Board: M Sathiyavathy Madam (IAS AGMUT 1982; Member since April’18;
referred as CW below)
Date of interview: 15.02.2019 (Forenoon Session)
Background:
-
PMRDF (2014-17)
-
ACC Limited
(2013-14)
-
Educational Qual:
Masters in Development Practice, TISS Mumbai; B. Tech Mining Engineering, IIT
ISM Dhanbad
-
4th
attempt- 2 mains 1* interview; Optional= Psychology
-
Hobbies-
Mindfulness Exercises, Blogging, Public Speaking and Volunteering
-
Native Bihar
CW: While reading aloud my
DAF says, I (me) come from Purnea, Bihar. Stops and asks Isn’t Purnea in
Bengal?
I said no madam its in the
eastern part of Bihar. Then she asks does it border Bengal. I reply in
affirmative.
She completed reading aloud my DAF
in a minute and asked following in the middle:
CW: What is PMRDF, is it
still running, how is it different from aspirational district fellowship.
Me: Spoke few lines on this
as felt that CW was interested in knowing about it (Seeing the salary, she
asked who appointed it. Answered it in a line.)
CW: What is this Mindfulness
exercise (my interest)?
Me: I defined it and added
what I do under it.
CW: What was your
contribution in PMRDF for three years at Sitamarhi?
Me: I mentioned my
contribution in implementation of some government schemes
a. Swachh Bharat Mission- I
spoke around 40secs on my contribution and Sitamarhi’s unique aspects in the
campaign against open defecation.
She intervened and asked how
many toilets did I make?
Me: district adm+community
institutions constructed 1.2 lakh toilets app.
CW: Utilisation
status(percentage)?
Me- 85% (I said so despite
Sitamarhi being Bihar’s 1st ODF district of Bihar as I felt that she
wanted to listen from me the true ground realities and not facts and figures
which she might be very aware of how they are compiled)
CW: Is water available in the
toilets?
Me- Yes (district admin focus
on mandatory water availability in toilet designs through water chambers made
along with toilet superstructure)
CW: Isn’t 85% an exaggerated
number?
Me- This figure of 85% is
based on the district verification team and feedback from community leaders
like mukhiya/sarpanch.
But in a field visit, I found
a hamlet of 80 HHs where no family was using toilet. When I enquired, people
said, “Sir kuch log aaye the and bana
diye humse bina puche” (Few people came and built toilets for me without
any consultation and talks). Discussion with them resulted in people coming
with “Low cost no cost toilet model” which can be made without bricks, cement
etc. and only materials like tar container are used. Later when I visited this
hamlet after 2-3 months, I found people using toilets. So, as per me, water
availability and community participation in toilet model and planning are
crucial in toilet utilization (I spoke this as I had felt from Madam’s Q1 that
she had a clear idea of the ground issues and manipulation of data)
CW: Ok now lets come to the
second scheme
Me- Yes madam, it was Jeevika
(Bihar State Rural Livelihood Mission). I described in few lines and a story
about the role and importance of Jeevika SHG didis in the GPs.
CW intervened to ask, “What
was your contribution in this”?
Me: My contribution was:
a.
Coordinating with
banks to get SHG bank account linked; DM, DPM Jeevika and me working on this
front
b.
Livelihood of
didis- Lehthi is a local bangle made in Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur area. I tried to
help the interested members in working on this aspect.
M1: Ok so you have been a
Finance Minister, Model Youth Parliament. Tell me what is the present problem
between FM and RBI. Don’t you feel its very bad which led to resignation of
Governor of RBI? What is your opinion?
Me: Both FM and RBI are
important institutions for Indian economy. RBI-FM problem is on few aspects
like
a.
Reserves
(Economic capital framework) transfer from RBI to government
b.
NBFC liquidity
c.
PCA framework
I mentioned the perspectives
of both in a line on above aspects and summed up by saying that I feel that
both of them need to collaborate for economy to grow in the long run.
M1: Ok. Tell me Basel3 is to
be implemented in Indian banks but it requires great amounts of capital that I
feel we don’t have. So, don’t you feel RBI did right by not transferring money
to government? Would we be able to achieve Basel3?
Me: Yes madam, it’s a tough
challenge for FM and RBI to capitalize indian banks as per basel3 norms. But
RBI is already doing good in this aspect by keeping CAR norms at 9% despite
Basel 3 demanding 8% only. So we are moving in right direction and in
coming years, FM and RBI will be able to
capitalize the banks as per Basel 3 norms
M2: You left the fellowship
to prepare for UPSC. Don’t you feel that it would have created a void in the
district?
Me: Sorry Sir. But it was
unfortunate on my front to leave the fellowship as it got over after 3 years.
So I started preparation for UPSC.
M2: OK then let me rephrase
my question. Don’t you feel there lies some inbuilt mechanism through which
works are executed at the grassroots? How do you see your leaving the
fellowship then in Sitamarhi?
Me: Yes Sir, there is an
inbuilt mechanism like PRI i.e. mukhiya/ sarpanch who implement the schemes at
grassroots with the district admin. Professional support through young fellows
like PMRDF, Aspirational district, Swachh Bharat Prerak etc. has been also
important in this regard. As far as Sitamarhi is concerned, Sir I have to go
back and see its status.
M2- Have you heard about line
departments?
Me- Yes Sir, there are diff
line departments at district like PHED, DRDA, Education (SSA, RMSA), Health
etc.
M2: Yes departments like
agriculture and animal husbandry etc. So tell me have you heard about “Mera
gaon, Mera Gaurav” scheme?
Me: Yes Sir, Its an scheme
under which agricultural scientists adopt the farms of the farmers and help
them in modern agricultural practices. I worked on this aspect not under this
scheme during PMRDF when I approached Agricultural university of Samastipur and
KVKs of Sitamarhi to bring them closer to farmers on Organic farming and gobar
gas.
M2: How can this scheme be
helpful in solving the issues of rural areas?
Me: Farm extension services,
awareness of farmers etc. I found marginal farmers have 1-2 cattle which can be
useful for increasing their incomes. Cow dung is considered generally as waste
but it is wealth through organic farming and gobar gas. The outputs of it
include cooking fuel, electricity. M2 intervened by asking there is something
else also as a product. I said yes sir, it is manure which can be used in the
fields. Thus, in such a manner, rural issues from low awareness to farm
extension, cleanliness etc can be solved through this scheme.
M2: Have you heard about vermi-composting?
Me- Yes Sir, it is a type of
composting in which earthworms eat and digest cow dung in 40-45 days to yield
manure for the farms.
M2: Nitin Gadkari, Min for
Road transport always focuses about cement roads construction. What is your
take on cement roads v/s tar roads?
Me- Yes Sir, Cement roads are
better than tar roads in few aspects like
a.
Durability- In
flood prone areas where water stays on roads, cement roads are found to be more
durable than tar roads.
b.
Aesthetic appeal-
In Sitamarhi, I can remember people saying that “Humlogo ko ujli sadak chahiye kaali wali nahi” (we need white/grey
roads and not black ones) {I wasn’t getting something else then so spoke this
which people used to say in villages)
M2- Negatives of cement
roads?
Me: Sorry sir I can’t recall.
M2: But you are from cement
sector (because I had worked for 10 months in ACC cements, so he was asking me
this)
Me: Sorry sir, I can’t
recall. I would go back and read about it.
M2: something wear tear, can
you recall?
Me- I reiterated the above…go back and read….
Me- I reiterated the above…go back and read….
M2- Okay. No problem.
M3: You were coordinator of
NGO named FFI. Tell us something about it.
Me: Fast Forward India was an
NGO run in college by IIT ISM Dhanbad students. It comprised of 4 projects……
described them in brief.
M3: You said that you were
working in Naxal district Sitamarhi. What do you feel is the solution to
Naxalism?
Me: Sir the solution in my
view lies in bridging the development and governance deficit in such areas. In
Sitamarhi, after the district admin reached out to such areas and communities
where LWE was prevalent, today it is no more a Naxal district. Other programmes
like Sarkar apke dwaar of Bihar have been helpful in this regard. Other aspects
like security through community policing may be needed.
M4: What is PMJDY and its
performance in Bihar?
Me: PMJanDhanY is a financial
inclusion scheme starting from opening of a bank a/c to Aadhar seeding to
insurance schemes to Ru-Pay card. It is now being used also for availing the
subsidy and govt schemes like Ujjawala, pension etc. As far as my knowledge on
its performance in Bihar is concerned,
it has been good in southern bihar districts but not that good in north
and west bihar districts (I had no data to answer this question and so gave
this one liner which was not made a base to ask any counter question)
M4: Tell us some schemes
related to women?
Me: In recent times, women
have been kept in the centre of the beneficiaries of government schemes like
Ujjwala where LPG gas is allotted in the name of women as the head of the HH.
Other schemes related to women include ICDS (nutrition), Ujjawala
(rehabilitation of victims of violence), Nirbhaya fund (safety, protection and
empowerment), RMNCH (maternal health) etc.
M4: If you become FM of
India, how would you do budgeting among different departments?
Me: As a FM my focus would be
on some departments like-
a.
Education and
Skill development- I would allot 6-7% of GDP on thsis sector as India is at a
cusp of demographic dividend.
b.
Health- allot
5-6% GDP as the world is ageing and we are growing
c.
Women and
elderly- Population increasing of elderly and will be almost 10% of country in
coming decades. So we need to work on them from now only.
d.
Agriculture and
allied activities- As about 50% workforce is still in agriculture, it is
important to work on modernization of agriculture like horticulture etc.
M4: What about youth and
agriculture?
Me: Yes Sir, youth and
agriculture can be seen together as government has a scheme called ARYA under
which it aims to attract and retain youth in agriculture. This will be helpful
in creating agri entrepreneurship and startups. Youth alone needs to be focused
through initiatives like Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan. I found them not to be
very much functional in Sitamarhi, so they can be rejuvenated.
M4: How can happiness be a
part of budgetary process and planning?
Me: Sir as per me, happiness
comes to a person or community in this aspect when s/he is made a part of the
budgetary or planning process. Under IPPE of MGNREGS, I found that people in
Sitamrhi really felt happy and empowered when their views were considered in
labour budget creation.
M4: Is there any country
where happiness is a part of such budgetary process?
Me: Sir, Bhutan has Gross national
happiness which includes happiness in national budgetary accounts. (He seemed
not so happy and I felt he may be expecting some other country name). So I
added that Scandinavian countries like Finland, Denmark, Norway also consider
happiness in their budgetary process. (He seemed to be more satisfied and said
Okay. Good.
CW: OK. Thank You. Your
interview is over. I also said Thank You and left the interview.
Felt fine after I came out of
the room. But also had this feeling that I wasn’t asked about so many things like
GS, Psycho, state specific que etc. Now lets wait and watch for the result and
marks. All the best to all.
