Filling of The Detailed Application For (DAF) - UPSC

As I have already mentioned that there is a pre-interview phase. It starts with the filling of the Detailed Application Form (DAF). This signifies one very important aspect that the first impression that the Board gets about you is through this Detailed Application Form (DAF). Even before you have met them face to face, the Board makes an impression about you based upon this form . Hence it goes without saying that each and every detail that you fill in this form should be filled after proper thinking.

You should keep the printout of the Detailed Application Form (DAF) with you. This will help you in remembering and recollecting each and every detail that you have written down during the time of the interview.

Be yourself (don't try to fake) : Don't try to fake while filling the Detailed Application Form (OAF). Don't provide the information that is wrong or is not fully correct. Never ever write anything or claim anything which you will not be in a position to own while facing the Board. The people who are judging you would be perhaps more than double of your age and their work experience would be more than your age. So they will at once find out that you are lying and this is the biggest disaster that can happen to anyone.

Also it is pertinent to mention here that nothing fake, wrong or that has not taken place should be entered here. This becomes so important because every question that is being asked to you from your form is based on the information that you have provided to the Board. Now if it happens that you are not able to answer anything which is based upon your own information that sends a very wrong signal to the Board and there is absolutely no tolerance in the Board for this kind of fake attitude.

Now let's discuss, keeping into consideration the importance of the form, each and every detail that you fill in the form.

Roll number:

Real disaster can take place if you are being asked, "What is your roll number?" and you fail to answer. It simply signifies that you are under tremendous pressure. This should be avoided at any cost. Hence always make a conscious effort to remember your roll number and before you enter the door of the interview Board repeat your roll number in your mind.

If in your roll number exists any particular number do prepare on the significance of that number. e.g. 420, 911, 1947, 2611 etc. If they are in real mood, they may ask you a weird question like "What is the total of all the numerals of your roll number?"

Name:

You should know the literal meaning of your name and the language from where it has been derived. You should also be aware of the meaning and the etymology of your surname. If your name or surname is shared by any famous personality you must work on that personality as well. They can also ask you some questions like "Does your name reflect your character?" or "Please tell us the situation where you behaved as per the significance of your name".

Date of birth:

Various scenarios can arise here.

Let's first consider your full date of birth. If any famous personality or any important event took place on your date of birth, you should have all the information about that personality or event. You should also be aware that whether your date of birth falls on any national holiday or any important festival.

Regarding the month of your birth you should have the basic information about that month. Questions like "What is the climate in your region during that month?", "What is the etymology of that month?", "What are the equivalent Hindu and Islamic months for that English month?" etc. can be asked.

Focusing on your year of birth, you should also have the details of the important persons who share the same year of birth with you and should also know about the major incidents that took place during that year. Also, you should know whether the year was a leap year or not and you should also know what was the Chinese equivalent of that year. (The Chinese have caught the imagination of the Boards as well!}

Then they can ask you about your sunsign, what is it termed in Hindi and the general traits of the people belonging to that sunsign. You should also know the famous personalities who share the same sunsign with you. From this, the question can be asked that "Whether you believe in astrology?", "Whether it is a science?" You should answer based upon your own conviction only.

Gender:

You can be asked that apart from the conventional male and female columns should a third column namely "other" be there in the forms.

Address for correspondence:

If the area where you live is named after some personality or in the address mentioned by you there is a lane or a locality or a colony named after some personality you should be well aware of that personality.

If you have mentioned terms like mansion, enclave, villa etc. in your address you should be able to explain and differentiate between these terms.

The candidates from the rural background can be asked certain specific questions related to the rural areas.

You should distinctly remember your area pincode and should also know how these pincodes are generated.

Telephone:

You should know the STD code of your area. You should also have the information about various mobile companies operating in your area and should also check whether your telephone number contains any important number and should prepare for that like you did for your roll number as explained above.

Email id:

You can be asked a question that whyyou have chosen a particular service provideras your e-mail id. For example, if you are having an account on gmail, you can be asked "Why have you chosen gmail over other service providers?" You can also be asked about a particular feature of that service. If your email id consists of certain typical English words, you can be asked a question related to that. eg [email protected]

Community:

General: "Do you support the reservation system?" "What are the flaws in the current system of reservation?" "Suggest certain improvements." can be the possible questions.

SC, ST, OBC: Some important questions can be:

• Do you support the reservation system?              .
• What are the flaws in the current system of reservation?
• Suggest certain improvements.
• What are various constitutional and legal provisions related to your community?
• What's the definition of an SC and ST according to constitution?
• Is the OBC status a constitutional status?
• What is the composition and function of NCSC and NCST?
• What is the composition and function of National Commission for Backward Classes?
• The problems being faced by your community. They can ask you for some actual case.

ST students can also be asked questions related to the peculiar cultural features of their tribes. They can also be asked questions related to the tribal forest issues etc.

OBC students can be asked questions related to the creamy layer in OBC and whether the concept of creamy layer be applied to the SC & ST as well?

Marital status:

Generally a question on marital status isasked only to the married candidates. You can always expect a question related to the profession of your spouse . In the case of male Aspirant Officers, whose wife is a housewife, they can be asked about their personal views related to this issue. They can also be asked questions related to dowry like "Did you take dowry?"

 

The female Aspirant Officers can be asked as to how they will balance their responsibilities towards the profession and towards their house.

If there is an inter-caste, inter-region or inter-religion marriage you can be asked questions like

• What are the difficulties being faced?
• What were the reactions of your respective societies towards this?
• Do you feel there is any kind of problem in such kind of marriage?
• What could be the problems you might face while raising your children?
• How do you reconcile with the inherent conflicts?

Place of birth:

State:

Thorough and exhaustive knowledge about your state is very important. You should be aware of the various issues that are particular to your state. The preparation for the state can be done under the following heads:

History:

• Ancient civilizations
• archaeological sites
• participation in the freedom movement
• Major development in the post independence period.

Geography:

• The climate
• rivers, canals, lakes and other important water bodies
• the soil type
• flora and fauna
• important minerals and ores

Agriculture:

• the general state of agriculture
• Important crops
• the type of trees
• scope of dry farming
• Dairy industry, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, poultry etc.
• type of irrigation
• cooperative movement
• land reforms
• condition of farmers and the cases of farmer suicides

Economy:

• The general sate of the economy
• The GDP of the state
• The growth rate
• Per capita income
• HDI ranking
• Important economic activities
• The reasons plaguing the economic growth and the solutions possible

Industry:

• The important industries and the problems faced by them,
• The electronics and the IT industry
• Tourism as an industry
• Footloose industries of your state
• Agro based industry,
• Labor reforms and related issues
• The initiatives being taken to control the pollution

Transportation:

• Roads: the important national highways through the state, any other important road
• Railways: the railway zone, the number of stations, anything significant related to the railways
• Airways: airports: international, domestic and defense.
• Water ways: important ports (major and minor), the related industry (like ship breaking)

Power scenario:

• Major hydro electric power stations, thermal power stations, nuclear power stations
• Initiatives being taken in the area of green energy
• Overall state of energy
• Reasons for the deficiency and the solutions.

Demography:

• Total population (also in terms of male, female and child population; urban and rural population)
• Population density
• Growth rate
• Sex ratio
• Literacy rate (male and female wise)
• The districts which are at the top and the last on all these parameters.

Education:

• The general state of education
• Percentage of students in English medium and in the medium of state language
• Universities: central and state level
• Professional colleges: engineering, medical, law, MBA etc.
• Research centers and laboratories
• The school education at the three levels and the relative participation of the private sector and The government sector
• The status of the private tutorials and the coaching centers.

Healthcare:

• The Public health setup and various private players
• Sanitation and the initiatives being taken by the government
• Important hospitals and their relative strengths and weaknesses

Culture:

• Various Languages and dialects being spoken in the state and the state language
• The folk dances, the folk songs, paintings etc. and important personalities associated with them
• Handicraft, food and cuisine, the dress,
• Important religious places and important temples mosques, churches, gurudwaras etc.
• Fairs and festivals of the state

Tourism:

• Important tourist destinations and the reasons for their importance
• What are the challenges for the tourism industry and what are the solutions for the same
• Any good initiative being taken by the state government in this sector.
• The revenue that this sector generates for the economy of your state.
• Any initiatives towards the eco-tourism.

Administrative and political structure:

• Important details about the capital city,
• You should know the number of districts and million cities in your state
• The basic information about other important cities and towns the number od Lok Sabha constituencies and the number of MPs to the Rajya Sabha from your state; the number of legislative assembly constituencies and the constituencies of the legislative council also if there is one.
• Important previous governors and chief ministers and other political figures from your state,
• The status of the panchayats,
• Important political issues of the state

Initiatives of the government:

• Various schemes by the central and state governments related to education, healthcare, agriculture, industry, labor, women, girl child, senior citizens, rural development, socially and economically backward groups, the tribals etc.
• You should know the significant features of these schemes, their status in the state, the problems being faced by them and solutions for them.
• You should be particularly aware of the performance of your state in the various flagship programmes like NRHM, RSBY, MGNREGA etc.

District:

All that information that has been discussed for the state and which can be applicable to the district should be learnt.

You should be aware of the rank of your district across the various above mentioned parameters viz-a-viz the state.

You should be aware of the performance of your district in the various flagship programmes like NRHM, RSBY, MGNREGA etc.

Town:

Apart from the above mentioned aspects you need to prepare about all those things which are peculiar about your town.

Optional subject:

You can always be asked questions related to your optional subject. The question can be a technical question related directly to the knowledge of the subject matter of the optional or it can be an applied question as well. For example, "What is the significance of your optional in the administration?", "How can your optional make you a better human being?" etc. Questions can also be asked as to why you choose a particular optional and if that optional is different from your graduation subjects why you made a change or why you didn't take an optional from one of the subjects of your graduation etc.

Preference for the state cadres:

You should be able to justify your preference order. If you have put your home state cadre at the top they might ask you a question "Are you averse to serve in other parts of the country?"

Here the important thing to be kept in mind is that don't try to fool or manipulate the Board. If you have particular reasons for making this choice you should say the same to the Board.

If your preference order of the state cadre for the IAS and IPS are different you should be able to explain the same.

You should have a fair amount of knowledge about the mixed state cadres like the AGMUT.

Certain degree of concealment of the actual views that are there in our mind can be done here. For example, generally the candidates prefer to give at the top the economically developed states. Now here you cannot directly say that this preference has been given because these economically developed states have a better standard of living. On the contrary, you can take a stand that though these states are economically better developed but then the challenges over here are also of a much higher and much complex degree. I want to face these challenges as they excite me or because they pertain to my interests. Here you can give the example of the crimes like cyber crimes, technological crimes, financial crimes etc.

Let's take another case. Many times it happens that the preference of the state cadre for the IAS and the IPS is different and generally in the IPS preference list the states having law and order problem are put at the lower end. Obviously the question can be asked that it seems you areafraidofthechallengingsituationsanddifficultsituationsrelated to militancy and insurgency. Now here friends, you can try to conceal your actual thoughts to an extent. Here you can suggest to the board that you have filled states with law and order problem at the lower end because in the domain of policing you are more fascinated with the investigation. Remember investigation, law and order maintenance, counter-insurgency, anti militancy operations are some of the different and equally important works of the police. It is quite normal that you have more inclination towards a particular dimension of policing. So with a little bit of presence of mind you can mask yourself to a small extent but this should be done very carefully.

Preference for the services:

You can always expect some serious and tricky from this section. "Why a particular service has been put above or below another service?" "Amongst the two services of the IRS, that is, the Indian Revenue Services (Income Tax) and Indian Revenue Services (Customs and Excise) why you have chosen one over the other?"

You should also have bit of knowledge about the nature of all the services so that you can justify and substantiate why you have chosen a particular service at a particular place. An Aspirant Officer who is already in a Group 'B' service and opting for the Group 'B' service from the UPSC exam should be able to answer questions on that. If you have omitted a particular service from the preference order altogether you should be able to defend that.

Employment Details:

You should refresh in your mind all the technical and practical aspects of the various professions that you have worked in so far. Generally the questions that will be asked to you related to your previous employment will focus more on the practical and applied aspects rather than the theoretical aspects because you have actually served there.

 

There can be other questions like "Why you want to leave your current job?", "You have switched more than one job, why so?", "How can we be certain that tomorrow you might not leave even this job?”, "If you are already serving in one of the services from this exam, why you want to leave that service?" etc.

If you are serving in some big PSU or an MNC having a much higher salary then the service you are aspiring for you can be asked "You are voluntarily choosing a service with lesser salary. Shouldn't we conclude that it is because of lust of power?"

A word of caution: Don't panic or be upset or reply with anger to the Board in such provocative questions. These are not the right approaches. On the contrary, you should maintain your calm and composure. This is a particular type of provocative question asked deliberately to test that whether you can maintain your cool in such a situation when your character and integrity has been questioned; which will be tested many times once you will become a bureaucrat.

Now coming to the answer, here a possible reply can be "No doubt the salary here is less but then there are various other positives in this service. For example, the ability to bring about a change in the situation around me that I have always desired for, the scope of serving the people from diverse backgrounds is immense, the job diversity is unmatched and quite challenging and so on."

Another question can be "How will you maintain the standard of living with reduced salary?" You can answer like "That's right sir. Salary will be less in the civil services jobs but then there are lots of perks and privileges which when factored in would reduce this apparently big gap quite significantly. Secondly sir, it is not the case that I am using my full salary every month. A good part of it is being saved. Hence at the most, only this saving will get reduced. My day to day Jife will not have a much of a difference and this small reduction in the savings is insignificant for me when the prospect of achieving my dream is there in front of me."

Generally while answering the questions related to this domain you should always be speaking what is true, only the actual reasons. Only then you will be able to defend it and defend the subsequent questions. You should ask yourself for what reasons I am join ing this service and should tell the same to the Board. When you will be pondering over the reasons for joining the service there will come out, what I term as, 'positive' and 'negative' factors for joining the service. For example, if you want to join the police service the positive factor should be to make the society free from the crime, to make this place a more secured place etc. The negative factor could be your desire for raw power, the fact that the people would be afraid of messing with you etc. Now you should refrain from mentioning these negative factors during the Personality Test.

Mother Tongue:

You should have the basic knowledge about your mother tongue; how it developed, who were the major contributors, what is the current status constitutionally etc. certain questions can be:

• What is the difference between the mother language and the mother tongue?
• What is the difference between the national language and the official language?
• Does India have a national language?
• Does India have an official language?
• What is the mother tongue of India?

 

If Hindi is your mother tongue then you should have an idea about when the National Hindi Day and the National Hindi Week are celebrated. Also what are the measures for the promotion of Hindi as the national language?

People who have made significant contributions in your mother tongue in the different fields like writing, theatre, cinema, songs, music etc.

Various articles related to the language enshrined in the constitution should also be known to you. Questions can be asked on the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

Educational institutions:

If the institution is named after an eminent personality you should get all the information about the personality. Secondly the question can also be asked about the place where that institution is situated. You can be asked certain personal questions related to that institution like your worst time in the institution, your best time in the institution, your favourite teacher, favourite colleague from the institution, the best thing you like about institution, the worst thing about your institution, if you were made the head of your institution etc.

Students from certain specific institutions like the Sainik Schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas, the convent schools, the DAV schools, the Army Schools etc can be asked certain common questions like why the school named so, what are their objectives and how are they different from the other schools etc.

You should know about the founder of the institution and also about the current head. You should always remember the moto and the emblem of your institution; houses and clubs related to co-curricular and extra­ curricular activities etc.

You can also be asked a question related to the difference between the deemed university, Open University, an autonomous college, between college and university etc. You can also be asked to compare two institutions of which you have been part of.

13.17     Earlier selections to the exams conducted by UPSC, SSC and other such government recruiting agencies:

You can be asked questions related to any service that you earlier had. If you ctually joined and served in that service for some time, questions regarding your experiences related to that profession can be asked.

If yo have already been selected in some of the service through the civil servces examiation you. can be asked that why you are leaving that service and again attempting for the civil services exam.

If you have already been selected in some group 'A' service by the UPSC then you can be asked "Why you are appearing again in the same exam?" Her you have to keep in mind that you should not be over critical of the service that you are currently in because after all that is also one of the most prestigious service of the country and there is a big possibility that one or more members of the Board might belong to that service. Hence your approach should be to answer in terms of your own desire to better yourself or to get into a particular service of your choice and then you need to explain that why 1t 1s the service of your choice.

Prizes medals scholarships etc.:

This is a very important column and has the potential of significantly influencing your Personality Test. I am saying so because if this column is filled with certain good achievements, that will definitely make your task in the Personality Test very easy as the Board will form a very positive impression of yours and your achievements. On the contrary, if this column is left empty it sends a very wrong impression about your personality.

Also, very often it as been seen that the candidates fill in the wrong information and project the things which they have actually not achieved. Now this is the .recipe for a big blunder. You can be nailed down by the Board very easily and once that happens there is virtually no scope for you to bounce back. My appeal to all the Aspirant Officers is to fill only the relevant and actual information. Also, you should always try that the column should not be left totally blank.

You should have in-depth knowledge about the field where you have claimed a particular achievement and should have a detailed knowledge about the agency that has given you that award and about the award itself.

Team games, sports, NCC:

The significance of this column is same as that of the preceding column related to the awards and prizes. The things to be kept in mind are also more or less same. You should have an in-depth knowledge about the game that you have claimed to be played.

Also certain basic questions related to this section should be prepared like the difference between the games and sports , recent issues related to the games that you play, important players associated with that game, different types of awards in that game, the objective of establishing the NCC, difference between the NCC, scout and guide and so on.

Positions of distinction/leadership held in school/college:

This is a column the information provided in which has the most direct and the most relevant bearing on the attributes that the Board is looking for in a prospective bureaucrat.

You should mention all the posts of leadership held by you even if some are of lesser importance. You should be aware of your responsibilities at that post and should be able to tell the Board your achievements as the leader and your way of functioning during the period of leadership. Don't try to lie here it can prove to be your biggest blunder.

Other extra-curricular activities and interests (such as hobbies etc.):

The common problem with many candidates related to this section is that "I don't have anything substantial which I can write as the hobby. So I think rather than writing anything I should leave it". Well friends, I would suggest that you should never do this. Before moving further, I would like to bring your attention to a point which is very often missed but if understood, could solve your problem to a great extent. The point is that the Detailed Application Form (OAF) asks for the "Other extra­ curricular activities and interests (such as hobbies etc.)" and not the "hobbies" only, which is generally thought. So even if you don't have a proper ‘hobby’; but have certain 'interests', those can be mentioned here. Now let's move further.

I definitely agree that in various cases, candidates don't have any particular hobby or interest. But ask yourself that what you like or prefer doing in your free time or leisure time. You can write that as your hobby. For example you might be watching TV in your free time or surfing the net or hanging out with your friends. You can write any one of these things. Just intellectualize the language a bit, make it a bit sophisticated. As an example, if you prefer to watch the TV in your free time, then you may write watching television within brackets, the channels related to environment and biodiversity; or the music channels. There are chances that the Board won't ask any question on that because it's something very common but at any rate it is better than the leaving the column totally blank.

If you have a hobby earlier but are no longer pursuing it, there is no harm in writing that hobby. It can be justified that the preparation of the exam or some other reasons prevented you from actively pursuing that hobby. Also, I have seen that sometimes the candidate shies away from filling a particular hobby. I had a friend , who is now an IRS officer, who had an interest of giving hairstyles and fashion related suggestions to the people; and believe me he was very good at that. At the time of filling the Detailed Application Form (OAF), on asking why he didn't fill that as hobby, he told me that he thinks it's not the right thing and the Board might not take it very positively that being a male I am providing hair styles or I am concerned with the fashion advising work.

I tried to explain him that this is not the right approach. There is nothing like being a male or female. You cannot afford to subscribe to that narrow, conservative and male chauvinistic approach. You should totally refrain from it. Secondly, it conveys nothing wrong. On the contrary it reflects your creative side. These days very often bureaucracy has been accused of being status quoits, having lack of vision and having no creativity so when you are showing this side you can impress upon the Board that you have a quality which is seriously lacking in the bureaucracy these days.

Dear friends, this particular column gives you ample scope wherein you can set yourself apart from the others. You can show your uniqueness to the Board. So please spend some time here, prepare this part well and believe me it will help you immensely.

Next : How your Appearance in UPSC interview

Dear Reader, My name is Manisha Dubey Jha. I have been blogging for 3 years and through the Fast Read.in I have been giving important educational content as far as possible to the reader. Hope you like everyone, please share your classmate too. As a literature person, I am very passionate about reading and participating in my thoughts on paper. So what is better than adopting writing as a profession? With over three years of experience in the given area, I am making an online reputation for my clients. If any mistakes or wrong in the article, please suggest us @ [email protected]

Read More.

• Nature of The Personality Test of UPSC
• UPSC Interview: Complete Guide
• The Initial Few Minutes on UPSC Interview Day
• How your Appearance in UPSC interview
• Expected Questions in UPSC Interview
• What Do’s & Don’ts in UPSC Interview
• Qualities in The Candidate for UPSC Interview
• Sample Question Bank for UPSC interview
• Scheme of the UPSC Exam
• The Final Moments in UPSC Interview

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