My
interview was on 28 april 2011 in morning session at Dholpur House, UPSC.I
appeared before the panel with Dr. Purushottam Agarwal as Chairman. I was 4th
in line for appearing before board. Here I would like to share with you
interesting thing. When I entered the Historic dome ceiling waiting hall for
interview candidates I was assigned the same round table no. 13 that I was
assigned in 2009 interview. So I got strange feeling that this interview also I
will perform fairly and may miss selection narrowly like last year. But I
remembered almighty and prayed for the best…cheered myself.. and started
rushing through newspapers..
Interviews started at around
10.20 am.. when 3rd candidate went in aftersome time I was taken to
corridors and asked to sit on chair outside interview room. I was feeling my
impounding heartbeats..and finally candidate came out of room. I saw towards
his face.. he was normal..n he smiled little. I felt confidant and got up from
chair it was 11.45 am...attendant opened
the door and I entered the room and wished good morning sir , good morning
madam..( chairman was at center and 2 members on each side including 1 lady member.)
Dr.Purushottam Agarwal( chairman):
Yes prashant and he nodded
his head and raised his hand towards chair . I sat down.
Q1) prashant where are you
working as tehsildar?
Sir
I am working as tehsildar of vikramgad taluqa of Thane district in Maharashtra …( chairman asked for how long?) I said , I am
working as tehsildar since November 2009.( again he asked where is Thane
distict)..I said, sir Thane is located in northern konkan coastal belt
bordering Gujrat.
Q2) what are problems of your
tehsil?
Sir since
my tehsil is having predominant tribal population malnutrition , unemployment
and inaccessibility are major problems .
Q3) Do you know the name of
adjoining district in Gujrat?
( I
took few seconds to recollect..) sir Vapi district is adjoining Thane.
Q4) Who is the District
Collector of Vapi?
(
again I gave confused looks..) sorry sir I don’t know.
(
chairman laughed and said to me how you will coordinate relief operations in
disaster if you don’t know even name of collectors.?)
…( I
felt little low but I smiled ..i wanted to say something but next question
came.)
Q4) what new activity you
have undertaken in your tehsil for development? And please don’t tell those
government programs..
Sir
my collector has started program of increasing area under floriculture so as to
provide employment round the year to underemployed tribal farmers and I have
worked on this program.
I
along with taluqa agriculture officer gave government subsidy for one to two
acre plot for plantation of exotic varieties of flowers like Carnesium and
Jalbera in green houses. Sir each flower is sold for eight to twelve rupees in
markets of Mumbai..so each day tribal farmer gets income of rs. 1000. sir this
scheme has helped to increase income and standard of living of about 35 beneficiary
farmers.
Q5) Does scheme help
floriculture farmers in marketing?
No
sir, flower vendors in Mumbai arrange for transportation and pay farmers cash
on there fields.
Q6) You are an engineer. So
isn’t your knowledge wasted in non technical service?
No
sir. I think as a civil engineer I can monitor civil infrastructure projects
like road, water supply, sewage treatment in a better manner. Since major
public expenditure is on civil works like in Jawaharlal Nehru urban renewal
mission my technical knowledge will help me to execute projects in time bound
way with good quality control.
Q6) Why do you want to join
IAS because you will have to leave your state, when you are serving as S.D.M.
in our own state and serving your own people?
Sir
working as District Collector offers opportunity and more autonomy of decision
making to implement developmental schemes for benefit of larger population than
as a S.D.M. sir IAS offers opportunity to work with different departments of
Government with rich job profile and
exposure that is not available for state services.
Sir
and although I may have to go outside my state anywhere in India , ultimately I
will serve the people of my country.
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