Name : XYZ
Date- 12th Feb 2026
Panel - Sanjay Varma sir
DAF keywords- Maharashtra, marathi novels, economy, sociology, Kolhapur ( college) , wrestling

Chairman-
1. What is G.O.A.T. ?? Who is GOAT of Economics and Sociology
2. How many novels you read ? And asked me about few writers ( I was not aware about them) also told one Film and asked whether I know it ( not aware)
3. Have you seen any movie / read any book on same sex marriage ( I said no sir )
4. What are 3 similarities and 3 differences between Mumbai and India as a whole ???
( meanwhile , as they were having some snacks , lady member ate some spicy and was coughing so CM asked me )
5. What do you do if someone get chilli while eating ( I said Bhakari )
6. Again asked only bhakari / bhakari with ghee etc.

M 2 ( lady member ) (Asked me clarification over my name and surname and also my village )
1. What was legacy of Ch. Shivaji Maharaj
2. What was contribution of Sayajirao Gaikwad
3. How Vivekananada contributed in Indias struggle and what was his philosophy? What should we learn from him?
( all were keywords from my DAF )

M3
1. What is longevity? What person should do to increase his / her longevity??
2. Gave me situation , one person with good health and diet live for 100 yr and another with opposite scenario who not take cares for health , don't do exercise also live for 100yr why this is soo ??( not able to give satisfactory ans. )
3.

M4:
1. why pollution in tier 2 and tier 3 cities is increasing
2. What are solutions for this ?
3. What is that content in chilli which is actually spicy ?

M5:
1. What is your favorite food ?
2. What are things for which kolhapur is famous ( long discussion around Kolhapuri Chappal )
3. who is famous actress from Kolhapur ( I was not able to recall so he tell me Padmini Kolhapure )
4. Which was her popular film ( I said sorry sir )
5. What is free style wrestling? Where you watch it ?
( counter questions were asked and not able to recall some questions by members)

Ref :
O2O -
Praveen Chavhan sir ( Margee ) , Ashish Jaitpal sir ( helped for finalising DAF ),
Shetty Sir ( Mumbai ), Mahesh Bhagavat Sir ( Daf discussion ), Anirudh sir ( Manobal), Shubham Agrawal sir ( Vidyapeeth IAS)

Mocks:
1. CD Deshmukh institute Thane
2. SIAC Mumbai
3. Vajiram and Ravi
4. Vajirao and reddy
5. PW Only IAS
6. Samkalp IAS (2 Interviews )
7. Maharashtra Sadan ( very helpful)

( Discussions with friends helped a lott )

Name Gyani
Board - honourable .Raj Shukla sir
Date~ 16 feb FN 3rd one to go..
Key words women reservation, Dentistry, epfo, cooking, specialists in civil services( Nothing on optional and Daf)
Chairman
Good morning .. u r a dentist! 1.are you still practicing?
2.How long have you been working in epfo?
3.How do you want to see yourself in 30 years from now?
4.Why do u need gender neutral society?
5.When women are equal talent pool why do they need reservation?
6.What is more important seeing them as talented people or just recruiting them for gender balance?
7.Why women are facing opportunity cost?
8.What are the unique things women bring into administration?
9.Long monologue on care burden of women is largely reduced in current generation then what is the problem?
10.How do you think the problem pans out into private sector?
Member 1
1.Why epfo leaving high paying dental practice?
2.How do you think an accounts officer job create an impact on social security?
3.How do you think death claim settlement aided in social security?
4.Ok tell me which treatment will you suggest Rct or implants?
5.Tell me more about dental implants? DO they need immunosuppressents?
6.What is the step you will take as SDM in urban floods?
7.Focus on the priorities immediately after floods?
8.Tell me about one important scheme of Tamilnadu which changed a big problem? And emulated across India?
9.Tell me about a current scheme of Tamilnadu creating a widespread Impact?
10.Do you think thozhi hostels are really working?
Member 2
1.I know your hobby is innovative cooking but i will not ask you about that. Tell me the most famous cookery show i the world?
2.Why is the MasterChef Australia is famous and not the Indian version?
3.Gave a big monologue on how India was penalised for buying Russian oil and sudden change is US stance?
4.Do you really think strategic autonomy worked here?
5.Should we reconsider buying Russian oil in future?
Member 3
1.Monologue on how only arts and science people entered Civil service in 1960s. Why people like you professionals doctors or engineers want to enter civil service?
2.Don't you think it's a wastage of specialised training in a generalist service?
3.If administration is having scope for technologic diversification why not Indian science service or IES?
4.What about Nehru s dream of creation of Vanguard of technology through IIT and AIIMS?
5.What do these Vanguards of administration bring to the plate?
Member 4
1.Rationale behind new taxation policy?why savings is not incentivised?
2.Don't you think this will reduce epfo contributions?
3.But isn't this trend a problem for epfo in long run?

Chairman again
1.Do the techno background people want to enter civil services for power or service? Followed by Power of Google CEO and Elon musk in American policy making?
2.I understand it's the rarest case but you people could think of the impact they are making?
3.Again told how starlink is serving African countries. How do you think a generalist is better in service delivery?

Thank you and all the best
Board was cordial and interactive. But Chairman kept a poker face till the end. Overall a good learning experience.

One to ones and discussions -Farees Rahman sir
-Utkarsh sir
refined my answers and helped me cope up stress.
Attended almost 10 mocks.. no direct reflection.

Name - HGranger
Date - 16.01.2026
Board - Sujata Chaturvedi Mam
Are you feeling cold? Why not?
Daf announced (not much asked except for Kerala and NCC)
Chair
1) Any news u are aware of? BSL 4 what is it?
2) Non tariff barriers? Any by India?
3) Why did they create UN? When was it created? Which other organization was created earlier for humanity?
M1
1) Metro train services? How many? Have you used any?
2) Is it private or public? Are you sure?
3) Who manages security in Kochi metro? Is it effective?
4) What is somaliland? When was it created?
What is the significance? Why Israel recognized it?
5) Do you think countries are spending too much in military than peace activities?
Why?
M2
Why Kerala God's own country?
Why environmental degradation in munnar?
How much remittance? Why gulf state? Which profession women migrate?
Why NRK?
M3)
Ncc? Which regiment father was? What does it do?
Ncc objective?
How are we using them now?
Training module for friendly police station.
How else we are giving training to ncc?
What legislation can we use in friendly police station?
M4)
Why Kerala high literacy but suicide?
How much fdi? What are we doing for investor? Any scheme? Is it doing anything?
How building confidence?
Unemployment? What is Kerala doing for that?
Biomedical waste- how are we managing it?

Felt mostly different domain based.. They were changing questions as I was answering. The board was also a bit exhausted since I was second last to go. Some were smiling, Chair had a straight face, but above all I was comfortable and calm throughout.
They asked a lot of statistics based or number based questions like amount/percentage (some I am not able to recollect). I was able to answer some and they were fine with the ones I didn't.
It was a different experience :
1. We were sitting in a dining table like setup, I could even see the member next to me texting in between.
2.Didn't feel like an interview, more like a tea time conversation.

Mocks - Vajirao online, Quantel, Amritha offline, Absolute, KSCSA offline, Lead IAS, Legendary, Fortune IAS academy, Xylem.

Attended one on one sessions from online and offline from above.
Had a peer group discussion almost everyday which helped.

Board: Anuradha Prasad Mam
Keywords: IT Sector, ECE, Tiruppur, Tamilnadu, Sociology

Date: 16-02-2026 F.N 4th

Chairperson

Good afternoon. Please take your seat

1. You have been working in an AI company, is AI not very recent technology?
2. What is the difference between Narrow AI and Gen AI?
3. There are talks of the IT sector gonna lose jobs because of AI what's your take on that? Do you believe so?
4. As you are from Tiruppur, the exports were declining even before Trump tariffs? Do you know why?

Members:

1. You have been working in the IT sector for 12 long years, why do you want to move out?
2. Will you be okay as the salary you are gonna derive in civil services is very less compared to IT?
3. We are behind the US and China in terms of AI developments! What should be the growth path of India in AI in this regard?
4. Don't you think you should have decided much early? Are you not late to the CS?
5. There was incident in Tamilnadu where people died? TVK crowd issue? Who should own the responsibility?
6. What steps should have been taken?
7. Do you know about the latest SC judgement regarding Samesex marriage?
8. Why did not we develop an AI model like LLM? Where do you think India lagged?
9. Did we miss the bus?
10. Your ECE and IT experience how can it be used in civil services?
11. What are the issues in Tamilnadu that people face?
12. What steps can be taken?
13. How AI impacts Children?
14. How are you dealing with it privately?
15. How would you reduce digital addiction?
16. How would you make a policy to regulate for the public welfare?
16. Do you know anything about Sahyog portal?
17. Is govt not overstepping into freedom of speech and expression?

Your interview is over. Thank you. All the best.

The board was cordial. It was a good experience.

Reminder
#csePT
#attestationform

For those candidates appearing or those who have appeared in 2025 CSE personality test -

You all are requested to kindly fill & submit your attestation form if you haven't filled it yet.

Last date : 27 February 2026 (Last day of PT)

Link: https://cseplus.dopt.gov.in/Account/Login

If you are facing login problems,try these methods -
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• You will receive 2 OTPs (one on mobile & one on email)
• Reset your password
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Please do circulate this msg to any of ur friends who has/was supposed to have appeared for interview.

Thank you 🙏🙏

16 Feb 2026

DAF : Commerce, Books and Movies, Finance, State PCS

Board : Anuradha mam
3rd to go , Afternoon
3 male 2 female members

Chairperson :
1. How journalling and book keeping are different
2. Is journalling Random?
3. What is global Supply chain
4. Example
5. How is deglobalisation affecting it ?
6. What is value chain

Member 1
1. Job profile
2. 73/74th CAA - discussion on impact
3. PCA?
4. How handle PCA complaint
5. Sports governance ( wrestlers protest )
6. Police chief of nepal/BNG how to manage protests
7. Social media protests

Member 2
1. Personal finance
2. What people do wrong in personal finance
3. Measures to correct it
4. Define Fiscal discipline
5. Are you ok with current fiscal discipline in Budget
6. Why control deficit at all
7. Controversial : Book by Army chief.
- What is your opinion ?
- why should govt restrict anyone after retirement

Member 3
1. POSH act
2. How to handle complaint under POSH
3. Last fiction book read : any takeaway
4. Last movie seen : takeaway
5. What are Biologics, tell me what all you know

Member 4
1. What is the basis of Budget
2. Zero based? Performance based? Outcome based?
3. What changes would you make if you were to present the budget?
4. Any changes in Defence allocation ?
5. UCC - opinion if we should implement it

Chairperson again
1. What is Crowding out? Mechanism how crowd out happens
2. Crowding in how- mechanism?

Okay, your interview is overMocks Given :

Samkalp, Vajiram, Vajirao, Forum
One to one with Shubham sir Vidyapeeth IAS and Dharmadhikari sir Chanakya Mandal were helpful

Many Practice sessions with UpWise and Quantel

Reminder
#csePT
#attestationform

For those candidates appearing or those who have appeared in 2025 CSE personality test -

You all are requested to kindly fill & submit your attestation form if you haven't filled it yet.

Last date : 27 February 2026 (Last day of PT)

Link: https://cseplus.dopt.gov.in/Account/Login

If you are facing login problems,try these methods -
• Click on Forgot Password
• Enter your registered email ID / mobile number
• You will receive 2 OTPs (one on mobile & one on email)
• Reset your password
• Login using the same link
• Fill the attestation form carefully


Please do circulate this msg to any of ur friends who has/was supposed to have appeared for interview.

Thank you 🙏🙏

Date: 10/02/2026
Board: Lt Gen Shukla sir
Morning 4th to go
DAF: Hyderabad, Commerce, Bcom, Audit, Stock market, Ana Pana Sati meditation, audio recorded book for blind students

Chairperson:
1. You live in Hyderabad, what do cities provide? What is their role in the development of a country?
2. Do you think our cities can ever get to the level of cities of London?
3. But we are unable to attract talent. Told about a defence start up who wanted to set up in Noida but talent refused to go there, they wanted to go to Bengaluru, because of good schools etc (Was a big monologue about cities, I didn't give much input)
4. R&D is an important aspect, how can we increase it? (Said setting up labs, equipments)
5. He said private participation is low. Asked why? (Long gestation period)
6. He told that Deepseek had 1 commercial branch and 1 research branch.(Okay)
7. Google doing some deal in Andhra Pradesh (I said idk)

Member 1:
1. What is this audio recording book? (Mentioned CSR project for my company)
2. Did you have to learn Braille for this?
3. What did this teach you?
4. How will you use commerce in administration?
5. What will you do for women in your district?
6. How do you select a stock? What are the things you look at?
7. Do you regularly play badminton?
8. Do you do Ana Pana Sati meditation regularly?

Member 2:
1. Do you know about the issue of stray dogs? Is it there in your place as well?
2. How will you resolve it?
3. Nowadays, AI does everything, so in some time your investing will also be done with AI?
4. You have mentioned Nature club in your DAF, nowadays we cut trees for development, is it bad? (I said balance)

Member 3:
1. What is Ana Pana Sati meditation?
2. What was the outcome of the audio recording project? Long monologue on how much the company spent, what they did etc
3. We are doing a lot in budget regarding healthcare, but lacking in rural health, so how can we do better in that area?
4. Why did the prices of metals go up recently? Which metals went up?
5. What was your job role? What did you handle?

Member 4:
1. What is CSR? (Said responsibility of companies towards society to pay back)
2. He again asked do you know the exact meaning of CSR? (Said the same thing again, then he said it's when companies allocate a certain percentage of funds for social activities)
3. How will you measure the parameters of a scheme? Take example of a scheme and tell if you can assign parameters. Long explanation of the question
4. What is more dangerous for a civil servant - moral arrogance or inefficiency? (Said inefficiency but I think he wanted to hear moral arrogance)
5. Moral arrogance or corruption? (Said corruption)
6. He said if you're morally arrogant how you'll deal with corruption and explained how it is bad
7. He asked again, Will you change your answer now? (I said I will go with both are dangerous)
Chairperson: thank you, your interview is over

O2O: Shubham Vidyapeeth sir, Mahesh Bhagwat sir for DAF discussion, Girish sir (from Northstar IAS throughout the journey), Rahul sir (Diademy academy for commerce)
Mocks: Sriram IAS, Vajirao & reddy, Samkalp

Name: Carnation

Date: 11-02-2026 AN. 2nd to go.

Key DAF Details: Agriculture, Local Fund Audit Department, Endurance Running, Volunteering, Horticulture, Poem Writing.

Board: Hon'ble member Lt.Gen. Raj Shukla sir.

Questions asked:

Chairperson:
1. What is the NGO that you are associated with?
2. Is Agriculture a challenge for India?
3. If AI is going to earn a lot for us, why should we invest in Agriculture?
4. Why our productivity is low?
5. How to increase agriculture productivity?
6. Other than for food security, why do we need agriculture? Should we stop agriculture?
7. What is GVA? Is it something that brings money to government coffers or some economic jargon?
8. Is growing cotton an agriculture activity?
9. Why Bangladesh is doing good in textiles while we grow cotton?
10. What are our textile industries doing?
11. Why are we not engaging with ASEAN?
12. Why are we out of RCEP?

Member 1
13. So you work in the Agriculture department?
14. What do you do in the Local Fund Department?
15. Have you gone through the audit reports? What happens with the audit report?
16. How does the CAG audit department engage with your department?
17. Is the department adopting any practices from the CAG?
18. If DGA is at the state level, who is the incharge at the district level?
19. What are the major irregularities found in the audit report?
20. What happens after the report is presented to the state legislative assembly?
21. What qualities have you learnt from your education?
22. Who in your family or friends have contributed much to your integrity?
23. If civil services does not exist, how will you contribute to the society?

Member 2
24. What is work life balance?
25. How can it be implemented?
26. Do you agree with the long work week comment?
27. Do you know gender balance? What is it?
28. In countries like Australia and Canada the percentage of women in colleges is high, where have the boys gone?
29. What is endurance running?
30. Is it the same as Japanese type of slow and fast run?

Member 3 (lady)
31. So, you studied Horticulture, What are the types of Under 5 nutrition that exists?
32. What is the sociological angle of malnutrition?
33. What is your take on nuclear family and urban migration as causes of malnutrition?
34. What are the major horticulture varieties that are coming up recently?
35. What are the bottlenecks that exist in Horticulture?
36. Himachal Pradesh is called as Fruit bowl of India. Can you give a roadmap about how to address the problems in Horticulture in Himachal Pradesh?
37. Do you write poems?
38. On what themes, do you write?
39. Can you tell us 2 - 3 verses from something you wrote?

Member 4
40. How would you compare India's agriculture productivity levels with the world?
41. How would you compare Indian produce quality with the world?
42. Why the quality is low?
43. What could be done to address that?
44. National Seed Corporation is there to give good quality seeds. What is the problem with seeds?
45. Why farmers are using so much pesticide?
46. How to control that?

Chairperson said Thank You and All the Best.

Mocks/O20 (If any): Naan Mudhalvan, DAV mocks, Manidhaneyam, Aram mock and Premocks, Kingmakers IAS O2O with DP Agarwal sir, O2O with Kamaraj sir, O2O at PW Only IAS, Samkalp, Servokon.

Chairperson: Sheelvardhan sir
Date:12.02.2026, AN,4th to go.

Chairperson
1) Why F1? What made you to follow F1?
2) Do you like to drive cars and bikes faster? What is about F1 then?
3) Coordination of f1 compared with highways department. Asked me to rate the Coordination in my department
4) Functional strength training- Who invented Smith machine ?
5) Training for older persons- What will you suggest ?
6) 3 important excercises for overall body in strength training
7) One Reform you will suggest to have huge impact in government- This led to conversations on pay commission tenure, performance oriented Administration-Need of flexibility in pay commission .
8) Discussions on pay parity due to my singapore Administration example compared with private sector -Civil services Overpaid or underpaid
9) Monologue on high pay in government in overall. Again same question on my stance.Civil servants are Overpaid or underpaid?
10) Can government employees do moonlighting if low pay?
11) If not why?

Member-2

12) Chanakya- Arthashastra- What it speaks about?
13)Asked about terms in Arthashastra- Officials name
14) Who translated it?
15)Rajendra chola- Nick name
16) Dravidian and Nagara temple architecture difference
Unable to recall her questions

Member -3

17) Conversation on Low pay in government - Why people leave high paid jobs and come to civil services? And some conversations on it
18) Tamilnadu infrastructure development after British- Connectivity in Chennai suburbs . What caused the development ?
19) Why tamils are emotional?
20) Civil services in India - traced from British, mauryan,mughal to present changes.

Member-4

21) What is there in space in your name? Aditya L1?
22) why L1?
23) Again question on conflict of interest in civil services- whether a government employee can help is Father? Or son of farmer can help his father if he is in government? Whether will I invest?
24) Discussions on Conflict of interest and misconception on it.

Member-5

25) Auroville? Who founded it? Why he resigned civil services?
26)Tennis and badminton comparison in India about its growth and success
27) why badminton popular In Asian countries not in US? What is the reason?
28) Kaveri issue between tn and karnataka ? What is the solution and present situation?
29) River interlinking issue- feasibility.
30) Krishna canal to chennai purpose

Chairman said it was pleasure talking to you. You may leave now.

Mocks: Manithaneyam,Aram,Shankar,Nan Mudhalavan, Quantel Mocks,Samkalp(2), Ekam, Next,Vajirao and reddy

Thanks to Aram ias for all support, Utkarsh sir(Mentor aid) for mentorship, ,Shubham vidhyapeeth sir for your goodwill and boosting my confidence, mahesh bagavath IPS for detailed daf analysis,Selva sir (FSCOP) for all guidance.

Name: Haappiee

Board:Swain sir

Date: 11/02/2026

Keywords:Tamilnadu, Geography, information technology, movies, teaching and mentoring.

1. Languages of south america
2. AI impact
3. one scheme which is not possible without e-governance
4. what is ujwala scheme about
5. North east bordering countries and disputes there
6. How Tamilnadu became good in health and education
7. Mentoring..you itself failed how you can mentor
8. Social issue based movies
9. Shankar movies
10. Fav director
11. Greenland resources
12. Greenland capture is it right
13. IT exports to US
14. CLAUDE anthropic impact on IT exports
15. Explain blockchain in layman terms
16. How it can be used in passport
17. What are the issues to data privacy..how to solve them.
18. Suggest me some AI to use
19. How should the prompts be given
20. What is the tie knot u are wearing
21. What other knots you know
22. Labour laws problem for tn government

Date - 16/02/2026
Board - Lt. Gen. Raj Shukla
Forenoon session
2nd to go
DAF - pursuing PhD on indo-nepal relations
Chairman
1. Asked me about my PhD topic
2. Describe Indo nepal relations
3. Why anti india sentiment in Nepal
4. Compare US and India in their neighborhood
5. Should india establish its sphere of influence in south asia like US?
6. How to address anti india sentiment in its neighbourhood ?
M1
1. Indian educator and artist Rouble Nagi was awarded the prestigious $1 million Global Teacher Prize 2026 at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, UAE and she is  helping over one million children through art-based education.
How would you use art to bring awareness in your district as a district magistrate?
M2
1. Someone informs you that Communal riots are going to happen in your district 2-3 days prior, how would you respond as a district magistrate
And further related questions
M3
1. Asked me about what happened with Maharana Pratap after Haldighati
2. Balochistan issue in Pakistan, should india support Baluchistan demand?
3. And further questions related to Baluchistan
4. Why did anti india sentiment emerge  in Bangladesh just after Sheikh Hasina removed?
M4
1. How was your experience when you transitioned from a science background to humanities ?
2. Suggest any tool given by Karl Marx which is still relevant ?
3. India's response in Galwan - its global relevance
4. Compare India's peaceful nuclear test in 1974 vs India's recent Action in Operation Sindoor?
5. Why did anti india sentiment emerge in Nepal in 2015 even india helped Nepal?And related questions


Mocks - Vajirao, Vajiram, ForumIAS, Vision IAS, unacademy etc

MentorAID STUDENT

👇👇👇👇👇👇

Chairperson: Sheelvardhan sir
Date:12.02.2026, AN,4th to go.

Chairperson
1) Why F1? What made you to follow F1?
2) Do you like to drive cars and bikes faster? What is about F1 then?
3) Coordination of f1 compared with highways department. Asked me to rate the Coordination in my department
4) Functional strength training- Who invented Smith machine ?
5) Training for older persons- What will you suggest ?
6) 3 important excercises for overall body in strength training
7) One Reform you will suggest to have huge impact in government- This led to conversations on pay commission tenure, performance oriented Administration-Need of flexibility in pay commission .
8) Discussions on pay parity due to my singapore Administration example compared with private sector -Civil services Overpaid or underpaid
9) Monologue on high pay in government in overall. Again same question on my stance.Civil servants are Overpaid or underpaid?
10) Can government employees do moonlighting if low pay?
11) If not why?

Member-2

12) Chanakya- Arthashastra- What it speaks about?
13)Asked about terms in Arthashastra- Officials name
14) Who translated it?
15)Rajendra chola- Nick name
16) Dravidian and Nagara temple architecture difference
Unable to recall her questions

Member -3

17) Conversation on Low pay in government - Why people leave high paid jobs and come to civil services? And some conversations on it
18) Tamilnadu infrastructure development after British- Connectivity in Chennai suburbs . What caused the development ?
19) Why tamils are emotional?
20) Civil services in India - traced from British, mauryan,mughal to present changes.

Member-4

21) What is there in space in your name? Aditya L1?
22) why L1?
23) Again question on conflict of interest in civil services- whether a government employee can help is Father? Or son of farmer can help his father if he is in government? Whether will I invest?
24) Discussions on Conflict of interest and misconception on it.

Member-5

25) Auroville? Who founded it? Why he resigned civil services?
26)Tennis and badminton comparison in India about its growth and success
27) why badminton popular In Asian countries not in US? What is the reason?
28) Kaveri issue between tn and karnataka ? What is the solution and present situation?
29) River interlinking issue- feasibility.
30) Krishna canal to chennai purpose

Chairman said it was pleasure talking to you. You may leave now.

Mocks: Manithaneyam,Aram,Shankar,Nan Mudhalavan, Quantel Mocks,Samkalp(2), Ekam, Next,Vajirao and reddy

Thanks to Aram ias for all support, Utkarsh sir(Mentor aid) for mentorship, ,Shubham vidhyapeeth sir for your goodwill and boosting my confidence, mahesh bagavath IPS for detailed daf analysis,Selva sir (FSCOP) for all guidance.

Date - 10 Feb, 2nd to go
Name - Loki
Topics - Capitalism, Utilitarianism, Kerala, Ethics, Daf based - English literature, korean drama
Chairman -
1. What is the history of indian English literature?
A. Dean Mohd, Raja Rao, Chithra Banerjee Divakaruni(deflected by chairman to another remark on Indian literature)

2. What are the inflection points of Indian English literature?
A. Said I wasn't that well versed with Indian literature history but was guided by the chairman on what he meant which was about a formidable change in Indian English literature like Chetan Bhagat - so I talked about LPG reforms of 1991 and the global Outlook that came about in Indian writing

3. Why is the name Bharat not given to women
A. Because society generally ascribes a misculine reference to that name but it should be given to women as well as it is a good name

4. What are the basic features of capitalism?
A. Efficiency, Profit, focus on output

5. What are some famous people in capitalism?
A. Adam Smith(then asked for contemporary, so said Donald Trump to which chairman agreed and added more)

6. What if you were given 10 billion dollars without tax, would you leave your civil service dream?
A. No, I would want to pursue my dream(further asked what about 5 trillion or 10 trillion dollars but I stuck to my answer)

Member 2
1. What are the historical places you have visited?
A. Paradesi synagogue, Mattanchery palace, Brihadeshwara temple, Hampi, Pattadakkal
(Follow up on how little I have travelled, I cited financial and familial constraints but said I explore locally)

2. Why do we need to study literature?
A. Because it reflects social reality and teaches empathy (follow up on how fiction would do that and I explained the core values even in fantasy works like Harry Potter and Hunger games)

3. Name 1 scheme to implement English literature knowledge
A. PDS - cited recent denial due to lack of documents and highlighted need for empathy

Member 3

1. What is the one thing that people resonate most with Kochi, it has featured in a famous song and has been on the posters
A. Asked member if I can take a guess and said I can and so I said Chinese fishing nets (he agreed)

1. Should humans evolve faster, especially to reduce things like anger that are not useful anymore
A. Evolution is not in our control but if it were I would remove anger and increase empathy

2. What would you do for women if you were PM of India?
A. Improve accessibility - Lights, CCTVs, Public washrooms, Thozhi hostels
(Chairman remarked all this would be considered state efforts)

Member 4
1. What is good about Korean drama
A. Short form, versatile, universal themes, aesthetic quality

2. How to implement learnings from Korean dramas in Indian context?
A. Talked about universal themes and gave specific examples of drama based lessons on legal nuances and those learnings transcending borders

3. How to improve OTT in India?
A. Focus now on specific themes, need more family oriented dramas like Gullak and Panchayat

4. 3 words in English that that are difficult to pronounce and difficult to understand meaning?
A. Spercalifragilisticexpialidocius, Genre, Ecclesiactical

Member 5
1. Do you think a little rebellion is okay?
A. Said quote from Cinderella - Just because it's whats done doesn't mean it's what should be done - hence if the rebellion is for a positive change then yes

2. Site and incident from your life where you rebelled for a positive cause
A. Explained an incident of school bullying and how I stood up to it

3. What is crony Capitalism and what is crony Diplomacy
A. Didn't know answer so said so

4. What is corruption?
A. Misuse of power for illegal gains and also explained example

5. If Utilitarianism is there and corruption can be way for Greater Good then is it okay?
A. I said not, the means influences the end and the outcomes post the end

Chairman
1. Asked if I wouldn't engage in corruption even if it meant National interest would be favoured by it. Sited using bribery to procure vaccines for the welfare of people
A. I said no, I wouldn't
Said interview was over

Interview mentorship from Fortune IAS Academy with Mentor Achuth Sir,
One on one with Shinas Sir from Ilearn Academy,
One on one with Pala Civil Service Academy

Mocks - Fortune IAS Academy, Pala Civil Service Academy, Kerala State Civil Service Academy, Amrita IAS, Kerala State Civil Service Academy, Online mock with Vajirao and Reddy

Board : Sanjay Verma Sir
date 09th feb
daf keywords: following indian defence ecosystem(hobby), learning hindustani violin(hobby), BTech Computer science, Sociology optional
, taught afghan refugees under nss

Chairman
What is the role of Mysore, Jaipur, Junagarh and Hyderabad in India's freedom struggle?
You were the library secretary and also learnt music, what music would you suggest for the library? Suggest any instrument?
Name any famous instrumentalists you know?
Name some famous hindustani vocalist?
Who introduced qawaali in India?
Name some afghan cuisines?

M1
What is Blue ocean technology and red ocean technology?
Name any 3 emerging global and indian issues?
What are the countries that are at the peak of demographic winter?

M2
Why was the census not held in 2021?
What are the special features of this Census?
Should we have caste census?
President Murmu was in Odisha recently , what was the reason?
What has Odisha done to promote AI ?
Recently there was the news of a company appointing AI as the board member , What are the implications?
Can AI do better than humans(AGI)?
What to do if AI disobeys humans?

M3
What is elite circulation theory in sociology?
But now there are examples that contradict it? Can you site an example of one such country?
How did you come across your hobby of studying Indian defence ecosystem?

M4
What do you mean by Indian defence ecosystem?
Recently govt carried out Op Sindoor? Why did we stop?
Should we have gone all out and captured Pakistan territory?
Now President Trump captured Venezuelan Pres through unilateral action? So does it mean that the geopolitics today is guided by might is right?

Date: 17/02/26
DAF keywords: BALLB (Hons.), Yerwada Central Prison, Khandwa, Madhya Pradesh
Chairperson: Sheelvardhan Singh Sir
1) Your city is the birthplace of my favourite singer. Who's he? Is there a temple dedicated to him?
2) Why is it that your generation is not anxious about AI? I think it will take way a lot of entry level jobs, opinion?
3) So you are a lawyer, you might know plugins of Anthropic. Do you think they can replace judicial decision making?
4) How come you had a well-paying law firm job and still quit to come here?
M1:
1) You come from Madhya Pradesh, what are the major national parks there? Please name them.
2) Having worked in Yerwada Central Prison, what issues did you notice?
3) How many were undertrials?
4) Women inmates becoming pregnant while serving the sentence. Your view (custodial rape)?
5) Do you think children of women inmates should be kept apart from them so as to provide education beyond the prison premises?
M2:
1) China's strategy earlier was 'hide your intentions, bide your time', now China under Xi has changed. Is it becoming a global superpower?
2) Do you think that China will replace America as the world leader?
3) What is China's economy growth rate?
4) What is the US' Indo Pacific Strategy?
5) What is China's leverage and how is US trying to get over it? Where do you see G2 going?
M3:  
1) Complimented me on the saree. What material is this? Laughed when I said borrowed from my mother.
2) Sought my advice on how a husband can get divorce without implicating wife in any wrongdoing. He just doesn't want to live with her anymore, what options?
4) If earning 20k crores, how much maintenance can the wife claim?
5) Give a specific amount of damage, how to decide?
6) Are you aware of 15000 crore alimony case of Zoho founder?
M4:
1) In North eastern India, there are separate tribal courts, are you aware of this?
2) How would you advise me if I am aggrieved by a tribal court decision and they threaten me not to approach any other court?
M3 again: advised me to read more on how the resources beneath private land in the North East do not belong to the government (unlike the rest of India).
Chairperson said thank you and you may leave now.
PT lasted around 25 minutes.
Mock credits: Vajirao and Reddy, NextIAS, Samkalp, VisionIAS, Aditya Tiwari sir (De Facto IAS, one to one), Humdard Study Circle (online), Chanakya Mandal Pariwar (one to one)

Name:The girl who lived
17/02/26
Daf keywords: Electronics and telecommunication engineering,pune,kabaddi,smart india hackathon, anthropology (nothing else asked)
Suman ma'am (forenoon-Last to go)
Chairperson:
You did entc and no work experience
-how spectrum is allocated
-any new provisions in telecom act
-should we allow starlink in india
-Weaponisation of space happening
-so should we allow starlink then
Member 1:
-how to promote kabaddi internationally
-What is ethical hacking(I had smart india hackathon)
-what are choke points and how it impact indian oil sector
M2:
-some random anthro stuff-post humanism,every roots go through routes
-Indias idea of vasudhaiva kutmbakam in india foreign policy
-what is africa pan network
-what is ITEC
-disruptive vs general purpose tech
-where will india be in science fiction
M3:
-B.E vs Btech
-why in maharashtra every district has different product-climate or policy intervention (I answered vaguely and said sir I am guessing)
-warli print vs madhubani art(I wore warli print saree)

M4:
-how we can ensure that we get benefits of these FTAs that we have signed
-why chakan is so prosperous
-Why women despite having high representation in STEM but not working
-one thing that will let women work
-what should be delhi declaration for AI impact summit
Few other qn I don't remember
Board was cordial
Mocks given
O2O:2 by upwise,unique academy Praveen Chavan sir,Mentor aid Utkarsh Mishra sir(good),edukemy shabbir sir(very insightful),Mahesh bhagwat sir(extremely insightful analysis of daf)
Panel:samkal(grilling),onlyias(not good),visionias faculty(pathetic),next ias (Good), maharashtra sadan(extremely good-closest to actual interview and even 2 qn were repeated in actual interview), chanakya mandal pariwar(O2O and panel-both were good),SIAC
Special thanks:
-Farees rehman sir who helped me fill daf and was constant support since mains,also gave many O2O
-Bestest is the peer discussion,they helped me since December and covered my daf extensively and few qn was repeated in actual interview.
Overall interview experience:felt like interview tbh not conversation.I have no idea how it went
All the best to all other candidates ❤️
Jai mahakal

Date: 06/02/26, Morning session 2nd to go
Sanjay Verma Sir board
DAF keywords: Anthropology, Book reading, Telangana, Capgemini, Jabalpur, Computer Science

Chairman sir:
1. Why are spouses of US Presidents very active in politics etc yet in India that is not the case with PMs?
2. Other than author who others are involved in book publication?
3. Any book which was adapted in to a film?
4. Any publishers you know? Indian publisher?

Member 1:
1. Birds fly in a pattern? What is that? (Ma’am explained that birds fly in a triangle pattern where one leads the rest)
2. Any activities that could be promoted in school where one leads others?
3. Disasters Telangana is prone to?
4. If you are placed in charge of committee to make plan for a disaster, which sections of citizens will you include in it and why?
5. Why are there less women in our Parliament? What can be done to increase?

Member 2:
1. Why didn’t you go to US after studying Computer Science? Why stay back in India?
2. What is the famous temple in Hyderabad to get Visa?
3. How many rounds(pradakshina) do you perform to get your wish fulfilled in that temple?
4. Why many Telugu movies are now being watched in the North?
5. Asked if I knew a place near Jabalpur, I don’t remember the name

Member 3:
1. Tourism has led to overcrowding, do you think limits should be imposed in these places? Follow up - How would you implement these limits?
2. India- Nepal issues in relations? (Gave few points, wasn’t satisfied, sir expected some particular point which I wasn’t able to answer)
3. 2 important religious places in Saudi?
4. How many pilgrims does govt facilitate for Haj?

Member 4:
1. Largest tribe in Telangana?
2. Issues they face?
3. How can you use technology for their issues? Give example wrto economy and employment
4. What was your work at Capgemini?
5. How will you use your work experience in administration?

Chairman sir again:
1. Three facts that we don’t know about Capgemini
2. Who is the CEO?
3. What is the highest level in the organisation which is being led by an Indian?
4. What is the annual turnover of Capgemini?
All the best. You may go.

Date: 17th Feb, 5th to go
DAF keywords: PSIR, Kootneeti Intern, Heritage Tourism, Books on Social Issues, Kaimur
Chairperson: Anuradha Prasad Ma'am

1.Why no Post-graduation?
2.SC Judgement on Governor
3.Personal view on the Judgement and Governor's conduct in recent past
3.How to reimagine institution of Governor?
4.What is Inter State Council?
5.Composition of Inter-State Council?

M2
1.Present Law & Order situation in Kaimur.
2.How Naxal Problem was tackled?
3.Difference between Counter Insurgency and Counter Terrorism.
4.Places travelled as part of Heritage Tourism.
5.Short discussion on timeline of structures mentioned in previous answer.
6.What is Maritime Security?
7.Agencies involved in Maritime Security of India.

M3
1.Why intend to pursue Law?(Mentioned in previous answer)
2.Books read on Law
3.How India handled Covid?
4.Difference in Indian and US approach in handling COVID
5.Current status of Naxal affected districts.
6 States in which naxal affected districts remain
7 Govt. Policies, Programme for Naxal problem
8 How to design policies for Conflict areas involving Local population

M4:
1 What is SAARC? Why it is non functional?(Followed by discussion on India-Pak conflict)
2 Why Smaller neighbors are also not interested in SAARC?(Aside from India-Pak rivalry)
3 Role as Intern at Kootneeti
4 Founder of Kootneeti website
5 Elaborate on articles written as part of Internship
6 Finance Commission: Horizontal and Vertical devolution
7 Criteria for Horizontal devolution
8 What is Percapita Income distance used in FC devolution?

M5:
1 Why Political Science as discipline?
2 What makes Pol. Science Interdisciplinary?
3 How do you evaluate India's current relations with neighbours?
4 What reforms you suggest for India's neighbourhood Policy?
5 Discussion on China's entry in neighbourhood
6 How will you handle Criticism in Public Life?

Name: Kartavya Teerth
Date :16 feb
Afternoon session,4th to go
Board: Raj Shukla Sir
DAF keywords: Jharkhand, electrical and electronics engineering, psychology, Bhopal

No other keyword was referenced

Chairman
1. Long monologue about state of ai development in India and how we are lagging behind US and China. When and how would India catch up, what would be the 'deepseek' moment for India?
2. ⁠Long to and fro about previous answer
3. ⁠India's ai models are runner up, with very few parameters, how could we stand in the current ai flux?

These were discussion points and not questions. He was adding pointers and asking follow ups through out.

M1
1. So you have done electrical engineering then why did you choose psychology as optional?
2. ⁠What actually intrigued your intrest?
3. ⁠Was it scoring high marks the real reason for your choice?
He laughed out loud on my answer and said that's all from him.

M2
Long monologue on underdeveloped jharkhand after partition from Bihar.
1. What are the three main reasons you can find?
2. ⁠ As the dc of your district (home district) how could you solve these 3 problems?
3. ⁠How could you retain talent in the state?
more discussion on the solutions I provided
4. Is just providing education would change outcome like this( he snapped his fingers to demonstrate 'in an instant')?
5. ⁠ How can you immediately bring reform in school education so that it is meaningfully contributing to development you are talking about?
6. ⁠questions about technology and teacher's training as follow up to my answer


M3
1.IT sector development was led by private sector in India but we have not seen Google or Amazon here, why?
2. Why do you think the Tata and nilekani are not scaling up innovation to an extent which could be out of the box?
3. ⁠questions on entrepreneurship and risk taking
4. ⁠ have you heard about 'death by Thousand cuts'?Discussion on my answer
5. Who was Rani Kamlapati, why are we honoring her by naming a railway station on her name?
6. I will give you a statement and just tell me what do you think about it
' A strong and stable Pakistan is in intrest of India '
7. Why would India need a strong and stable Pakistan and why a strong stable Pakistan would need India?


M4
1. Tell me 2 interesting things about your district.
2. ⁠ You have studied psychology, do you know what is hobbesian choice?
(I have not heard of this term)
3. What is the size of new semiconductor chip India has recently lunched?
4. ⁠mentioning previous discussion on underdeveloped jharkhand he said your district doesn't have sufficient medical facilities or staffs or doctors, as DC what could you do in short term to improve the medical condition of your district?
he countered my every solution as either not short term or out of the purview of DC. I have to lastly say medical facilities can't have quick fix solutions and everything I am conjuring up are wild conjectures, he laughed and said that is OK.




Mocks given: 10 with all major institutions, helped to be accustomed with every kind of questions

Session of Anil Swarup sir was very insightful and helped to prepare practically and meaningfully,
the informal group set up through him was most effective and invaluable