Civil Services exam 2013-14 – IAS Topper Interview –
Mr. V.P.Gautham- 138th Rank
(An Exclusive Interview)
BIO DATA
I hail from a small town called Oddanchatram in central Tamil Nadu. But, I managed to get good quality education, thanks to my parents and my school (Christian Matriculation School, Oddanchatram). I studied in the same school till my 12th standard. My father V.Palanichamy is an advocate (a former government pleader and a public prosecutor) and my mother R.Kasthuri is a teacher in a government school. My little brother V.P.Cibi is doing his eleventh standard. I secured All India Rank-3 in IFoS (Indian Forest Service) examinations, 2013 and AIR-138 in civil services exam, 2013, both in my first attempt.
WHY&HOW I CHOSE CIVIL SERVICES
My father was the one who inspired me to take up the civil services. He gave me immense liberty, which allowed me to develop as a free thinking and an independent individual. My dad was always keen to share things with me, but not enforce things on me. He is my friend, philosopher and guide. My mother was the one who backed me during setbacks. I am one person who always love to come forward and do things. I loved assuming leadership roles in all aspects of life. I was the President of the student union of my college (College of Engineering Guindy). I learnt a lot in this position and I feel that these lessons would help me in my future roles. So, it was not one event which made me enter this career. I think the various events in my life, my father’s inspiration and my innate desire to be a leader made me enter the field. I started full-fledged preparations after finishing my U.G. in 2012.
Why I chose civil services, that too IAS?
I entered this field because
1. I think work is not merely for monetary purposes. As Marx says, work is an important avenue for expression of one’s personality. I feel that IAS can offer me that chance to express my personality. Moreover, unlike several jobs, I, as an IAS, will clearly know for what and for whom I work.
2. The private sector doesn’t give me enough power (=ability to influence people’s lives) as the civil service. The amplification factor is high in civil services and my good work will be reflected in a positive way in the lives of thousands of people.
3. Given that I believe in my talent, I’d like to use it where it matters the most.
SUBJECT SELECTION
My optional was Geography. I chose geography because of three major factors:
1) Availability for guidance (Shankar sir was very equipped in handling Geography and he had a very good reputation in the civil services community).
2) I had a liking for science subjects. Geography, though an arts subject, is more like science. And, I also had a liking and a familiarity with geography from my school days.
3) And, Geography as an optional subject returned stable, predictable scores in civil services (unlike engineering optional which give unpredictable marks)
COACHING
I attended classes at Shankar IAS academy, Chennai. I really liked the way the classes are conducted here, in an interactive and dynamic fashion. I personally do not like a classroom which has a one-way (only teacher to student) conversation. Classes at Shankar IAS academy were designed to interest the students and make learning an enjoyable process. We were encouraged to ask questions and there often student-teacher debates in classroom. This provided the right atmosphere to initiate the thinking process.
The coaching institute gave access to invaluable guidance (by networking with seniors, mentorship by faculty) and it helped in busting all the civil service myths which really dent one’s confidence. This guidance and motivation provided by Shankar sir helped in removing fears whenever they arose and to move forward in the right direction. Moreover, coaching institutes come with an unexpected positive fallout- they provide you with the company of like minded individuals (your classmates). This helps in easing the preparation through group discussions, especially during mains and interview. But, I strongly suggest that the group discussions must be initiated only after basic knowledge is gained through individual preparation. Moreover, the group should have a strong sense of direction and discipline.
But coaching is not absolutely necessary. A lot of my friends who have prepared without coaching have even succeeded. Even people going to work and preparing part time have reaped success. The key is a single minded determination, focus and hard work of at least 5-6 hours a day. I recommend an uninterrupted preparation (don’t skip preparation anyday). Long breaks (more than 2 or 3 days) may affect the tempo and rhythm of preparation.
NEWSPAPER- THE BACKBONE OF MY PREPARATION
Though I attended coaching at Shankar IAS academy, I never preferred handmade coaching class notes (neither from my academy nor from Delhi). I just listened to the classes and made my own notes and value added to them. I had an aversion to coaching class materials. I rather preferred original sources and standard books, both for my GS and optional. But the classes helped me in giving valuable info and also initiated good chains of thought through classroom interactions (both with the faculty and co-aspirants). My best all-in-all source for GS was ‘The Hindu’. There is nothing in the world like a newspaper, as it throws light on multiple subjects simultaneous which allows inter-subject connection in the mindmap. When we are thorough with the basic concepts and information in each subject, then reading newspapers will be an awesome experience as most articles appear very familiar to us. This will help in gaining a familiarity over an area and will act as a valuable revision tool. For example, when I read a news item on a Supreme Court judgement (esp. in constitutional cases), I used to connect its arguments with the various articles in the constitution. This helped in revision of the articles as well as developing understanding of them..
Moreover, newspapers are a treasury of information. Reading them helped me garner many ‘fodder points’ which I could use for any question (especially those questions or areas for which we haven’t prepared specifically) in the examination. This made me confident in GS and I had the mentality to face any question whatsoever, since I could generate at least 2 or 3 points from what I had read in newspaper in the past 2 years. I feel being accomplished in newspaper reading was a great boon to me and that alone resulted in my high GS scores. All aspirants all over India prepare from almost similar sources but this clear newspaper reading (along with writing newspaper notes and revising them) would take you places. I, for one, used to spend 3-4 hours for newspaper reading (+of course writing down notes) alone. Now, many students rely on various websites (like gktoday.in) for current affairs notes. Though these sites may help slightly when there is lack of time, they will never match the usefulness of a newspaper. And while reading newspaper, try to connect it with the conventional areas. For economics and international affairs, ‘The Hindu’ was my most important source. I tried reading 2-3 newspapers (like Indian express, Times of India, in addition to ‘The Hindu’) but I found this to be a futile exercise and hence stuck with ‘The Hindu’.
PREPARATION STRATEGY
Prelims (CSAT) Aptitude
Topic
strategy
Maths
Just pick out the areas from which arithmetic questions are asked; Some prime
Areas are time-work, distance-speed-time, seating arrangements, HCF-LCM, TRAI problems, relative velocity, etc. Strengthen your basics and problem solving abilities in these areas.
reasoning
Practice alone helps
comprehension
Not to be considered as an exclusive area of Paper II. Instead, as and when you prepare for Paper I or when you read newspaper, just make sure that you understand each word verbatim and you’re able to grasp the core matter better. Such a practice while reading ‘The Hindu’ editorials will really help.
Decision Making
Practice
BOOKLIST
I have listed below the various topics in the mains syllabus and my respective sources of preparation.
Topic
My preparation strategy
Culture
CCRT website. But I have not heard of a comprehensive resource for Culture. This is quite a huge portion but I did a selective study of CCRT, some culture related current affairs, PIB features on culture, etc.
Indian history
Modern India NCERT;
Bipan Chandra-‘India’s Struggle for independence’; This book is very important to gain a proper perspective and hence I recommend it.
Many of my friends read ‘Spectrum-Modern India’ but I found it somewhat boring. So, stopped reading it. I would suggest reading original books rather than compiled guide like stuff.
world history
Arjun Dev NCERT; I also prepared answers for around 100 world history questions given by Shankar sir.
post-independence India
Bipan Chandra-‘India since independence’; This book has better exam related stuff than Guha’s ‘India after Gandhi’ which is more like a novel.
Though I really liked Guha’s book, I found the ‘Bipan Chandra’ to be more useful for the exam.
NCERT-‘politics in India since independence’-a must read; got some questions in the exam directly from this.
Personalities- Prepare some short note for all the leading figures of the past 60 years of independent India..
Indian society
NCERT-Indian society;
News items and articles on social issues;
EPW
role of women, poverty etc.
These are my optional areas. Hence did not concentrate much for GS. I prepared for Geography and Socio but retained Geography when the notification came.
globalization on Indian society
These are my optional areas. Hence did not concentrate much for GS.
communalism, regionalism, secularism
These are my optional areas. Hence did not concentrate much for GS.
world geo physical
These are my optional areas. Hence did not concentrate much for GS.
resource distribution
Mrunal.org
factors for industrial location
Mrunal.org;
NCERT: India -people and resources
Models and theories-Majid Hussainà for Weber’s industry location theory, isodopane concepts, labour cost contours, etc.
earthquake tsunami etc
NCERT: Fundamentals of Physical geography;
Physical Geography: Savindra Singh- just give a light read on certain topics for GS
impact on flora-fauna
4x4 report by NAPCC(GoI);
IPCC summary;
Newspaper articles
General studies (Mains) paper 2
Topic
My preparation strategy
Indian Constitution, devolution, dispute redressal etc.
Lakshmikanth;
‘Constitution of India’ android app for articles verbatim; I’d recommend the aspirants to exactly remember at least the first 50 articles(up to DPSP) and other important articles(given in the back of Lakshmikanth); You can use them while answering essays and other questions;
Comparing Constitution with world
Shankar sir’s class(comparison with US,UK,French, South African, Swiss constitutions);
NCERT-Constitution at work-à Boxes articles highlighting the best features of some constitutions;
parliament, state Legislatures
Lakshmikanth
executive-judiciary
Lakshmikanth;
ministries departments
I read some annual reports of some ministries; But I think it is like searching for a needle in a haystack; After reading through 100 pages, you would find only 10 good points; Maybe, you can share this work among your friends;
pressure group, informal association.
Representation of people’s act
Newspaper(Supreme Court verdicts);
Election commission of India- website(for model code of conduct);
PIB releases on elections;
various bodies: Constitutional, statutory..
Lakshmikanth
NGO, SHG etc
Shankar class notes
welfare schemes, bodies
Economic survey
social sector, health, education, HRD
Economic survey;
governance, transparency, accountability
e-governance
role of civil service
India & neighbors
Challenges and strategy: Rethinking India’s foreign policy by Rajiv Sikri; This book is a very nice and I would recommend it strongly to understand the basis of India’s foreign policy;
India and its world: A talk show on Rajya Sabha TV- This explains recent international issues very clearly;
International news in ‘The Hindu’;
bilateral/global grouping
Shankar material on International organisations;
Official Websites of various groupings;
effect of foreign country policies on Indian interest
News articles
Diaspora
international bodies- structure mandate
Shankar class notes;
General studies (Mains) Paper 3
Since this paper is mainly a current affairs oriented paper, I did not do a lot of specific preparation for each topic. Hence, I am unable to quote a lot of sources for this paper. I mostly relied on ‘The Hindu’
Topic
Preparation strategy
Indian economy, resource mobilization
Newspaper
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