8/13/2019 UPSC Chief Gives Thoughtful Tips to IAS

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UPSC Chief gives thoughtful tips toIAS/IPS aspirants

UPSC chairman D P Agrawal gave some thoughtful tips to the civil service aspirants who came for aninteractive session at the Kerala State Civil Service Academy at Thiruvananthapuram on December18, 2013.

Civil Service India summarizes them here for the benefit of its readers.

1. Respect your culture, society and language to learn about your country and equip yourselfbefore aspiring for civil service jobs, UPSC Chairman DP Agrawal said.

2. He was very critical about aspirants who have the habit of reading only one newspaper."Read more newspapers, including regional language dailies, to get a more balancedapproach towards issues and to get more informed," he advised.

3. Avoid coaching centers was his advice. "Students, who have to be part of the universities,quit the universities for attending coaching centres but the coaching centres turn them intomachines for mugging up things. One should study a subject in its depth," he said.

4. He stressed on in depth knowledge saying, 70 per cent of science and engineering graduateswho aspire for civil services prefer humanities as an optional subject. In that case, one has togo beyond peripheral knowledge to score high. One has to study in-depth about his or hervillage, district, state and country before accumulating knowledge about the world. You shouldfirst be interested in knowing more about the society you live," he said.

5. He refuted the charge that the Commission was differentiating between languages. He said,'maximum freedom is given to choose languages. The Commission supports all languages inthe 8th Schedule. We are committed to respecting languages. The conclusion that we areagainst a particular language is not true,' the UPSC chairman said.

6. Agrawal pointed out that irrespective of the language chosen for the main exam, there is anoption to select any language for the interview. "There will be interpreters to translate. Wetake expert interpreters from Parliament. But one has to give clear answers. In case ofinterpreters making mistakes we will blacklist them," he said.

7. Commenting further on interview, the chairman said, "it is not the judgment of one's expertiseon a subject; however, if you don't know or remember what you have studied a few yearsback, it cannot be taken lightly." In the interview, normally, questions are simple. One has tospeak from the heart with all honesty. However, candidates have a tendency to speak liesabout even hobbies which will not do them any good. "So be yourself, face the exam andinterview honestly. Only innate qualities will help you," he advised the civil service aspirants.

Speaking about the newly introduced paper of Ethics, the UPSC Chairman admitted that the paperwas a little tough this year. However, all the questions were about Indian ethos. "If you don't know thecountry, the development scenario, you cannot mug up," he said.