Common Approaches For Farmers' Markets & Special Events: Fill & Download for Free

The UPSC Interview round is a test of personality, rather than of knowledge:The interview processA UPSC Civil Services interview lasts for about 30 minutes. The purpose of the interview is to check whether the candidate is suitable for a career in the civil services. That is, whether the candidate has the potential to demonstrate good administrative skills. The interview carries 275 marks out of the total 2025. The candidate’s score in the Mains examination does not play any role in deciding the course of the interview, though the marks of both Mains and Personality Test are considered for ranking.Many students have a misconception that the CSE interview is a knowledge test. It is not a knowledge test but a personality test. There is no one definite right or wrong answer. The interview panel just observes how a candidate approaches a question. The panel doesn’t check the knowledge of the candidates. Rather, it assesses a few personality traits of the candidates. Another misconception is that the panel awards marks subjectively. Candidates who score low marks usually have a tendency to blame the interview board or luck. The members of the panel are highly objective. I strongly believe that it is the candidate who decides the marks based on his/her performance/personality traits.The interview panelThe panel consists of the Chairman of the interview board and four other members. The Chairman of the board is always a UPSC member. The other four members of the panel are usually experts chosen from different fields by UPSC. The panel assesses whether the candidate has the personality traits essential for various Civil Services. I have heard that many candidates attend spoken English classes to get more marks in CSE interviews. But this is not an English proficiency test to recruit English teachers for various central universities. Rather, the panel is selecting candidates who possess the basic personality traits a civil servant is expected to have.Common questions and assessmentThe panel asks questions from the detailed application form of the candidates. The questions will be on the candidate’s place of birth, hobbies, issues of the home state, current national issues, and more. The members of the panel observe how the candidate responds to each question. There is no one definite answer for any question. For example, if a question is related to the Cauvery water issue, a candidate from Tamil Nadu is expected to consider the problems faced by the farmers of Karnataka and a candidate from Karnataka is expected to consider the problems faced by the farmers of Tamil Nadu. The panel assesses whether the candidate answers like an Indian national or with a regional mindset. Candidates are selected for IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS, and more, where the ‘I’ stands for Indian. The panel checks whether a candidate has an Indian or regional attitude.PreparationThe candidates should not spend their time memorising facts and figures. Rather, I suggest they spend time knowing the other side of any issue. They should take a balanced approach to every issue rather than a parochial approach. For example, a Punjabi candidate should read about the problems of Haryana farmers and the construction of Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal rather than learning the problems of Punjabi farmers alone.If candidates from Andhra Pradesh or Telengana are asked what is famous about Hyderabad, I suggest the candidates talk about the famous leaders from there like Swami Ramananda Tirtha or Makhdoom Mohiuddin who fought against the Nizam, and for the unification of Hyderabad State with our country rather than talking about biriyani.A successful intervieweeIn my view, the interview panel assesses whether the candidates are politically neutral, honest and patriotic. A successful candidate is broad-minded, sensitive to the needs of others and has concern towards weaker sections of the society.Final tipsBe confident. Be honest. Be polite. Smile. Most importantly, answer every question like an Indian. Use the phrases ‘our country’ or ‘our nation’ in your answers. Remember, the interview panel checks whether you have a national outlook or a regional mindset.ExperienceYou need not be a school topper nor a college gold medallist, but you successfully cleared the CSE.If you learn some strategies through successful candidates,Those strategies are not rocket science, but a simple approach for all stages of the examination. I strongly believe that successful strategies are always simple.Unfortunately, some candidates think it is too complicated and therefore lose out on success.

For political chutzpah: 8/10 Delivering a budget for the whole year when all propriety demanded that the budget be truly interim for 2 months, which is the expected life of this government.For farmers: 3/10. Government has travelled a long way from denying that an agrarian crisis exists to proposing a budget of 75,000 crores for the sector. A direct cash transfer scheme was announced for small and marginal land holders. However, it is not clear whether share croppers and farm labour are included in the benefits to farmers. They are poorest section in the farming community and worst affected by the crisis. Late edit: It is now clear that the landless farm labourers are NOT covered under the scheme.For workers in the informal sector: 3/10 The pension scheme is ridiculous. As far as the amount (3000) per month is concerned, it is good. But remember that it kicks in after you have paid into the pension scheme for years, from your meagre earning today.For salaried lower middle class: 6/10 for the income tax rebate for those with taxable income less than 500,000. Also increasing limit of gratuity that gets taxed will benefit retiring government employees.For Indian youth: 0/10 for ignoring the biggest issue; unemployment. That is a total head in the sand approach. One normally would not expect a policy framework in an interim budget but since this budget flouts the norms anyway, it is fair game to be judged. Even the provision for the employment guarantee scheme, weak and a social safety net intervention that it is, has been cut.Overall: 2/10 The desperation of the Modi government is evident. They are trying to use the exchequer to buy the next election. They know that their performance over the last 5 years has been terrible, especially when contrasted against the moon and stars that they promised - the mythical acche din (good days). Whether they succeed or not, time will tell.Brilliant cartoon by Sandeep Adhwaryu to explain how the common man may look at this budget.Original question: Out of 10 how much do you rate the Union Budget of India, 2019?Assumption: 1 is poor and 10 is superb.

India as a nation is not disgusting but living in India sometimes makes me feel so.I love India being an Indian and enjoy the unity in diversity, freedom of speech, religion, dressing up and so on, on daily basis. But definitely there are few disgusting things in India which do not make India itself disgusting but living in India disgusting.Here are a few of my experiences to nod in dismay for the question poster:1. Very bad roads:During these monsoons commuting to daily work is a curse. No one takes the accountability. We all learnt to live with these. Potholes everywhere, sewage water flowing on roads. Thumbs up for those who likes driving a bike in sewage water occasionally putting your leg down to escape a pot hole? I even saw some auto drivers spitting in that waters. Ain’t these disgusting? I really felt like pukish yesterday while driving back home from work.2. Subjugation for layman when approached for justice:We lately visited a police station due to some accident issue. We have two versions here, once without reference and once with reference. The occurrence without reference is subjugating and when went next time with some higher official reference things changed for good. Then realized how bad the common man situation is in India. People who encountered it will understand this scenario very well. Ain’t Disgusting?3. Too much of Tax and freebies/loan waivers for non-tax-payers on the other side:Taxation in India really sucks. But lot of freebies everywhere. Freebies for farmers, loan waivers for big corporate, BC funds, SC funds, marriage funds to poor girls, Christmas and Ramzan gifts for poor people everything with tax payer's money but eventually tax payers are getting nothing other than Higher school fee, Higher grocery prices, Bad roads, higher interest rates on loans. Politicians use the tax payer’s money in their own will to gain more votes in next election but never bothers about tax-payers. Being a tax payer in India is a doom. Disgusting again!4. Worst Politicians:There is no minimum educational qualification requirement for politicians to become MLA or MP. Just with the huge sum of black money they end up becoming our public representatives in our legislative houses. They work towards making money to patch up the money spent during elections. Funny part is once they become MLA or MP, the highly intellectual bureaucrats are their assistants. Isn't disgusting to see the news of politicians humiliating bureaucrats?5. Caste based politics and reservations:Caste card is played by the politicians while allocating seats to their candidates based on locality. People also end up voting based on caste mostly by the influence of the elderly at home or the seeds sown in our hearts during upbringing. One more disgusting practice is caste based reservations. Reservation for economical backward classes is acceptable to some extent as they may uplift the weaker sections of the society. Because of this deserved are left to fend themselves while reserved who are less deserved become the bosses.Despite all these, "Mera Bharat Mahan" always stands true as we 'The new-gen folk' are in action at the moment!!! Let us all strive in our own capacity to remove this opinion 'India is disgusting'!