Date- 16/12/2025 Afternoon
Name- R
Board- Sujata Chaturvedi Ma'am
Duration- 27 mins
Chairperson ma'am:
So, you entered smiling, are you confident?
Is this your first interview?
Have you given your 100%? What do you think?
Briefed members about my DAF. Acknowledged city(she said Bareilly ki Barfi), college(read NIT Allahabad as MNREC, the old name), engineering branch, optional, Work ex(asked duration)
Why did you leave your job?
NCC(DAF) long form?
Why do we have it?
What is the one quality that you learned there? I answered 'not running from my responsibilities', narrated a lived experience from NCC camp.
Which god is considered contrary to this particular quality, what is that term?
I answered, everyone giggled and affirmed.
Why didn't you go for armed forces?
What is conscription?
Where do we have it?
Do we have it in India?
In your opinion, shall we have it in India?
M1(male):
All citizens are police officials in mufti and all police officials are citizens. What do you think of this?
Can a citizen arrest a criminal under law?
Are you sure? Have you read CrPC? (No relation with DAF)
Name the new codes.
Why no GST on petrol? Rationale? Who earns more through tax and duties on it, states or centre?
Division of powers setup. Article.
What is the rationale of having a concurrent list?
M2(female):
Nukkad Natak(DAF) is an effective way to address social issues. Enumerate 5 arguments in favour of this statement.
How did you minimise food wastage as Mess Secretary(DAF)?-
You are a police officer, a lady wants to complaint u/ Domestic Violence act, but nobody is confessing for her, what will you do? Too many back and forth on this
M3(male):
Hindu rate of growth, what is it? Who called it so?
What would you call the current scenario? How is it?
China outpaced India in eco growth after 1960s, why?
Shall we adopt authoritarian centralised leadership like China, it helped in growth?
What is more imp, right to choose your leader or having basics like food and clothing?
If given a chance, will you change India's setup to China like setup?
M4(male):
Shall we continue an honourific practice like guard of honour(DAF)? Why to give all this?
Method acting?
Intellectual property rights? What is it, what is the term?
Chairperson- Thanks, your interview is over, you can leave.
Analysis- Just one ques linked to current affairs, rest either section 21 of DAF or static knowledge rationale. No ques on home district, state, graduation, optional, service preferences etc. Chairperson kept interrupting members whenever I took time to think, said ‘arey nahi pata hoga, aage badhiye.’
Mocks-
Helped in pin pointing issues related to answer length, eye contact, carrying a smile.
Panel Mocks-
Samkalp- was good
Vajirao & Reddy - formal, nice panel, some questions helped
Vision Panel- cordial board, good experience
NextIAS- good in pointing out a couple of negatives, but unnecessary arrogance in few members.
PW- bad experience with board, shattered morale, had to wait, but mentor was good, team gave old DAF to the board
One to One
Sarrthi- Good for confidence, depends on who takes
Anantam IAS- Really good, boosted morale, reminded of strengths, very approachable
Understand upsc- helpful for DAF based practice and gaining confidence
Mahesh Bhagwat sir- very good for DAF based ques
BS Bassi sir- good insights, helped in busting myths
Ultimate analysis
Most of the the people will tell you similar things. Mocks will help only to a limit. With time you’ll get to know what to do and how to do. Post that, confidence will help.