UPSC CAPF(AC) Interview Transcript

Dear All, 

Myself, Assistant Commandant Amol Patil. I have secured AIR 39 in UPSC CAPF 2018 Examination. I am currently serving as an Assistant Commandant in Central Industrial Security Force.

Personality Test

I was called for UPSC CAPF interview  for the batch of CAPF 2018 exam. My interview was held on 3rd Jully 2019 in the morning session.
I went on time and all the candidates were taken to a building where primary document verification process was completed. I was second candidate to be interviewed by board of B. B. Vyas Sir.

A person escorted me to interview room and I came to know that it was board of Bharat Bhushan Vyas Sir which was going to take my interview.

I entered the room after taking the formal permission saying "May I come in Sir ?" I was invited with smile on members face. I greeted all the members good morning with a smile on my face. My smile is my strong point is what I believe.

Chairman asked me to sit and I obligued. The first question came from the chairman of the board. He asked me about the size of the IT industry in India. This question was related to my DAF as my graducation is in IT. However I did not know the exact figure of the IT industry in terms of billions so I told him that sorry sir I do not know the exact figure of the industry. He said, just tell me what you know about IT of India. I told him that India is known for it IT prowess. Service sector contributes to around 65 percent of our GDP and large part of which is software industry. We have IT professionals like Sunar Pichai, who are heading global organizations like Google and Bengluru & Pune have emerged as a IT hub which are competing with Silicon Valley.

Chairman then asked me the second question what is a Start up ?
I said Sir Start up is small newly built industry by enterprenuers which is fuelled by innovation and they come together to solve problems faced by our country and they have potential of employment generation. Flipkart and Paytm started as start up and now they are grown into a mulitbillion industry. Paytm is doing good job in digital economy.

I have completed my graduation in 2014 so chairman asked me what you have been doing since then.
I said I started preparing for competitive exams. To which sir asked me for five years ? With a smile on my face I replied Yes sir it took me five years to reach here.

Chairman then hinted next lady member to take over and she started puting questions.
Taking queue from the last question she aksed me why five years  ?
I said mam when I went to engineering I did not know how to start a computer and I became computer engineer. When I started preparation for competititve exam I did not know the difference between President and the Prime Minister. Yes it took me long but definitely I have learnt alot in this process and these five years will help children of brothers and sisters and may be it can give generational leap to them.

Member 2 Lady

Did you sit for placement ?

No mam...I had backlog in 3rd year. And i was not allowed to sit in companies. But I sat in few companies which had no criteria.  I wanted to go for competitive exams since my highschool and college days so I did make any serious efforts for placement. 

As you always wanted to go for competitive exam then why didn't you take humanity subject ?

I said Mam at that time my parents took the decision. In Fact they were guided by other people to take decision. But after that I took my decision to go for competitive exam

And engineering has provided me an aptitude and better confidence about career.

She asked me what is my back up plan ?

I said, I have not made any back up plan. But right now I am providing educational content to a website and earning money. 

She asked why didn't you mention it in DAF ?

I said sorry mam it is not a formal employment but a freelancing work I do to stay in Delhi as the expenses are quite high here.

She asked So you are earning and preparing as well ?

I replied Yes Mam.

(I think Chairman understood that im working with coaching he nonverbally told mam not to ask counter questions)

Since I mentioned that I did not know the difference between Prime minister and President, she aksed me what is wrong with our education system, What should be done in our education system ?

I replied: Government is  doing everything possible and also we have NEP coming up but I would like to focus on the role of teacher. 

I gave example of my sister. In her village, she is teaching around 20 students. She is motivated teacher and now those students who were going to private schools in town place are taking admission in a government school where she is teaching.

Students are no longer using bad words(I didn't use the word slang intensionally) she has also organized ceremony on 26th January.Teacher can bring the change So we need to focus on teachers role. 

Next question: Tell me 1 quality in you ?

Ans: Only 1 ? ….mam If I come to know some weakness in me then I give my best to get stronger in that area. And I will make sure it doesn't remain my weakness forever.

Mam: So you are a passionate person. 

Member 2:Sir

Because somewhere I mentioned that I have friends serving in CAPF he asked there ranks.

I told him that I have 6 7 friends they're in CISF, SSB, CRPF etc.

Rank? 

I thought rank numbers so I said “should I tell all of them ?”.

I said rank 3 in 2013..

He said “no no tell me their designation”.

I said sorry sir they are all assistant commandants.

Can u tell me ranks in ascending order?

While answering I made mistake in one place. 

He asked me to write it on paper.

I wrote with 1 mistake.

He told me correct rank and I smiled and said “ok thank you sir”.

(It is ok to make mistake I think. But it is not ok to ignore their suggestions.)

He then asked me how do you recognize that he is an assistant Commandant ?

With sense of pride in my eyes and my left hand forefinger pointing towards my right shoulder, I answered that he has three stars on his shoulder. (I dreamt of having them on my shoulders too!)

Then he asked “What's happening in IRAN ?l

I said Iran is breaching stock pile limit of uranium now. Few days back US Iran came close to war as iran shot down the drone and President Trump recently Twitted that he would not attack....

What is India's role ?

We want peace in the region and peace is prerequisite of prosperity...

What is India's stake ? 

I told him the little GS knowledge we all have. We are importing 80% of our required crude mainly from the Gulf and we have huge diaspora staying in this region...

Member wanted something more and he said Can you tell more ?

I gave sone thought and said Sir if they came to war then it will be diplomatic challenge for India as both countries are our friends.

But he wanted something different and He gave some hint about connectivity.

I picked the hint and I said, Yes sir we are developing chabahar port to improve our connectivity with Afghanistan. It will bypass Pakistan which is not allowing our direct road connectivity.  

Whats in afghan, why we want peace there, Taliban is not talking to us ?

Sir Geopolitical importance as silk route also passed through it... Peaceful Afghanistan is in India's best interest.

Member then asked me that life as an assistant commanndant is going to be challenging. Unlike a software engineer, I will not always have air conditioning facilities. So he said are ready for this kind of job ?

I paused for a moment and replied, “Sir I am 25 years old today. I have 25 years of my life journey to look back into. In that past, I see that whenever there were challenges in my life, they helped me to shape my personality and rather period of comfort and joy did not teach me anything. Therefore Sir, I would like to take challenges. 

Member 3

You are from jalgaon, Which is major river ? Tell me source and destination

Tapi  river...it originates in MP but I do not know the exact location and drains near Surat.

Cooking ? What is your famous dish

Chicken biryani. I have prepared biryani for 20-30 people and friends now call me to cook biryani at their places. (All smiling)

Which are 2 famous biryani ?

Hyderabadi and Lucknowi.

What is the difference ?

Water is not used in hyderabadi dum biryani and very minute things are taken care of in Lucknow biryani as it was nawabs biryani…

You have travelled 

What have you learned ? 

I gave example of girls had to change their clothes in a bus and when we went again after an year we booked a hotel room. So I could have talked to them earlier and made this plan. Lesson: Involving all participants in a decision making is important

Again Chairman

You must have studied some bit of Economy in your preparation ?

I smiled and said yes sir :)

What is PCA

Thought for a moment and told about Prompt Corrective action plan.. discussion was followed by few questions.

He asked which bank has came out of PCA ? I said sorry sir I do not know the exact name.

Chairman asked has any bank came out of PCA ? 

I said : Sir I have read that one bank has come out of PCA.

Question regarding Section 66A of IT Act

I said in 2015 it was declared unconstitutional by SC but it is saddening that UP police has recently used it.

So what is status now ?

Me: Freedom of Speech and expression is a fundamental right but it is qualified.

Chairman said thank you with a smile.

I stood up and said thank you sir, thank you mam and left the room.

(I was awarded 102/150 marks which is considered to be good score in CAPF interview. )

The panel took my interview for around 30 minutes and it was a life time experience. It was a really a long standing dream. I remember, few years back before starting UPSC preparation, interview was most frightening part for me. But I think one should not be afraid of any interview. One should stay humble, stay polite and try to be honest at all times. Just be who you are! 

For interview I took guidance from Career Quest Academy (Kabeer Sir) and I found it very helpful. 

I would like to thank my family for their huge support. The gratitude to them can not be expressed in words. 

My friends have also contributed in numerous ways to my development and they have been their in times of troughs. I would like to thank them all.