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To begin with, there’s no Xinjiang (新疆, New Frontier) on the ground. The administrative division of that name is an umbrella for at least two separate regions, each of which would be a large country in its own right.In the north, historically forming part of the Mongolian-Eurasian Steppe, is Junggaria, the relatively more habitable part. It forms a wedge-shaped corridor between the open steppe of Kazakhstan to the west, and the more constricted, mountainous Gansu corridor leading to the Chinese Central Plain. Its largest city, Urumqi (3,5 million, 75% Han, 12% Uyghur, 9% Hui*), is the capital of Xinjiang.Separated from Junggaria by the Tien Shan range is the Tarim Basin, which is a mountainous “cup” facing eastwards, almost entirely occupied by the Taklimakan desert. Its population occupies a ring of oasis-cities along the rim, mostly in the western end of the cup, where is the city of Kashgar (500,000, 81% Uyghur, 18% Han).*Hui: Traditionally Moslem Chinese-speakers, for all intents and purposes Moslem Han.Taken together, all Xinjiang is larger than Mongolia or Iran, comparable in size to Sudan, and three times the size of Afghanistan. In 1919, this region had just over 2 million people, a historic peak; with the combination of modern medicine and immigration, it has grown to 20 million in 2010, leaving it slightly more well populated than Russia or Canada.Junggaria is more urbanized and Sinicized, and includes many Kazakhs and Mongols as well as Uyghurs, while the Tarim is more Uyghur in its make.In terms of ethnicity, overall the Uyghur account for 47% and the Han 38%; all minority groups (taken together) account for 62%… The Han population is along the east-west corridor from Khumul to Urumqi and on through Karamay, with branches in Korla and Akhsu. The Hui population follows a similar pattern. The Uyghur population is concentrated in the southern Tarim, in Turpan, and Kuqa and in Ghulja. The Kazakh population is focused in the Altay and the Ili Valley. The Khirghiz population follows the southern Tenghri Tagh [=Tien Shan]. The Mongol population is concentrated around the central Tenghri Tagh. Taken together the distribution of ethnic groups in the 1990s affirms the traditional concentrations of Uyghur in the south, Kazakh in the north, but adds the Han in the central areas, following along the lines of transportation.What is the pattern with regard to income? For the rural areas of Xinjiang, the lowest levels are in the districts of Kashgar, Hotan, and Kizilsu. These lower levels are in areas farther from the transportation lines and are mostly of Uyghur or Kirghiz population… Southern Xinjiang is one of the most impoverished areas of China. The higher zones are in the area from Urumqi to Karamay; these areas have better transportation linkages and are of more Han population. The area with the highest level in the Tarim, Awat County, is a centre for the Production and Construction Corps. For urban dwellers, the zone from Urumqi to Karamay has the higher levels of income.Stanley Toops, The Population Landscape of Eastern Xinjiang (2000)Market scene in Kasghar (source).The idea of “Uyghur” identity is complex, since many separatists don’t accept the identity itself. As previously mentioned, although Han Chinese compose only 38% of the province, and minorities (including Hui/Moslem Chinese) are 62%, ethnic “Uyghurs” register at 48%. Despite this, Uyghur separatists claim the entirety of Xinjiang; there are many identities one within the other at play here.On the one hand, there is the idea of “Uyghuristan”, an ethnic Uyghur state. But there is also “East Turkistan”, an idea with pan-Islamic, pan-Turkic connotations, which would include Kirghiz-Kazakhs, but not Hui (i.e. Moslem Chinese), who have never been considered “native” by the separatists. See below:Perhaps unsurprisingly, many Uyghur activists refuse to call the territory XUAR (“Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region”) or even just “Xinjiang” because they consider the term a relic of Chinese imperialism… “we have (always) considered these names illegal and have never admitted and will never admit to them,” wrote Hashir Wahidi in an article posted on the Uyghur American Association’s website. (Wahidi founded the Uyghur Liberation Organization, a group accused of murder, kidnapping, and arson; he died in 1998, allegedly from injuries inflicted by unidentified intruders who beat him in his home in Kazakhstan).Both violent and nonviolent Uyghur activists struggle with the choice between “Uyghuristan” and “East Turkistan.” This debate was one of the many dividing the members of Hashir Wahidi’s Uyghur Liberation Organization… In general, Uyghur activists from northern Xinjiang favor the term “Uyghuristan.” Uyghur activists from southern Xinjiang, who are more influenced by Turkey, the Middle East, and Afghanistan, generally prefer the term “East Turkistan.”By incorporating “East Turkistan” in its name, the ETIM [East Turkistan Islamic Movement - in 2019, renamed TIP “Turkistan Islamic Party”] signals the separatist elements in its ideology… (and) avoids circumscribing the ETIM’s separatism as a strictly Uyghur cause, thus expanding the array of the ETIM’s potential benefactors. Indeed, the group’s constitution says its members “carry out jihad cooperatively with mujahideen Muslims from all over the world.” The ETIM has allegedly cooperated with non-Uyghur terrorist groups including Al-Qaida, the Taliban, and the IMU [Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]. The suspected ETIM members detained at (Guantanamo) often used the term “East Turkestani” instead of “Uyghur”, characterizing themselves as nationals of the state they sought rather than as members of China’s 55 official minority groups.(…) After 9/11, Chinese officials began discussing their domestic terrorism problem, using the term “East Turkestan” to refer to Uyghur separatists. This term distinguishes the separatists from the general population of Xinjiang and avoids identifying separatism with Uyghur ethnicity. By using the term “East Turkistan”, the PRC can refer pejoratively to Uyghur separatists without condemning all Uyghurs.J. Todd Reed, Diana Raschke, The ETIM: China's Islamic Militants and the Global Terrorist Threat (2010)Historically, the sedentary, Turki-speaking oasis dwellers of the Tarim basin were variously called sarts, a generic word for sedentary Turks, or Taranchis, meaning “farmers.” The nomads, including Kazakhs, lived further north. These people all identified by religion and way of life as distinct from that of their neighbours (sedentary vs. nomadic, Moslem vs. pagan, etc.) A Russian-schooled nationalist intellectual, Nazarkhoja Abdusematov, wrote this in dismay after visiting East Turkistan in 1914,‘If you ask a local Turk “who are you?” he will say “Kashgari” or “Hotani”. If you say “What about the name of this place?” he will just say “I am a Muslim”. If you say “No, I didn't ask you your religion,” he will be dumbstruck and say “I’m a chantou” [纏頭, “turban-wearer”]. Those who live together with the Kazakhs and Kirghiz will say, “we are sarts.” That is to say, they don’t even know who they are. Such ignorance!’(from David Brophy, The ‘Uyghur Question’)“Uyghur” was not firmly established as the name of an ethnic group until the 1930s, under the policies of a pro-Soviet warlord and his Russian advisers. This should put in perspective why it does not quite ‘fit’ pan-Islamic movements, shading over to the generic ‘Turk.’There’s a tendency to forget that, in the late 18th and early 19th century - when the total population of Xinjiang was under a million - roughly 30% of these were Chinese (Han & Hui together), again centred in Junggaria[1]. Only during the widespread Dungan revolt of the 1860s and 1870s did it drop, by massacre and expulsion, to remain only 6% in 1949. This should frame the event that most strongly colours Chinese experience in Xinjiang, the campaigns of Yaqub Beg, titled the ‘Atalik Ghazi’ (“fatherly holy warrior”, fl. 1865-1877).In the 19th century, the Chinese presence in “the west” was contested by the Khans of Kokkand (1709–1876), the most active dynasty in what is now eastern Uzbekistan. During the anarchy of the Taiping revolt in southern China, the Kokkandis sent Yaqub Beg, and a force of “Andijanis” (a term used at the time, after Andijan in Afghanistan, a “western” oasis city) to stir sectarian war in Kasgharia. At the time, Turkis, Hui, and Chinese lived in segregated quarters like the mahallas of the Ottoman Middle East; Yaqub Beg led a campaign of ghaza on these, ostensibly considering all Chinese, including Hui Moslems, infidels. Receiving the title of ‘amir (governor of the caliphate) by the Ottoman emperor Abdulhamit II, who patronized the “global anti-colonial movement”, Yaqub Beg ruled an independent amirate for a decade, power being largely held by “Andijani” adventurers brought in from Central Asia.The campaign to reclaim the province, led by the Chinese general Zuo Zongtang in 1876–8, was noted by contemporary Western observers (see Backhouse and Bland’s 1910 publication) for the absence of retaliatory violence or massacres, quite unlike the contemporary colonial doctrine that violence should be extreme pour encourager les autres. Operating under the assumption that native Moslems had been under duress, general pardons were given and the Turki population abandoned the ghazis’ cause; Zongtang relied in large part on the Hui family of the “Three Mas” and the native form of Sufi Islam to speak the provincials’ language, and these elites would outlast the warlord period to be integrated into the PRC administration.I have so far skirted around the tension that underlies relations between these communities; the pressure of religious commandments, the conduct of women and “pride” loosely interpreted to mean cultural superiority. A pattern that again and again reared its ugly head went like this: a Chinese man and Turkish girl (want to) marry. Her family is outraged, and a neighbourhood mob gathers to kill them both and then attacks the Chinese quarter in defense of communal pride. The conclusion of Zuo Zongtang’s campaign leads to an interesting change in these attitudes:In Xinjiang, there is a fairly long history of community supervision of marriage choices in general, and opposition to intermarriage with Han in particular. Documenting the evolution of Chinese policies towards ethnic intermarriage in Xinjiang during the last century, Li Xiaoxia provides many historical examples where the attempt made by a Han male to take a Uyghur wife resulted in rapid and grave local conflict. The most famous of these is of course the case which led to the Qumul (=Hami) rebellion in 1931 and the demise of the warlord Jin Shuren’s regime. Wary of the frequently adverse reactions among Uyghur communities to Uyghur-Han unions — including verbal humiliation, beatings, and threats of murder — in 1946, General Zhang Zhizhong of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China issued a legal prohibition against Muslim-Han intermarriage on the grounds that it led to ‘ethnic friction and disunity.’Notwithstanding the above, other evidence suggests that the frequency of intermarriage and corresponding levels of community supervision fluctuated over time. For example, following the end of the Yaqub Beg regime (1864–77) in Qashqar, which strictly enforced Islamic morals, although the higher echelons of the Uyghur society continued to adhere strictly to Islamic values, the masses are said to have lapsed once again into ‘laxity.’ Among women, this laxity was reflected in the tendency to go about unveiled and in the preparedness of some to marry a Chinese.(…) From the 1990s onwards, the Uyghur community has if anything become increasingly hostile to Uyghur-Han intermarriage. A Uyghur research assistant involved in Yee’s turn-of-the-century study on ethnic relations in Urumchi insisted that he would not allow his daughter to marry a Han Chinese lest he and his family were ‘looked down upon by his fellow people.’ Similarly, a contemporary Han scholar records how the relatives of a Uyghur woman in Turpan who took a Han husband would regularly hunt down the pair and beat them in an attempt to force separation, with the result that the couple finally left Turpan altogether. My own interviews suggest that, currently, few Uyghurs dare to pursue inter-ethnic relationships with Han people lest they encounter public disapproval. As Adil, a middle-aged male restaurateur, put it in 2002: ‘If we see a Uyghur marry a Han and see them together in the street, we feel anger in our hearts; we feel it is shameful [Uy. sat korunidu].’Uyghur-Han couples who appear together in public risk the verbal and sometimes physical (violent) censure of the Uyghur community. In 1995, I interviewed a 19 year-old girl from Urumchi who had a Han boyfriend. She told me: ‘It’s really hard for us to even go out anywhere. If other Uyghurs see us together in public, they give us trouble. If Uyghur men see us together at a public bus, they swear at us and hit us. Uyghur women aren’t so bad, but they still make comments.’(…) Perhaps worse than the disapprobation of strangers is the dismay of friends and colleagues in the Uyghur community, who will employ all means necessary to ‘persuade’ Uyghur peers to abandon a mixed union. In 2002, Zunun, a minkaomin (“[graduate] minority university student who took exams in [his] minority language”) service industry employee in his thirties, narrated the story of an inter-ethnic courtship between two co-workers, a Uyghur female (minkaomin) and a Han male. He described how all the Uyghur staff members, who worked on different floors of the building, had joined forces in urging their Uyghur friend not to marry the Han colleague, even though she insisted that she loved him. By the time I returned to Urumchi in 2004, their relationship had broken up. In this way, the most effective form of community supervision may come not from strangers but from one’s colleagues and friends.The pressure of selective endogamy impacts with equal force upon minkaomin, who speak Chinese as their first language and interact mainly with Han at school, thus in theory are more likely candidates for a mixed union. Despite being visibly acculturated in dress, hairstyle, and manner, and speaking poor Uyghur but fluent Chinese, Burkhan, a fifteen-year-old minkaohan (“minority student educated in Chinese language”) boy, insisted in 2004 that he would never marry a Han peer. His explanation for his position centred on the potential for social ostracisation that the act entailed: ‘If I did [marry a Han girl], no Uyghur would come to visit me or be friends with me; no-one would have anything to do with me. That’s what my parents say.’ In a third case, Gulsham, twenty, a minkaohan student, described in 2004 what happened when she broached the subject of a Han boyfriend with a minkaomin friend:“I asked my best friend— we met after I started university— what she would do if I got myself a Han boyfriend. She was furious, and said she would kick me in the face! … that the friendship wouldn’t be worth having if I did a thing like that … that she would break off our friendship and have nothing to do with me. She said: ‘What on earth are you thinking of, going with that kind of person? I would really look down on you if you did.”When I asked her why her friend should have such an extreme reaction, she referred negatively to the insularity of her in-group, as she perceived it: “Uyghurs think that Hans eat pork and therefore that they’re dirty, you know… Uyghurs’ ethnic thinking” [Ch. minzu guannian] is very strong. They set themselves apart, they’re stand-offish: they exclude the Hans from their lives.”Joanne N. Smith Finley, The Art of Symbolic Resistance: Uyghur Identities and Uyghur-Han relations (2013)I hope these words put Uyghur separatism - in more than a political sense - in perspective. Consider the recent case of Aasia Bibi in Pakistan; you might have heard that she was accused of blasphemy, but the reason those charges were fabricated were because“Bibi’s alleged blasphemous comments were supposedly made after co-workers refused to share water that she had carried; they said it was unclean because she was a Christian (this is a hangover from the caste system, as most of those who converted to Christianity in pre-partition India were members of the lower castes). She has always maintained her innocence, claiming that these neighbours simply wanted to punish her.”[2]Ritual purity ought also to shed some light on Chinese policies, such as banning the Ramadan fast or forcing people to eat non-halal meats. Or, for example, the ‘big brother’ policy, in which volunteers from throughout China enter Uyghur families as adoptive commissars, to “socialize” children to physical contact with Chinese despite the protests of their parents.Very recently, some pages from internal Chinese communications were leaked, including a closed-doors speech by Xi Jinping that the BBC said had something to do with the “culmination” of his “hard-line” course. They do quote him, albeit in fragmentary fashion and adding their own expletives in-between. I think I should repay the favour — here are a couple extracts from that article, including Xi’s own words in particular. I invite the reader to put them in perspective of his new knowledge.The ideas driving the mass detentions can be traced back to Xi Jinping’s first and only visit to Xinjiang as China’s leader, a tour shadowed by violence. In 2014, little more than a year after becoming president, he spent four days in the region, and on the last day of the trip, two Uighur militants staged a suicide bombing outside a train station in Urumqi that injured nearly 80 people, one fatally.Weeks earlier, militants with knives had gone on a rampage at another railway station, in southwest China, killing 31 people and injuring more than 140. And less than a month after Mr. Xi’s visit, assailants tossed explosives into a vegetable market in Urumqi, wounding 94 people and killing at least 39.Against this backdrop of bloodshed, Mr. Xi delivered a series of secret speeches setting the hard-line course that culminated in the security offensive now underway in Xinjiang. While state media have alluded to these speeches, none were made public.(…) In several surprising passages, given the crackdown that followed, Mr. Xi also told officials to not discriminate against Uighurs and to respect their right to worship. He warned against overreacting to natural friction between Uighurs and Han Chinese, the nation’s dominant ethnic group, and rejected proposals to try to eliminate Islam entirely in China.“In light of separatist and terrorist forces under the banner of Islam, some people have argued that Islam should be restricted or even eradicated,” he said during the Beijing conference. He called that view “biased, even wrong.”(…) Before Mr. Xi, the party had often described attacks in Xinjiang as the work of a few fanatics inspired and orchestrated by shadowy separatist groups abroad. But Mr. Xi argued that Islamic extremism had taken root across swaths of Uighur society.[3]On the topic of Islamic practice, I recall an older 2014 article,The imam of China's largest mosque - in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang - has been killed in what appears to be a targeted assassination. Jume Tahir, 74, was reportedly stabbed after he led early morning prayers at the Id Kah mosque on Wednesday. His killing came two days after dozens of people were reportedly killed or injured in clashes with police in Yarkant county, in the same prefecture.(…) Mr Tahir, who was from Xinjiang's mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, was a vocal and public supporter of Chinese policies in the region. Radio Free Asia quoted an unnamed shopowner near Id Kah as saying he saw a body lying in a pool of blood front of the mosque in the morning and police clearing a huge crowd that had gathered. He was told the body was that of Mr Tahir.On Monday, a knife-wielding gang attacked a police station and government offices triggering clashes that killed "dozens" of Uighur and Han Chinese civilians, according to state media outlet Xinhua. But activists disputed this account and said that local Uighurs were protesting against a Chinese crackdown on the observance of Ramadan, which ended on Monday. Reports surfaced earlier this month that some government departments in Xinjiang were banning Muslim staff from fasting during Ramadan, and several university students told the BBC that they were being forced to have meals with professors.There has been an upsurge in Xinjiang-linked violence that authorities have attributed to Uighur separatists. In May at least 31 people were killed when two cars crashed through an Urumqi market and explosives were thrown. In March, a mass stabbing at Kunming railway station killed 29 people. In response Chinese authorities have launched a year-long security campaign which includes increased police and troop presence in key cities and towns in Xinjiang. Scores of people have been arrested, and some sentenced to lengthy jail terms or death.[4](the late Jume Tahir)Seeing so many English-language articles try to do nothing so much as spin terrorism in other people’s countries as a justifiable response to a ‘lack of religious freedom’, on which the court of public opinion could go either way, makes my head spin. But, truth be told, I don’t think anybody really is fooled. When so many people, who have lived through the stories of the Afghan mujahedeen, and then Iraq, Libya, and Syria, try to fool me - by saying that they honestly believe “freedom for Xinjiang” is just that, I call their bluff.I believe the great crisis facing the modern West is not the Yellow Peril or the House of Islam, but the erosion of its sense of moral truth. Too many people are comfortable with consensus, blue flags and banners, as a substitute for honesty. Honesty here meaning that the people going on about Xinjiang would really be happier with the Uyghurs in their “natural place” - the treadmill of “flawed democracy” and jihad - and the Chinese to go away, because they are inconvenient in so many ways. Until we face up to what we really are thinking under the veneer of comforting lies, then things are just going to get worse, in this crisis or the next.Footnotes[1] Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Xinjiang[2] The Lahore court’s decision to uphold Asia Bibi’s death penalty is far from just | Samira Shackle[3] ‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims[4] Xinjiang imam killed after clashes

I read many ESE interview experiences on Quora and other sources before going for the interview but only a few of them were thorough. My interview was in the morning shift, after giving the interview, I went to the UPSC museum building and wrote the transcript. Following are the exact words during my interview, I hope it will help.Branch: Mechanical EngineeringInterview Date: 19th September 2018Chairman: Prof. P K JoshiTime: around 30 minutesChairman:Q1: You were in Kendriya Vidyalaya in 10th class. Why you changed school after that?Sir, I wanted to prepare for IIT JEE. The new school was quite flexible with attendance and workload. If one score well in exams, 50% attendance is enough. It is very near to my home, actually in the same colony so travelling time was very less.(I know that they know that it was a dummy school, I told them the actual reason.)Q2: Your marks in 10th is good, slightly deteriorated in 12th but not so good at graduation. Why?After coming to college I saw other students how good they are in communication, people and other skills. I was an introvert type of person. I wanted to improve my skills and started taking parts in extra-curricular activities. I was the maintenance secretary of my hostel. I was in training and placement team. And these affected my grades.Q3: You are from Madhya Pradesh. Tell a positive and negative thing about your state.There is a number of tourist places in MP- Khajurao temples, Gwalior Fort, Sanchi stupas, etc. MP is rich in the number of natural resources, more than 90% diamond is extracted from Panna district, there are aluminium ores, copper ores, coal mines.There is a significant section of the population is backward that need to bring in streamline.Q4: Have you seen a windmill in MP?No sir.Solar power plant?No sir but I have seen solar panels installed on the roof of buildings in my college.How solar cell work?It converts photonic energy. There is a number of solar cells in a solar panel. Each cell has a p-n junction. When a photon of more than a certain energy fall, the electron jumps a level I don’t remember the exact name and current flows. That is stored in a battery and later used.Second interviewerQ1: How are you in operation research? Okay?Yes, sir.Q2: Where is LP used?It is used to optimize some function for example profit in a company that is producing a number of products and we have to maximize keeping in mind the limitations like resources.Okay so LP is used where there are constraints. How do we use the graphical method?It can be used for 2 variables as on graph we can make only x and y-axis.Draw a graph showing constraints.Some simple question on that graph.Why we check at corner point for the optimum solution?Sir, I don’t know exactly but it is because as we move along the edge of overlapping region our optimization function either decrease or increase so we get minimum or maximum value at corner points.Q4: Transportation is minimization or maximization problem?Minimization.How do we use it?I draw the table and showed.What if it is not balanced?We add dummy sources or dummy client.How do we find an initial feasible solution?We can use north-west rule and showed in a table how to use it.But this doesn’t give near to the optimum solution, what other method is used.Sir, I have studied other method but don’t remember exactly the steps involved.Q5: What is queueing theory? Tell about arrival and servicing?There are servers which provide service to the population arriving. Service time is generally normally distributed and arrival is according to Poisson distribution.What if arrival rate is more than servicing rate?Sir, queue length will keep on increasing.What to do then?We can increase the number of servers.Third interviewerQ1: Don’t you think grade are as important as extra-curricular activities?Sir both are important and one cannot perform well without proper balance. In the research field may be academic knowledge is sufficient but for other jobs, both are equally important.Saurabh, you were preparing for engineering entrance exams which is totally based on subject knowledge- physics, chemistry and math and not on other. Don’t you think the engineering institute should focus on research?They should definitely focus on research and in research field also you should have proper communication skills. In my case, I lack very much on people skills and that’s why focused more on them.(This was the follow-up question from what chairman asked)Q2: Why did you make video lectures on permutation and combination?After the 3rd semester, I did not have anything to do. I thought it will be better instead of going home.(I couldn’t think of any other reason and told the honest answer)Q3: When do you do dancing?Sir around 4-5 times a week, whenever I don’t feel good or tired. I play music and dance in my room.Some follow-up questions like which type, if performed anywhere, if taken any classes.Q4: What do you understand by trade war?Imposing taxes on imports and other restrictions on foreign materials. That is currently going on between China and USA.Is it good?No sir. This is like going back to past days. Trade is very important for each country. At some places, it is more economical to produce a particular material and at other some other. In future, it will have a negative impact on every country.Q5: What is liberalization? What was the difference before and after 1991?Liberal means freedom, and liberalization is related to govt. policies regarding industries. Before 1991 the government has more control over industries and foreign investment was very limited to help local manufacturers. After 1991 the government allowed private sectors and foreign companies to manufacturing and service sectors.So, you mean liberalization is privatization.Not exactly sir but yes privatization may be part of liberalization.Fourth interviewerQ1: How plastic bottles are produced? Name that process.Blow Moulding.What type of threads is on the cap of this water bottle? How they produced?I don’t know sir.Q2: Which method is currently for making prototypes?CNC machines are used.Q3: Suppose you get an order to manufacture a material with the soft-core and hard surface. How will you manufacture such material?Sir we can do surface hardening to make hard surface like carburizing, nitriding or induction hardening based on the material.Q4: Suppose you are working in the railway department. Where can you use robots?We can use for picking materials in the freight section. We can bring automation in signalling operation which is currently manual.I am asking robotics and you are telling about automation, anyways.(I knew that robots can be used in the welding process, for painting, for other manufacturing process but couldn’t recall then and brought automation)Q5: What is the thickness of insulation of electric wire?Around one to two millimetres.Okay, but how do you decide?Sir, I forgot the exact name of that particular radius. As we increase the thickness of insulation initially heat transfer rate increases but after reaching critical radius it decreases so we make insulation thickness equal to that radius.Thank you, Saurabh.Thank you, sirs.Interview OverI would advise that you should give honest and to the point answer. Seriously take mock interviews and their feedback.There are generally simple technical question, some personal and general awareness questions. My take on PI marks is that you can easily score well by answering technical questions correctly and excellent if they also like your answers to general questions.I scored 114. (In 2018, highest and lowest marks were 136 and 90 respectively in mechanical section. The average score was 116.)

You can search our telegram channel with the name Prelims Specific Notes For IAS.Here we update the summaries of the Hindu and PIB daily on the following pattern.The Hindu Notes 14 May 2019FOREST FIRES IN INDIAContext: Forest fires started in Uttarakhand.EssentialsThe Forest Survey of India's data on forest fire attribute around 50% of the forest areas as fire prone. However, only 6.17% of the forests are prone to severe fire damage.Fig: Map of India showing the districts with regular interval of forest fireA large fraction of India's deciduous and semi-deciduous forests is characterized by open and frequently burned stands.To reduce water stress the deciduous trees shed their leaves during the dry season.These fuels, together with the grass layer, allow the development of low- and medium-intensity surface fires almost every year.The Himalayan regions and the dry deciduous forests of India, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha are ecologically sensitive areas and are most affected by these fires.India’s monsoons are largely responsible for the seasonal nature of forest fires in the country. For most of India, forest fires peak during the dry months of March or April before the arrival of the monsoon.The forest types most affected by fires:Forest fires result from a combination of natural and social factors. The forest fire triangle in figure 1.3 illustrates how these factors are interrelated.Local topography influences the difficulty of fire prevention and suppression and can raise the potential for out-of-control fires.Moving up steep slopes, fires can spread at several times the rate they would on level ground.Winds in rugged terrain can change direction quickly or blow harder, and fuels may dry out faster on south-facing slopes.By comparison with dry deciduous forests, there is a greater potential for intense fire behaviour in India’s subtropical pine forests. Pine needles degrade slowly and have a high resin content.More specifically the causes of forest fires in India are:Natural Causes:LighteningRubbing of dry sticksFriction due to rolling stonesMan- Made Causes:Shifting CultivationCovering up Illicit felling of treesClearing path through the forestTribal TraditionsThe following are among the advantages of natural forest fires:Wildfires are sometimes a natural process, and help forests by promoting flowering, branching and seedling establishment.Fires that are limited to the surface may help in the natural regeneration of forests.The heating of the soil may result in helpful microbial activity, and hasten decaying processes that are useful for the vegetation.Fire helps revive dormant seeds of many species.Some young woody trees survive ground fires and have higher growth rates immediately post-fire, until they reach a certain height.Fires helps suppressing invasive species.Bandipur National Park in Karnataka experienced large scale forest fires recently.The following are among the disadvantages of forest fires:Wildfires release chlorine-containing compounds. Some of these can reach the ozone layer, and cause photocatalytic ozone depletion.Forest fires and volcanic eruptions are the largest producer of dioxins in the world.Dioxins are carcinogenic bio-accumulative toxins, that are able to persist in the environment for a prolonged period of time.Management of Forest FiresThe Forest Alert System is part of the Large Forest Fire Monitoring Programme that was launched by the Forest Survey of India (FSI) in January 2019 using near real time data from the SNPP-VIIRS satellite.The Draft Forest Policy, 2018, does mention forest fires as a threat and has proposed the mapping of vulnerable areas along with developing and strengthening early warning systems.Uncontrolled fires should be treated as disasters so that disaster management authorities can play a major role in preventing them.The National Forest Commission of 2006 too suggested that all fires that burn an area larger than 20 sq km, should be declared a state disaster.YOUNG SCIENTIST PROGRAMME (YUVIKA)Context: As many as 110 teenagers, aspiring space scientists from all States and Union Territories, on Monday began a two-week residential training programme under ‘Yuvika’ (Yuva Vigyani Karyakram) to learn about the national space programme first hand.EssentialsThe Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” from this year.The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities.The programme involves a residential training of around two weeks duration during summer holidays.It is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/Union Territory to participate in this programme covering state, CBSE, and ICSE syllabus.The selection is based on the academic performance (8th Std marks - 50% weightage) and extracurricular activities.Students belonging to the rural area have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.In case there is tie between the selected candidates, the younger candidates will be given priority.WHAT IS BONE OSSIFICATION TEST?Context: This test is often in news to determine the age of crime accused.EssentialsOssification is the process of formation of new bone by cells called osteoblasts.As per scientific evidence, by the age of 25 years nearly all bones are completely ossified in humans.Ossification test is a guess work based on the fusion of joints in the human body b/w birth and age 25.If all joints are fused the person must be of 25yrs of age or older.As per experts that there can be an error of about 2 years in the age determined by the ossification test, but it is still more reliable than ascertaining the age on mere appearance basis.The Supreme Court in Mukarrab vs. State of UP, had reiterated that ossification test cannot be regarded as conclusive for ascertaining the age of a person.DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENTContext: The Enforcement Directorate on Monday questioned former ICICI Bank managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar and her husband Deepak Kochhar in connection with the Videocon Group loans case.EssentialsDirectorate of Enforcement is a specialized financial investigation agency under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management; Expenditure; Revenue; Financial Services; Economic Affairs are other departments of the Ministry).It enforces the following laws: -Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA) - A Civil Law.Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) - A Criminal Law.Other major agencies of the central governmentThe Intelligence Bureau (IB) is India's internal intelligence agency. It is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence is the apex intelligence and investigative agency for matters relating to violation of the Customs Act. It is under the Ministry of Finance.The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is a part of Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance.National Investigation Agency (NIA) is a central agency established by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. It is under the Ministry of Home Affairs.The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the premier investigating agency of India operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.All appointments in the CBI above the rank of Superintendent of Police are approved by a five-member committee chaired by the CVC and including two vigilance commissioners and secretaries of the Home Ministry and the Department of Personnel and Training. The CBI chief is an invitee to the committee and has to be consulted.THE FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION (REGULATION) ACT, 2010Context: The Home Ministry has cancelled the FCRA licence of Infosys Foundation after a request was made by the not-for-profit initiative of the IT major.EssentialsThe Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010It extends to the whole of India, and it shall also apply to—(a) citizens of India outside India; and(b) associate branches or subsidiaries, outside India, of companies or bodies corporate, registered or incorporated in India.Every person who has been granted a certificate or given prior permission shall receive foreign contribution in a single account only through such one of the branches of a bank.No funds other than foreign contribution shall be received or deposited in such account or accounts.However, such person may open one or more accounts in one or more banks for utilising the foreign contribution received by him.Who can accept Foreign Contribution?Organizations working for definite cultural, social, economic, educational or religious programs can accept foreign contribution but first, they’ve to get permission from the Ministry of Home Affairs.They also have to maintain a separate account book listing the donation received from foreigners and get it audited by a Chartered Accountant and submit it to Home Ministry every year.Prohibition to accept foreign contribution.No foreign contribution shall be accepted by any—(a) candidate for election;(b) correspondent, columnist, cartoonist, editor, owner, printer or publisher of a registered newspaper;(c) Judge, Government servant or employee of any corporation or any other body controlled or owned by the Government;(d) member of any Legislature;(e) political party or office-bearer thereof;(f) organisation of a political nature;(g) association or company engaged in the production or broadcast of audio news or audio visual news or current affairs programmes through any electronic mode;No person who receives foreign contribution as per provisions of this Act, shall transfer to other person unless that person is also authorized to receive foreign contribution as per rules made by the Central Government.Foreign contribution shall be utilized for the purpose for which it has been received and such contribution can be used for administrative expenses up to 50% of such contribution received in a financial year.However, administrative expenses exceeding fifty per cent of the contribution to be defrayed with the prior approval of the Central Government.Why is FCRN Act in news in the recent past?The original provision in the FCRA declared that any company with over 50% FDI was a foreign entity.And, the Representation of the People Act and the FCRA bar political parties from receiving foreign funds.The government has amended (retrospectively) the FCRA, allowing foreign-origin companies to finance non-governmental organisations and thus political parties by changing the definition of “foreign companies”.DNA DATABASE COMING UP FOR INDIAN RHINOContext: The Union Environment Ministry has embarked on a project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos in the country.EssentialsBy 2021, the project’s deadline, the Indian rhino could be the first wild animal species in India to have all its members DNA-sequenced.The project’s proponents, including the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) and the Centre-funded Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said the exercise would be useful in curbing poaching and gathering evidence in wildlife crimes involving rhinos.The project is a subset of the Centre’s larger, ongoing rhino conservation programme.Kaziranga National ParkThere are about 2,600 rhinos in India, with more than 90% of the population concentrated in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park.Since the 1980s, the government has been trying to move a significant number of rhinos out of Kaziranga in the interest of the species’ conservation, threats from poaching and challenges to their habitat.Outside Kaziranga, there are about 200 rhinos in West Bengal, 40 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Bihar.There are three species of rhinos, of which only one — the Indian rhino — is found in the country.Along with the iconic Greater one-horned rhinoceros, the park is the breeding ground of elephants, wild water buffalo, and swamp deer.The park has 57% of the world’s wild water buffalo population, one of the largest groups of Asian elephants and 21 Royal Bengal tigers per 100 http://sq.km – one of the highest striped cat density.Over the time, the tiger population has also increased in Kaziranga, and that's the reason why Kaziranga was declared as Tiger Reserve in 2006.Also, the park is recognized as an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International for the conservation of avifaunal species.The rhino may well be a keystone species - known to have a disproportionately large impact on its environment relative to its population.Both African species and the Sumatran rhinoceros have two horns, while the Indian and Javan rhinoceros have a single horn.The horns are made of keratin, the same type of protein that makes up hair and fingernails.The Indian rhino was moved from its status of endangered (since 1986) to vulnerable in 2008 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).The first successful attempt to move rhinos out of Assam and re-introduce them into a similar habitat was made in 1984 in Uttar Pradesh’s Dudhwa national park.The Indian Rhino Vision 2020 initiativeIRV2020 hopes to raise the number of rhinos in Assam to 3,000 by 2020 and spread them over seven of the state’s protected areas: Kaziranga, Pobitora, Orang national park, Manas national park, Laokhowa wildlife sanctuary, Burachapori wildlife sanctuary and Dibru Saikhowa wildlife sanctuary.WHAT IS THE CTBT?Context: The executive secretary of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) has invited India to be an observer in the CTBT.EssentialsBeing an observer would give India access to data from the International Monitoring System — a network which when complete will consist of 337 facilities (321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide labs) located in 89 countries.This system can detect even small nuclear explosions using seismology, hydroacoustics, infrasound and radionuclide technology.Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT)The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is the Treaty banning all nuclear explosions - everywhere, by everyone.The Treaty was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.The Treaty has reached near-universality. 182 countries have signed the Treaty – the last country to do so was Trinidad and Tobago in October 2009 which also ratified the Treaty in May 2010.154 countries have ratified the Treaty – most recently Ghana in June 2011.Why is the CTBT so important?The CTBT is the last barrier on the way to develop nuclear weapons.It curbs the development of new nuclear weapons and the improvement of existing nuclear weapon designs.When the Treaty enters into force it provides a legally binding norm against nuclear testing.How many nuclear tests were conducted and by whom?Three countries have carried out nuclear explosions after the 1996: India and Pakistan in 1998, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in 2006 and 2009.Why has the Treaty not entered into force yet?The Treaty’s entry into force depends on 44 specific States that must have signed and ratified the Treaty.These States had nuclear facilities at the time the Treaty was negotiated and adopted.As of August 2011, 35 of these States have ratified the Treaty.Nine States still need to do so: China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States.India, North Korea and Pakistan have not yet signed the Treaty.All 44 States are listed in the Treaty’s Annex 2.What is the difference between signature and ratification?The signature to a treaty indicates that the country accepts the treaty. It commits not to take any actions that would undermine the treaty’s purposes. A treaty is signed by a senior representative of a country such as the president or the foreign minister.The ratification symbolizes the official sanction of a treaty to make it legally binding for the government of a country. This process involves the treaty’s adoption by the legislature of a country such as the parliament.What is the CTBT verification regime?The CTBT verification regime is a unique, comprehensive system, consisting of the International Monitoring System(IMS), International Data Centre (IDC) and on-site inspections (OSI).It constantly monitors the planet for nuclear explosions and shares its findings with Member States (= the 182 States that have signed the Treaty).Monitoring stationsThe IMS facilities are located all over the globe and use four distinct technologies to look for signs of nuclear explosions:Seismic: to detect shockwaves in the Earth.Hydroacoustic: to detect acoustic signals in the oceans.Infrasound: to detect low-frequency sound waves in the air with a network of 60 stations.Radionuclide: to detect radionuclide particles and noble gas.Can monitoring data be used for other purposes?CTBT monitoring data and technologies are also used for civilian purposes and scientific research.The CTBT Organisation is providing monitoring data directly from some of its stations to Tsunami warning institutions in Asia and the Pacific since November 2006.After the triple disaster in Japan in March 2011, the CTBTO provided information on the levels and dispersion of radioactive material across the globe.STRAIT OF HORMUZContext: Saudi Arabia said two oil tankers were damaged significantly in a “sabotage” attack over the weekend near the Strait of Hormuz, intensifying the spotlight on the waterway — the world’s biggest potential choke point for global crude shipments.EssentialsThe Strait of Hormuz and why it’s so important to the global crude-oil market.Where is the Strait of Hormuz?The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway that links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.At its narrowest point, the waterway is only 21 miles wide (between Musandam, an enclave of Oman and Iran), and the width of the shipping lane in either direction is just 2 miles, separated by a two-mile buffer zone.Why is it important?Oil tankers carrying crude from ports on the Persian Gulf must pass through the strait.Around 18.5 million barrels a day of crude and refined products moved through it in 2016, nearly a third of all seaborne-traded oil and almost 20% of all oil produced globally.That makes the Strait of Hormuz the world’s most sensitive oil transportation choke point.What’s the threat?Iranian officials last month threatened to interrupt the flow of oil through the strait after the Trump administration said it would end waivers that allow countries to import Iranian oil.The U.S. last week announced it was sending an aircraft carrier group, bombers and a Patriot antimissile battery to counter what the Trump administration said were “clear indications” that Iran and its proxies were preparing to possibly attack U.S. forces in the region.That’s in addition to the presence of the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain.CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (CPI)Context: CPI inflation quickens to six-month high of 2.92% on food, fuel prices.EssentialsTwo Ministries – Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) and Ministry of Labour and Employment (MOLE) are engaged in the construction of different CPIs for different groups/sectors.CPI inflation is also called as retail inflation as the prices are quoted from retailers.CPI is based on retail prices and this index is used to calculate the Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees.Table : Different Price Indices in IndiaIndexAgencyBase YearWPIOffice of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Commerce and Industries2011-12CPI All India, CPI -Urban and RuralCSO, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation2012CPI-ALLabour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment1986-87CPI-RL1986-87CPI-IW2001Does RBI use WPI or CPI Inflation to manage monetary policy?While earlier the Reserve Bank of India used WPI inflation to manage monetary policy expectations, it is now the CPI inflation which is largely taken into account.Do you know?Headline inflation is the raw inflation figure reported through the Consumer Price Index (CPI).Core inflation removes the CPI components that can exhibit large amounts of volatility from month to month, which can cause unwanted distortion to the headline figure.The most commonly removed factors are those relating to the cost of food and energy.Inflation deliberately undertaken to relieve a depression- ReflationRise in prices with little change in output- Stagflation. Stagflation is when economic growth is stagnant but there still is price inflation.Price rise at full employment- Continuous inflationThe term ‘benign inflation’ implies a mild rate of inflation.TERMS IN NEWSIndian Automobile IndustryThe new financial year kicked off on a disappointing note for the Indian automobile industry with sales declining across all four segments.The demand was impacted by a weak consumer sentiment due to factors such as political uncertainty, high insurance costs, liquidity crunch and rise in commodity prices that forced car makers to increase vehicle prices.General Data Protection RegulationThe General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), agreed upon by the European Parliament and Council in April 2016, as the primary law regulating how companies protect EU citizens' personal data.Companies that fail to achieve GDPR compliance before the deadline (May 25, 2018) will be subject to stiff penalties and fines.GDPR requirements apply to each member state of the European Union, aiming to create more consistent protection of consumer and personal data across EU nations.