G. Chandeesh, ex-SSMS president and IPS officer, was invited by the Public Policy Club for a panel discussion on civil services, on March 3rd. He secured AIR 245 in the 2017 UPSC examination. When the English Press Club reached out to him, he was happy to share his thoughts on the preparation process.

Tips for UPSC

Chandeesh decided to take the UPSC exam in his second year. His work in SSMS and Nirmaan had made him realise that he would be dissatisfied with a desk job, and convinced him to pursue public service instead. He named S R Sankaran—a renowned civil servant—as an influential role model. While he hadn’t started preparing in earnest, he stayed up to date on current affairs by reading newspapers and journals.

He advised students to make a decision on appearing for the UPSC exam by the end of their second year. This allows them to take various relevant humanities courses such as Current Affairs and Public Administration. He himself had chosen to take humanities electives to fill all his open elective slots, stating that courses such as Gandhian Thoughts can also aid a civil servant.

He suggested self-study for the optionals and coaching for interview guidance. Since the aspirant has to make an impression on the interviewer in only 30 minutes, one can neither afford to appear arrogant nor under-confident. Thus, mock interviews are critical for preparation. He recalled that he had to learn from his own mistakes in his first attempt, and practised extensively for the interview round.

He emphasised the importance of reading newspapers thoroughly, and finding out about the root cause, consequences and the possible solutions of an issue after reading about it. The exam pattern changed in 2013 – it’s not solely focused on rote learning anymore and requires good analytical skills. He also urged students not to ignore their academics while preparing – a good CGPA is never harmful, and engineering can always serve as a backup option. He cited reservation as a huge deciding factor, as general candidates have only 37% seats and have fewer attempts than SC/ST candidates. Also, younger students have to work much harder, as the exam is also taken by people with a lot more experience.

Time in BITS

He remarked that being SSMS president was by far the most important PoR he held in his college life. He was among the top five candidates in the UPSC interview round, and the chairman of the interview was particularly impressed with the work he had done in SSMS. He was surprised that young students had cheque powers in the Institute and could make financial decisions. He was awarded the Mantra award for Outstanding Leadership for his work in SSMS, an award given annually to one student by BITSAA. He also received the Best Outgoing Student for Mechanical Engineering.

Apart from SSMS, he was an active member of Nirmaan, which led him towards public service from his first year. He was also H-Rep of Budh Bhawan, which gave him some leadership experience. He was in the carrom team, which taught him how to be patient, as a game can go on for 4-5 hours, and one has to be focused throughout.

Work in SSMS

Expanding on his role as SSMS president, he mentioned that before having that responsibility, he considered himself to be a naive kid, and that leadership role transformed him into a mature person. As president, he had to balance numerous parties – the administration, mess workers, Sodexo, and students, all of whom had mutually conflicting interests. Also, coming from a relatively well-off family, he had never experienced the plight of poverty, but seeing the mess workers condition made him confront these realities. This further motivated him to pursue civil service. Also, the workers strike happened in 2012, which gave him firsthand experience with handling emergency situations.

He had also brought about many new initiatives, like a performance appraisal policy, employee of the month programme, and shifting the tender process online, thus ensuring more transparency. He was disappointed when he spoke to the current team and learned that the appraisal policy has been removed, and ANC—a significant revenue stream in the past—had been completely handed over to Sodexo.

He signed off with encouraging words for BITSians, stating that they have a natural advantage over other engineering colleges when it comes to exams like UPSC, as BITS is one of the best colleges for overall personality development. Students have a well-rounded personality and a grounded mindset here. He remarked that he would’ve joined some corporate job or gone for Masters if he were in an IIT, but being in BITS and taking up the aforementioned roles motivated him to pursue public service.