Dilip K Kainikkara AIR 21

Seems the UPSC interview season is here again. My service preference order, for those interested. Not sure where I'd have put IRMS, after Postal Service maybe.

Courtesy: Neelesh Kumar Singh.

Congrats to everyone who cleared UPSC CSE 2022, glad to see many dear friends in the list. 😊 Please take note of two things: 1) Do remember that it was a collective effort. Acknowledge everyone who helped you along the way, and keep helping those aspirants who are yet to make it in every way you can. 2) Keep your integrity. Never lie about any part of your preparation process, regardless of any incentives being offered. Don't let anyone bribe or cocerce you into endorsing their institute or online app or whatever. It's too early in the service to start being corrupt, stay honest and upright. Congrats again, and best wishes for everyone attempting prelims on Sunday! 😊

Congrats to everyone who qualified for interview! Do start your interview prep asap if you haven't already. And to those of you who didn't make it to the list, let me tell you that I've been in the same position in 2019. It sucks, it hurts big time, but please don't lose hope. Maybe take a short break to get over the results, but do get back on track soon and keep up your efforts; I am living proof that one can rebound from this setback and make it to the hallowed final list in due time. Best wishes, stay strong.

Transcript of my 2021 UPSC interview (201 marks) Dilip K Kainikkara 13th May 2021. Smitha Nagaraj panel Relevant background - Keralite, IIT Madras B.Tech, Work experience at AI lab of Samsung, Maths optional, Indian Forest Service officer (Maharashtra cadre). Relevant hobbies - no questions from hobbies. • *Smitha Nagaraj* 1. Why leave the cushy job and prepare for civils? 1a. But isn't government and bureaucrats primarily helping the elite classes? (Follow up from my previous answer) 1b. Who do you think govt is helping more, the rich or the poor? 2. Why are the poor remaining poor and the rich getting richer in India? 3. What are Electoral bonds? Issues? Current status? Why delay in electoral bond case judgement? (Multiple questions, asked in sequence as follow ups) 4. Why can't election commission regulate money flow in elections? *Member 1* 4a. Elaborate on how election commission is lacking resources? (Following up on Chairperson's last question and my answer to it) 5. Demonetisation, was it a good thing? Should it be done again? 6. Why didn't you start a company? (Follow up on Chairperson's first question) 6a. Why didn't you join an ngo then? (Following up on my previous answer) 7. Forest cover of India and Maharashtra? 7a. How to improve forest cover and biodiversity? *Member 2* 8. What is Sagar mala? Parvat mala? Bharat mala? (Only 3 short factual questions, no idea why) *Member 3* 9. What is Aditya project of ISRO? 10. IIT Madras marine engineering, any recent developments you've heard about? 11. What is BBNL? 12. How can AI and your work experience there be used in district administration? *Member 4* 13. Commonalities between Kerala and Uttarakhand floods? 13a. How to resolve these issues? 13b. Gadgil committee recommendations? Implementation status? (Follow up to my previous answer) 14. Why hypertension is high in Kerala? *Smitha Nagaraj* 14a. Isn't alcoholism also a reason for hypertension prevalence? (Follow up to last memeber's question) 15. Who suffers more from alcoholism and its consequences, men or women? N. Your interview is over, you may leave now.

Transcript of my 2020 IFoS interview (198 Marks) Candidate: Dilip K Kainikkara. Date:20th October 2021. Board: Satyavati Ma'am. Background: Electrical engineer, worked at Samsung, Forestry and Maths optionals. Chairperson: 1.What have you been doing since resigning in 2018? 2. Why did you resign? 3. What's the difference between Samsung and Apple? 4. What exactly did you work on at Samsung? 5. Why is India not producing semiconductors? (Follow up on my work) 6. Why is India not producing enough rare earth minerals? How can the situation be improved? (Follow up to part of my earlier answer) Member 1: 1. How to convert single phase to 3 phase? 2. What's the unique strategy adopted for tiger conservation at Periyar TR? 3. What are the advantages of mangroves? 4. Which mangrove species is found in Kerala? 5. Are you familiar with Heriteria tree? Peculiarities of Sunderbans NP? 6. How exactly can a forest officer help tribals? (Follow up to something I said earlier) 7. Give an example of value addition to ntfp? (Follow up to prvs Q) Member 2: 1. Why COVID numbers large in Kerala? 2. Kerala floods, was your locality flooded? How to adapt to flooding? 3. What is unique about samsung work culture? <There were some more questions, I don't seem to be able to recollect them> Member 3: 1. Have you heard of <some Hindi word>? (Turned out to be fig, then a follow up question on fig. I was clueless on the subject) 2. What is forest engineering? 3. What should be out priorities in forest engineering? (A couple of follow up questions too, on surveying and such) 4. How to setup a practical framework to empower tribals? (Follow up to earlier related questions) 5. How exactly can a DFO contribute towards tribal welfare? 6. Can joint ventures with private sector help tribals? Chairman signalled that the time's up at this point, then declared the interview to be over. Was a cordial experience overall.

Transcript of my 2020 UPSC interview (173 marks) 21-09-21. Relevant Background - Keralite, B.Tech, worked at AI lab of Samsung, Maths optional. Relevant hobbies - Reading non-fiction. *TCA Anant panel, no faceshield, mask on.* Walks in, initial formalities. *Chairman* 0. Read out basics of daf. 1a. What exactly were you doing at samsung? (Gave a short answer) 1b. Tell me more about the kind of AI projects you were working on. 2a. What book have you been reading recently? -Nudge. 2b. Give a real life example of Nudge? 2c. What's the difference between a nudge and a target? *Member 1* 3a. Why leave job and try for UPSC? 3b. Why not attempt UPSC immediately after college? 4a. How can we use AI in administration? Give a concrete example - talked about healthcare applications 4b . But what's the specific need of AI for that? -Went briefly into technical details 5. Can AI be used to improve feedback systems in government? *Member 2* 6a. What were takeaways from Samsung? -Work ethic, work-life balance 6b. What is work ethic and what are family values? -related discussion for a while. 7a. How can Indian administrative system be made more efficient? -talked about incentivisation 7b. But isn't govt already incentivising administrators? 8a. Contributions of Srinivasa Ramanujan? 8b. But how are his contributions relevant in modern day? *Member 3* 9a. Difference between written and unwritten constitution? 9b. Advantages of unwritten constitution? 10a. What is Nash equilibrium? 10b. How can we use Nash equilibrium theory in the engagement between Govt and corporates? 10c. But how is transparency related to Nash equilibrium? 11. More generally, how can we use game theory in corporate administration? *Member 4* 12a. Kerala covid issues, why are numbers so large? 12b. But even as time goes by, why are second wave numbers remaining bigger than other states? 12c. Possibles nudges to be used in covid fighting. *Chairman* N. We're done, bye.

PS: Not really interested to share non-academic content here. You're always free to follow my public social media accounts to get updates on Service, Cadre, LBSNAA events, etc. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilip_kainikkara Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dilip.k.kainikkara So, please refrain from personal questions in the comments here. Academic queries are always welcome. :)

https://youtu.be/ZKijVXUQLAQ Mock interview given two weeks before my actual interview.

Been receiving a number of enquiries about when the mains results will be out. I honestly have no idea, so got no answer for that. However I've definitely got an answer for "I've written Mains this year. When should I start preparing for Interview?". The answer is "Right now, if you haven't started already". In recent years, UPSC has considerably reduced the number of days between mains result coming out and interviews starting. Perhaps there will be more time this time around since the exam cycle is back to normal, but I wouldn't recommend taking that gamble. Start brushing up on current affairs and making short notes on the same, recent current affairs questions feature very prominently in UPSC interview. Also start prepping on your work experience if any, your hobbies, and any other extracurricular activities you've been part of. You'll have to fill in those details in your DAF2, and interview boards take a keen interest in those details. I'll try to write a couple of detailed notes on interview prep. Meanwhile you can take a look at my mock interview given at Drishti to get an idea of the type of questions expected. (Will add link below).

For those of you attempting Mains 2022 papers: I've got a lot of opinions about the GS and Essay papers, much like all of you. But let me lead by example here, and not even mention any of those here. Now is not the time for GS analysis. You and I will have plenty of time for that next week. For now, set all of that completely aside, and FOCUS ON OPTIONAL PAPERS. I'm primarily talking from my experience with Maths, but some of this might be useful for other optionals too: 1) Start optional prep ASAP. Tonight if possible, but definitely no later than tomorrow morning. 2) Don't feel overwhelmed by the vast syllabus. You know the priority areas as well as your weak areas, focus on those. 3) Spend due time on PYQs. The optional papers are very repetitive in question content as well as pattern, so solving/attempting PYQs will get you in the right mindset. 4) Use revision time to ensure that you have all the necessary formulae and other "to be memorized" stuff in your short term memory when you appear for the paper. Use your own short notes if you have them, else depend on toppers' notes or institute notes. (Kanishak Kataria's notes are highly recommended for Maths revision). 5) Don't overexert yourself. Optional papers in general and Maths papers in particular need you to be mentally alert and refreshed. Give due priority for enough sleep and adequate good and hydration. 6)Never forget that you only need to write 5 out of the 8 questions in each paper, and also that there are 2 compulsory questions. From a Maths perspective, this means that: a) You can't afford to leave any topic completely. b) There'll be some amount of choice between advanced questions of various topics, so it's okay to have one or two weak topics in each paper. c)The early time to read the question paper can be productively used towards choosing among the questions. 7) The qualifying language papers are very easy in general, so no need to spend much time for those if you can read and write the language pretty well. In short, forget everything else and focus on optional papers for this week. Prioritise the limited time based on the demands of your specific optional and your personal strengths and weaknesses. Best wishes! 😊

As Mains 2022 comes around, let me share a few (rather obvious) tips which have worked for me in the past iterations: 1) Believe in yourself. You have been preparing for this exam for an year or more, and did clear a tough prelims paper just a few months ago. All you need to do is to be calm and confidently channel your cumulative knowledge and experience into two productive weekends. 2) Track the time diligently. Completing the paper isn't rocket science, it's just about making sure that you never get trapped into spending too much time perfecting an answer or thinking up the perfect answer. Write a decent answer within the alloted time to each question, and move on. Wear a watch and check it often, never lose track of time. 3. Don't get unnerved by difficult questions. There will inevitably be a few questions you have got no clue about (remeber the "blue LED" question from last year? :P). Just remember that everyone in your exam hall is equally clueless. Try to attempt such questions in as little time as possible using whatever limited knowledge and content you've got, and move on. Don't leave such questions completely in my opinion, even partial and imperfect answers can fetch a few marks, and those few marks can create a large difference at the end. 4) Be early to the exam centre for every paper, no need to leave things to luck or fate. 5) Try to devote the remaining time entirely for revision, that will provide much higher return than investing in new topics. Especially focus on revising current affairs of high weightage topics (environment, polity, etc), they help a lot in predicting possible questions. 6) There is a significant difference between MTS tests and actual mains exam. So don't feel overconfident because of good MTS feedback or depressed beacuse of bad feedback. It's all about writing those 5+2 papers in the next 2 weeks as best as you can. Be optimistic and give it your best shot. 7) For the fellow night owls out there, try to shift your sleep cycles to align with the exam timings. Start tonight itself if you haven't already. That's it for now. Try not to overexert yourself in the coming days, but do use the available time efficiently. Best wishes!

A short checklist to start answer writing for beginners: 1). Develop static and current content. No point in writing answers in any topic until you have adequate content in the topic. 2) Regularly read editorials and op-ed columns, with a special focus on the style of critical analysis and subject presentation used in such articles. 3) analyse topper copies, and adopt best practices. Don't try to blindly copy their approach, rather try to develop a writing style which works for you using toppers' approaches as inputs. 4) When you start writing on your own, first focus on getting the structure and template right. Taking some extra time is fine. Make sure you're addressing the entire demand of the question, and also that you're allocating sufficient time and space to each subquestion in long questions. 5) Keep getting regular feedback from your peers as well as mentors whenever possible. We tend to be blind to over own issues sometimes, and external perspectives can help a lot. And try to note down such feedbacks and use them to refine your answer writing skills incrementally. 6) once 4&5 are done to an acceptable level, start timing yourself. Try to gradually reduce the time taken for 10 markers to 7 minutes and 15 markers to 10.5 minutes. It might take some time to get the speed right , be patient. 7) Occasionally attempt writing at long stretches. You might be able to complete a single answer in the prescribed time limit easily, but sustaining that speed for 3 hours without losing quality is a different and more difficult task. There's a lot more to be said about answer writing, but these are the fundamentals. Getting these right on a regular basis will enable you to focus on the finer details as your prep progresses. Best wishes.

A talk I had delivered recently at Vision IAS; have tried to briefly cover the various dimensions of UPSC CSE preparation. https://youtu.be/B4PQfaDxcs4

Focus more on content and presentation in the early stages, and then start prioritising speed as the other aspects start becoming maangeable. Try to wrap up answer writing practice by February and focus solely on prelims prep.

A draft timeline for 2023 (till prelims). I understand that this is a period of uncertainty in various ways for many aspirants preparing for 2023. I'd like to jot down a few points which might perhaps increase your clarity and help in proper planning. Valuing time The biggest issue that I've faced at this point of time is the tendency to slack off, getting into the "there's plenty of time" mindset. Please don't do that. There are only 11 months to go before 2023 prelims, and every single day of those 11 months is crucial for serious aspirants. Budgeting time Valuing time is of very little use without budgeting it properly. I usually divide the UPSC prep process into 5 broad categories. I've provided brief timelines for those categories below. Please note that this is not a timetable, just a broad timeline indicating the priorities at different points of the year-long prep. A)Static Content. Involves studying and revising the standard books for static part of syllabus (my booklist can be found in a previous post above). I'd recommend starting this right now, and trying to finish one iteration by December. (~6 months). January and February can be used for quick and selective revision of static content, especially of areas you're weak in. From March to May, create a detailed 90 day revision time table covering all prelims specific GS topics. B) Current affairs content. This is a continuous process. I'd recommend reading syllabus relevant content in The Hindu daily. Notes are not necessary, make them if you are good at it and can do it without wasting too much time. Regularly revise monthly current affairs at the end of the month (I used vision's monthly compilations for this, can supplement with your own notes). From January to March , try to finish a quick but comprehensive revision of current affairs starting from May 2022, especially of the earliest months. And in April and May, use prelims oriented compilations from reputed institutes for one final round of revision. C) Optional content. Very similar to A. If you're a maths optional student, try to cover the syllabus with adequate problem practice by December end (~6 months). This is the most critical part of your prep, prioritise it accordingly. Time and priority demand might vary for other optionals. Try to allot some time in the months of January and February for optional revision. But shift the priority to GS and Current affairs more at this point. Allot the March to May period as completely as possible for GS+Current affairs, try to wrap up your pre-prelims optional prep by February end. D)Prelims mock tests and MCQs If you have CSAT issues, resolve them early, don't leave it for the last. Make sure you're confident of clearing CSAT by December at the latest. You can allot small amounts of time for CSAT revision thereafter. There's no harm in joining an early Prelims test series even now. But make sure you're alloting adequate time for mock tests and MCQ practice from the month of December onwards. While attempting mock tests, focus on getting your time management right, on following a multi-round approach (with the first round dedicated to finding and marking the easy questions), on increasing the number of attempted questions consistently to 90+, and on developing your logical reasoning skills for making intelligent guesses. Try to do atleast a couple or more of offline pen-and-paper full tests before the prelims day to familiarise yourself with the exam environment. E)Answer writing practice Start by analyzing topper copies to imbibe good answer writing practices. Allot some time for answer writing practice on a weekly basis. Try to get your answer copies evaluated by your peers or by experienced mentors. Make sure that your answers are properly addressing the demand of the question and closely follows the question keyword.

A draft plan for 2023 Many aspirants have been asking for guidance on planning properly for 2023 CSE exams. Let me jot down a few pointers in that regards: Valuing time The biggest issue that I've faced at this point of time is the tendency to slack off, getting into the "there's plenty of time" mindset. Please don't do that. There are only 11 months to go before 2023 prelims, and every single day of those 11 months is crucial for serious aspirants. Budgeting time Valuing time is of very little use without budgeting it properly. I usually divide the UPSC prep process into 5 broad categories: A)Static Content. Involves studying and revising the standard books for static part of syllabus (my booklist can be found above). I'd recommend starting this right now, and trying to finish one iteration by December. (~6 months). January and February can be used for quick and selective revision of static content, especially of areas you're weak in. B) Current affairs content. This is a continuous process. I'd recommend reading syllabus relevant content in The Hindu daily. Notes are not necessary, make them if you are good at it and can do it without wasting too much time. Regularly revise monthly current affairs at the end of the month (I used vision's monthly compilations for this, can supplement with your own notes). From January to March , try to finish a quick but comprehensive revision of current affairs starting from May 2022. And in April and May, use prelims oriented compilations from reputed institutes for final round of revision. C) Optional content. Very similar to A. If you're a maths optional student, try to cover the syllabus with adequate problem practice by December end (~6 months). Time demand might vary for other optionals. D) Prelims exam techniques. E) Mains exam techniques.

Concluding note: Always remember that while UPSC prep is an important part of your life right now, perhaps even the most important part, it is not the only part. Never lose sight of the small joys of life, of the good people in your life, and of the immense potential that you've got as an individual with grit and determination to commit yourself to the UPSC journey. Never lose hope; never forget that you've still got miles to go; and never lose sight of your noble and larger goals in the everyday drudgery of aspirant life. Best wishes again, and godspeed.

Best wishes for the prelims results which are to be announced soon. Nevertheless, it's inevitable that some you will not find your roll numbers in the list, as unfortunate as that is. As someone who's been through similar scenarios at various stages of the exam, let me offer some pointers which have helped me at such junctures: 1) Acknowledge your grief. As research says, bottling up our resentment and sadness is bad for our mental health and well being. Try to talk to your family, trusted friends, or partners about your feelings. It's okay to be disappointed and to express it. 2) Don't take the setback personally. We all have regrets about our prep. But don't let a bad result define you as a person. There might definitely be problems with your prep strategy or methods, but those are improvable aspects. Plenty of aspirants - including yours truly - have come back from such setbacks, and you definitely can do the same. 3) Identify your mistakes. This might sound cliche, but it's nevertheless true that every setback is also an opportunity for self improvement. Try to utilise this opportunity to the maximum extent possible. Take some time to analyse your current preparation strategy and methods. Identify the specific problems you're facing in your prep, specifically in regard to prelims prep. Spend some time in analysing your prelims performance in detail: subject wise performance, time management, performance in specific question types, Maths and comprehension performance in CSAT, etc. Especially try to identify any specific issues that hadn't occured in prelims mock tests but cropped up on exam day (like heightened stress and related issues). 4) Make a better plan for next year, learning from your mistakes. This is not as easy as it sounds, I know. But once you've identified your shortcomings as outlined in the earlier point, it will become easier to devise a plan to improve on those. For instance, if you're struggling with Maths in CSAT, it'd make eminent sense to join a guided program for the same, or at least to buy a good standard book and focus more on problem practice. 5) Translate the plan into a timetable for the year. The next prelims comes up in 11 months. So once you have a good idea of how to improve yourself, try to convert those abstract ideas into a solid 11 month schedule. While making the schedule, give special attention to: a) identifying your time constraints and planning accordingly b) giving adequate weightage to optional revision, especially in the early months. c) providing adequate break time and some cheat days, to sustain an adequate work-life balance. d)Being open to changes in schedule later, incorporating adequate flexibility for unforeseen circumstances e) Stay in touch with both prelims MCQs as well as mains answer writing. If you can afford it, join a booster program which includes an adequate number of prelims mock tests and answer writing practice. Otherwise try to make use of free resources available online and incorporate them into your schedule. 6) Try to get outside perspectives on all the above points. More often than not, it's difficult for us to identify our own problems. Try to get help from your peers in aspirant community or from experienced mentors when you're trying to identify your specific problems as well as when you're creating a personalized schedule for the next year. 7) Try to be part of a small and helpful peer group. UPSC prep is often a lonely journey, but having a good peer group can help a lot in easing the burden. Even if you're a working aspirant cut off from the upsc hubs, try to be part of telegram communities for your optional or gs prep. Try to have at least a few friends in the UPSC community whom you can rely on for feedback and support. At the same time, do ensure that these peer groups aren't turning toxic or becoming distractions in your prep journey.