Name: Mohit
Date: 07/03/2025, Afternoon, 1st to go
Board: Sh. Sheel Vardhan Sir
Time: ~30 mins
DAF Keywords: IITR, CSE, PSIR, Risk Analyst, Uttarakhand, Online Chess, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), Leadership potential (scholarship)
{Was waiting outside room - stood up & greeted every panel member as they entered the room after Lunch}
Chairperson Sir:
1. So you play chess? you have a good height, why don't you play basketball? (khelta tha sir School clg me)
2. Did you dunk? (never tried)
3. Which chess World champion died recently? (Spassky sir).
4. wasn't it Gary Kasparov? (naah sir, Spassky, 1972, match of the century - he died)
5. Have you watched _? Have you heard about _? (I haven't sir)
6. You're an risk analyst. Do SWOT analysis of India.
7. (I mentioned sth about Global South) Tell me some countries of Global South (couldn't convince him in this. Probably he wanted to hear the keyword "Brandt Line" while I started listing countries. Maybe he asked "the countries" and I heard "some countries". )
M1 (Male):
1. You're from IITR. Tell me about "bifurcation"? (sir are you asking about it in any specific context - yes roorkee context - no sir don't know)
2. crossing of canal over solani river . (ohh sorry sir, I know about it, we called it aqueduct).
3. UBA - share 3 learnings.
4. Should UBA be dropped by Ministry of Education? Isn't it an unnecessary burden on the colleges?
5. Modi ji talked about all weather tourism in UK yesterday. Tell me any other state where this can be promoted (sir other him states - give me one specific example, sorry sir not sure, chalo I'll tell - Thar desert)
6. Now tell how can the need of all-weather tourism be linked to Thar desert (was still thinking when he passed on to the next member)
M2 (Lady):
1. List important qualities of a leader?
2. Hw did you portray leadership potential for Aditya Birla Scholarship? (mam write up likhwaya, interview liya - UBA ki baatein suni aur de dia) - mam smiled.
3. DC asked you to set up a Food processing unit in UK. What all elements will you consider while doing Risk analysis of the project?
4. where will you put up the factory - plains or hills (mam hills me to chhote scale ka hi laga sakte, else lene k dene pad jaenge)
5. ghost village issue in hills - what type of employment can be created there then. (mentioned SHGs, House of Himalayas, etc)
M3 (Male):
1. Learnings for India from Russia-Ukraine war.
2. let's stick to military learnings.
3. How has the Russ-Ukr war affected India's defence. (military spare parts issue, dependence on Russ arms)
4. examples ? (S-400 : wo to mil gaya hame already, Sir sukhoi etc b h, don't know much)
M4 (Male)
1. Something about my role as a risk analyst, (fraud risk team etc)
2. who bears the burden in case of fraud. (USA banking system - banks has to)
3. and banks ka risk? (not sure. he mentioned something like credit risk insurance. I said sir I have heard about it but don't know much)
4. You must have met fellow candidates in the hall. What is the topic of discussion. (sir I was 1st, by the time documents were verified, I was asked to come here, didn't get time to talk)
5. how long you waited outside room (10 mins sir)
6. what was going on in your mind? (sir expected ques like Russ-Ukr, Chess, IITR)
7. (everyone laughed) so we asked what you expected? - yes sir, a lot of it. but there were a few ques which I didn't expect and couldn't answer, will read more on those.
Chairperson: Thank you Mohit.
Overall experience: board was cordial, patiently listening, their body language was positive, the mood was jolly towards the end hence felt good. "Conversation" revolved around the DAF keywords and thus felt very comfortable. No random factual stuff asked.
Mocks: Samkalp, Vajirao Reddy, Chahal, Vajiram, NextIAS
One-to-One: Vinay Sir (Insight), Sri Ram Sir, Ravindran Sir, Shubhra Ranjan Mam, Bassi Sir (Next)
Utility of mocks - My mocks also revolved around the same topics. Helped me take the topics seriously and study in detail.
All the Best!!