had a smile??)Ms. .please let me know your roll number and your date of birth?
Me .madam my roll number s 182337 and my date of birth s 13th august 1985
Ms..so you are a software engineer??
Me: yes madam
Ms. Which stream do you belong to in engineering
Me..mam I do belong to the computer science engineering back ground..
Ms..when did you pass out your engineering…
Me.. mam its in may 2006 I did pass out..

Then she directed her hand towards M1 who s sitting extreme left to her…

M1..so why do you want to enter into civil services.??
Me..sir, civil services provides me the wider opportunity to serve the people and that s the reason why I do want to get into it…
M1..whats the reason that does made you to have this idea??
Me..sir, right from my childhood I do have this dream of getting into civil services…I have been effectively motivated by my father who s an NGO activist…and his programmes and ideas does incite the feeling for me to get into civil services…
M1..then you can be an activist like your father and the serve the people…why need to get into IAS,,even the IAS officers are leaving their jobs and turned out to be activists…
Me.yes sir I do agree with your point ,,but I can say one thing activism does arises when the system s not doing the things in a right way and right manner,,, myself being exposed to these activisms have made a strong resolution to not commit such mistakes when I have been in the service..and more over activism s related to a single issue ,but civil services provides me the wider opportunity to redress the problems of common man…
M1.so far 60 years has been over and we have n t achieved anything and you are saying that we can effectively serve the people…how s it possible??
Me. .sir, I totally disagree with your point ,in this sixty years we have progressively realized a lot of things and success, ,in the near future we’ll be performing much better and soon we’ll be the best…
M1..are you sure?
Me..yes sir,,
M1.. so how will you achieve the success?
Me..we can have it step by step, progressive realization of the entire programmes and depending on the past errors we have to reshape the contemporary things and aspire for the best future…never repeat those mistakes .
M1..so far what all the Vijayawada has made the progress in the past 25 years…(I do feel that I did mention my plus 2 has been done in vijayawada sri chaitanya college,, that’s the reason he did ask)
Me.sir, vijayawada has made a good progress,, the best example s AUTO NAGAR and a few industries there in the near precincts…
M1…and??
Me..sir wrt education vijayawada s a good destination…the primary ,secondary and the plus 2 education in vijayawada s the best in Andhra Pradesh..recently the intermediate pass percentage topper s the Krishna district…
M1..do you think there are no problems in vijayawada?if so what are they??
Me..sir,previously we use to have a local factionalism in vijayawada…hoodlums are dominant..but right now the govt has taken its every measure to eradicate this..
M1..is it so??
Me..yes sir
M1..how about the problem of alchohol??
Me..sir I don’t feel all the people are alchoholic in vijayawada…its only a little bit…
M1..is it related to crime…??
Me..so far as my knowledge s concerned I don’t feel so…
M1..so you mean that all the people in vijayawada are silent and go to their homes after getting alchohol?
Me..i’m not sure about it sir,,but I can say that the alchohol related crime incidents are not so rampant in vijayawada…
M1.i had found that the unemployment s increasing in the Krishna district ..what s your opinion?
Me.sir I do accept this thing and the reason lying before this is the Krishna district being a delta and fertile area , the former generation has been dependent on the agriculture…and the recent generations are excessively focusing on the industries and the services sectors…they are newly developing things and may get some time to get settled completely…the problem of the unemployment can be attributed to the shift in the production from agriculture to the other sectors..
M1..why the govt s not pursuing the industrialization policy effectively in the Krishna district?
Me.sir,already the govt has got the enough obligations to develop the backward regions,,,so far industrialization has been at a good phase in the medak,rangareddy, karimnagar and the warangal districts…waranagal indeed got a STPI park…the govt s accomplishing all these things progressively,,, in the near future we can expect the same thing here in the betterly developed Krishna district,,,
M1..is vijayawada more developed than the vizag?
Me..sir comparatively vijayawada s not so developed as vizag
M1..today a parliament committee has said that the indo-us nuclear deal should be put off,,, what do you think about it and what s your stand??
Me..sir, I do agree with them, ,I don’t want the deal to happen owing to the unacceptable clauses to be committed by the Indian govt…
M1..why are saying like that don’t you want the deal to take place?
Me.sir I’m not completely against the deal…let it be postponed for a while..and let it be done once those unacceptable clauses are avoided..
M1.assume you are selected and you are a policy advisor,,and try to persuade me why not to accept the deal?
M3.you are selected..let u start advising…(he s commenting right from the beginning but I didn’t focused on his words and started thinking how to substantiate my view over the deal)
Me..sir, I have a few points for that..

First of all we do have the experience of the 1974 Tarapur agreement,, the same 123 agrrement that has been made has been abruptly ended,,, leading to a lot of excessive economic burdens in the field of nuclear energy(all the board actively turned out at me at this point of time..)

Second more or less the deal s most expensive, rather than switching on that we can focus on other alternative methods of acquiring the power…like biofuels and the solar ,wind power…

And third hyde act provisions impinges the independent foreign policy and sovereignty of the Indian govt,,
Finally the deal may increase the nuke power contribution from 3% to 6% of the total power,,,but I want more than that…at the less cost.. hence I do prefer some other alternatives..
M1..sovereignty mean the political sovereignty(laughs) and what about the cultural sovereignty?
Me.sir,I’m not aware of these kinds of sovereignties.. but what I mean to say s that the independent nature of the foreign policy will be impinged and our self direction will be thwarted..

And about the cultural sovereignty I do feel that even though the globalization s rampant ,the Indian cultural norms and ethos are not too much influenced by the foreign nationals…
M1..so you do feel that the biofuels and the other means of power acquisition are cheaper…
Me..sir ,when compared to the nuke power they are comparatively cheaper..
M1:what s the power scenario in the Krishna district?
Me:sir so far as my knowledge s concerned it s self sufficient

Then he did direct his hand to the M2 and he does started his bombardment of the questions…(the one who did comment me for a couple of times..)

M2..so vamsi you are from prakasam district..what s this prakasam district about?
Me.sir it was formed in 1970 named after the first chief minister of the Andhra State..he was born in vinodarayuni palem in our district and the district has been named after him..
M2..but I have heard that potti sriramulu has fought for the separate Andhra Pradesh .why was nt he made as the chief minister,,,
Me..sir, he did last for a short time and moreover praksam has been an active freedom fighter, political participant and also the former municipal chairman of the rajamundry…so the system thought of using his intelligence and his administrative capabilities effectively and did make him as the CM..
M2..you said that he s a freedom fighter and what s he famous for?
Me..sir he s called as Andhra kesai, the lion of Andhra..because he actively turned against the English army ,in the sense English police so as to protest the simon commission in the guntur and the ongole areas…he launched an active anti simon movement and darely confronted the police by tearing his shirt and agitating against the English to shoot him..from then he has been called as the Andhra kesari..
M2:: let me know some of the major towns and areas in your district?
M2; but prior to my answer he did say is ongole an important town in your district
Me..yes sir its the district head quarters of the prakasam s district
M2..you have mentioned that you are a student placement co ordinator..have nt you been placed?
Me..yes sir I have been placed in Accenture..i have written the same thing in my accomplishments column…
M2 .where have you been posted?
Me..in Hyderabad itself sir
M2:why didn’t you go for the job?
Me: sir I do have the great desire of getting into the civil services and serve the public at the best,,,
M2:you can do the same thing by being yourself as a software employee,,,
Me..yes sir I do agree with your statement…but prior to that I have to satisfy the targets my higher authorities that do levy for me and be present for the entire working hours.. in the civil services the nature of the job provides itself the ample time and dedication for me to completely focus on the public activities…hence I do prefer the civil services to the soft ware mode of serving the public…
M2::how many students were there in your batch of the engineering ?
Me:: I did count on my fingers and said its a total of six branches in the engineering and each batch has got 50 students each,,,then said it as 300
M2: how many have been placed?
Me: sir its ninety percent
M2:how many have left the job?
Me: sir i’m not sure about all the other braches student s but I can say about my classmates…
M2::let me know
Me:sir , 30 people are with in the job domain and 11 people are pursuing their MS course in the USA ,2 people doing their MS and 3 people aspiring for the civil services like me….then he did pause me when I’m about to finish it,,
M2..so you do fall into the minority group of your class,,,
Me: sir , its not the majority or minority that matters but its upto the individual perception of the people to design their career according to their personal interests,,
M2:you have said about ongole as a famous town ..what s ongole famous for?
Me:: sir its famous for the ongole bull…
M2::bull is it so?
Me:yes sir indeed,,he laughs

Then he did direct his hand to the M3 and this s the most confusing part for my interview owing to the communication gap that did result by the M3..

M3:vamsi you have been stressing upon the biofules,are they so cheap?
Me:yes sir they can be grown in the water scarcity areas.. and more over we are a progressing economy and the burden should not be more for the power generation..
(when I did try to stress the usage of this to the common man he did pose me another question immediately)
M3:so you are against the nuke power generation of the electricity?
Me: definitely not sir, but the deal should not be made right now owing the clauses as I have stated above..as both the nuclear power and the biofules are newer one s to the india we can opt for the cheap and the best source of energy
M3:why do you feel so?
Me:sorry sir I ‘m not able to get your view,,,can u please repeat the question
M3:you are sayin that the two are newer one s ..i don’t feel so..
Me:sorry sir what all I intend to say is that their contribution is minimum to the total power generated,,,hence when we are having two choices I do prefer the less economy oriented one and most capable one with out any further obligations…and hence I do feel that the biofules and the hydrogen fuels can be used…let s go for the deal when we can have the sufficient wealth .. and what s the point of loosing this cheapest means of power generation…
M3..biofules are they grown in India …if so what are they?
Me:sir we do have jatropha and pongamia cultivation here in India…
M3..but don’t you think that we don’t have those resources available….
Me:may be sir, but we can seek the international assistance …which are actively focusing on these things…example latin America…
M3:again you are going for the international assistance …
Me:sir ,,my stand remains clear. .more over we didn’t face many hurdles to get these deal of biofuels ..but wrt the nuke deal we have lot of unacceptable conditions and most of them are politically ramified..(what all I have said above once again repeated them) hence I do prefer this alternative concepts to that..
M3:k which amongst the following s cheaper?hydro thermal or nuke ?
Me:sir I really don’t know…I know that the nuclear power generation s the most costlier,,,
M3:you are a software engineer and have got a lot of talent…why can you start a software company and achieve a huge success like infosys narayanamurthi..probably you will be serving the public by providing some good employment opportunities…one day we can talk about vamsi like the narayana murthy
Me:sir, I do agree that infosys does a lot of public service…but prior to that I want to state that mr.narayanamurthy did focus on his individual accomplishments…he didn’t get himself to be establishing a software company right form the beginning of his young ages and serving the public…he did focus on his individual career. And then concentrated much to improve his establishment and finaly focused on the public service..and also its only relevant to hardware and software…but my view s completely different and I do want to focus on this from my young ages and get every year utilized for the sake of public good…and also civil services provides me a diversified ways to serve the public.. not only in a single way but many ways of serving the people…
M3:why did you take the computer science and engineering when you do have the civil services with in your purview,,,??
Me:sir more over civil services does require a basic degree to get into it..and my father s view s to have a good academic record for myself and be updated with the contemporary trends…so I did take this option of the CSE engineering course..
M3:does your father agrees with you right now?…
Me:definitely sir,

Prior to these happenings in the middle of my conversation with the M3 I did find the M4 coming o n to his desk and being seated…I just made a trun at him so as to justify myself whether he s the SEBI s former chairman Mr.Damodram or not…and does realize that its him and after havin a 2 second s glance I did turn around to answer the next question pose d by the M3..

Then soon after the M3 s, he directed his hand towards the M4 who s seated at his place ,extreme right to the chairperson…

M4:you did mention the achievement of police commomeration day prizes in your achievements,,,what s the police commomeration day about,,,?
Me:sir it s commomerated on October 21st particularly those martyrs who does satisfy their lives for the public cause..
M4:when was started?
Me:sir , it s based on historic event in 1959 ,hot spring ,ladakh,where the CRPF has laid their lives against the Chinese aggression and from that day oct 21st it has been commomerated….
M4:do you know about that monument for the police?
Me:yes sir,but right now I;m not able to remember when it was and where it has been placed
M4:so far you are saying about the black or white..but don’t you know about the grey in between these two..what s the philosophy that you did realize..?(then I felt that he heard everything about my conversation behind the curtains)
Me:sir I understoon your concern on the deal…I’m not totally against it …I do want it to postpone it for a certain time till the ambiguity over the clauses are clarified…
M4:why do you think so??and you are saying the deal as burdensome?what s the burden ,we have got enough wealth
Me:sir,we are a developing economy still…and investing on all the things at a time…particularly the expensive things may be cumbersome for us…
M4:did you hear about the sovereign wealth funds?
Me:yes sir I did hear
M4:let me know?
Me:sir I did hear but I;m not sure of the technicalities of it.
M4:how do you contain the inflation if you are a part of the system, in long term perspective.?
Me:sir the present govt policies to contain the inflation are trustworthy.. and if we do follow them we can tackle the inflation…(when I’m supposed to narrate the measure he interrupted and said)
M4:its because of the govt policies that the inflation has taken place..so you want to do the same thing..
Me:sir, I’m speaking about the post inflation containment policies…and as I said earlier we do have to learn from the past and design a gud future..
M4:so you want the inflation to happen and then tackle it ?
Me:I had a small smile and said definitely not sir, as I said above this should be a good experience to be taken into consideration and get a good policy in the future so as not to repeat the mistake happen…
M4:what s meant by stagflation?
Me:sir its the product of two things..a stagnated economic growth and a the inflation or where the prices are on rise..here the economic growth s hindered…
M4:is there any stagflation in India right now?
Me:no sir definitely now..its only inflation…our growth rate has been consistent for the past four years…so we can’t have the chance of any stagflation…
M4:list out your first three priorities as a district collector?
Me:sir one its taking due care of the vulnerable sections and redressing their grievances..
Second to effectively implement the govt policies and tackle the corruption..
M4:tackling corruption how?
Me:I can have an effective ombudsman system in my district so as to tackle this
M4:ombudsman ,what do you mean by this?
Me:I have said about the ombudsman duty of accepting the popular discontent ,their complaints and getting their grievances redressed..
M4:third?
Me:its rural development
M4:then you are neglecting the health, education , and agriculture…..
Me:sir,rural development itself encompasses the socio infrastructural development and the holistic development…
M4:that s a good answer to hear(he laugh s and every one laughs )
M4:you have been speaking of your father and what does activities he took after?
Me:I said about the land agitation s taken by my father in my home district for the dalit causes…
M4:have you read any dalit poetry?
Me:yes sir I have gone through few verses…
M4:about whom?
Me:sir its about ev ramaswamy naicker periyar
M4:what s the movement launched by him?
Me:what is it all about?
Me:sir its self respect movement ..for providing social justice to the downtrodeen people and to preserve the dignity of dalit life and also to eradicate the concept of untouchability,,,
M4:he launched one famous thing?? what s it?
Me:sir I don’t know
M4:its the base for DMK and AIADMK
Me:I don’t know sir

He the says it as dravida kazhagam and said that I don’t want to ask anything relevance to your reason for the civils and computer science as it is effectively dealt by my peer s here…

And the trun s now to Ms.Tripathi

Ms:what does your father do?
Me:madam he s a bank cashier byprofession
Ms:which bank?
Me:Indian overseas bank
Ms:what s the NGO he works for?
Me:I said it as All India Dalit mahasabha

Then she said thank you and you may leave.
Andra Vamsi IPS
Rank-490 ,Civils-2007

7 comments:

Ashish said...

Hi Miss Vamsi

Congratulations on ur phenomenal success. I am glad u could do it in ur first attempt....
the effort taken by u to help fellow (or ex fellow :)) aspirants is really commendable.

Wish u all the very best in life ahead...

Regards
Ashish

KishoreKumar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
KishoreKumar said...

hey vamsi,

can you post your individual marks,
I want to know marks you got in your interview.

Vamsi said...

Thanks everyone for the wishes.my score is 207/300..and mr.ashish , am Mr. Andra Vamsi...

Unknown said...

Hi,Mr.Andra Vamsi This is Vamsi Kiran Andra from East Godavari (Amalapuram) And.I am congratulating for your success in CSE . I am surprised to saw your surname,qualification and the passed out year all are same for me also.I need a help a from you.My brother(Andra Sarat chandra) is preparing for CSE So i want your phone no and email for his guidance.
With Regards,
Vamsi Kiran Andra
9963063763

Vamsi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vamsi said...

get me on andravamsi1985@gmail.com