UPSC 2024 Interview Questions Asked by IAS Interview Panel

UPSC interview is the last stage of the IAS selection process. The candidates who clear the IAS main exam are called for the Interview stage at the Dholpur House, New Delhi. The candidates who appear in the interview share their experiences and some important questions asked by the UPSC interview panel. The UPSC interview is an extension of the main exam. The candidates can see below the important questions asked in the UPSC interview.

UPSC Interview Questions

The UPSC interview is the last stage of the UPSC selection process. The Union Public Service Commission is conducting the Civil Service 2023 interviews from January 2, 2024. The Commission released the UPSC (IAS) main result 2023 on December 8, 2023. The Commission selected around 3,500 candidates for the interview. The Commission also released the interview schedule on December 19, 2023. The Commission will further release the IAS interview dates 2024 for rest of the candidates soon.

UPSC Interview 2024

Union Public Service Commission started the interviews on January 2, 2024. The Commission did not provide much time to the candidates as the mains result was released in the third week of December 2023. UPSC interview is more a discussion than an interview. It is a test of true personality. The panel members are so experienced that they can filter out personality only through the answers given by the candidate. One important characteristic of the UPSC interview is that the panel members do not (normally) interrupt the candidate in between their statements, they wait till the candidate ends their answer.

UPSC Interview Questions 2024

The UPSC conducted the IAS interview at Dholpur House, UPSC Head Office, New Delhi. The candidates are required to travel to New Delhi to appear in an IAS interview. There are ten UPSC members. The Commission forms the same number of interview panels in the chairmanship of the members of the Commission. The Commission also invites members from all walks of life to be a part of the interview panel.

There are two to three components around which the whole IAS interview revolves. Some of these components are:

• Detailed Application Form
• Optional Subject of the candidate
• Current Events involving the fundamental questions related to the Constitution, Religion, Economy and the likes
• Situation-Based Questions
• Tricky Questions

The candidates should note that the interview panel can ask questions about any of the above-mentioned topics. The candidates are suggested to prepare all of them from the perspective given below. Let us see all of them in detail.

Detailed Application Form(DAF) Based Questions

The UPSC interview panel ask questions from the DAF of the candidates. The candidates need to prepare all the aspects of the minutest detail mentioned in their DAF. The candidates can prepare the following for the IAS interview. 

Educational Institution Attended

The candidates should prepare the History, Institution motto, affiliations and the like about the education institutions they had attended during their studies. They should also enquire about the names of their famous school alumni.

Educational background

The panel members can ask questions form the educational background of the candidates and the latest developments in their field of study. The candidates are suggested to prepare the latest developments in their subject of study. The candidate should prepare applications of the subject studied at their graduation level. 

Parent's Profession and Sector

The panel members can ask anything related to the profession of parents, their organisation, recent developments in their organisation, chronic problems associated with the sector in which they are working and the like. 

Residence City/State

The candidates should prepare all the details related to the city/state of their residence. The UPSC interview panel can ask about the historical status of their city, the monuments associated with the city, Swachh Sarvekshan Rank, any current development in their city/state, economic and geographical significance of their city or any plan of development.

The panel member can also ask anything about their parental/ancestral place.

Personal Appearance

The candidates should prepare all the details about any ailment they have such as eyesight, hair fall, short/long height and the like. The panel member can also ask the candidates about their dress, favourite colour and the like. 

Hobbies And Interest

The candidates should have all the details about their hobbies and interests as mentioned in their Detailed Application Forms. The candidates should prepare the peculiar/technical details of the hobbies mentioned in their DAF. 

The candidates are also suggested to prepare the details about the famous personalities associated with the sports mentioned as their hobby in the DAF.

Service Related Questions

If the candidate is already in a profession or service, he or she should thoroughly prepare all the aspects and developments related to their field of work.

Optional Subject-Related Questions

There are possibilities that the panel have one subject-related specialist. The panel members can ask the fundamentals and the applied part of the optional subject of the candidates. They can also ask questions based on the graduation subject of the candidate. 
The candidates should prepare the eminent personalities related to that subject. They are also suggested to read and prepare for the latest developments in the related fields.

For Example

If the optional subject is Sociology 

How will you use Sociology in your Service/field?

Current Events Related Questions

The candidates should prepare all the current event-based issues for the interview. The UPSC interview is an extension of the IAS main exam. The UPSC panel can ask for any detail about the current issue and the fundamental issues/trigger points behind the current happening.

The candidates are suggested to prepare the following issues

• National
• International
• Economic
• Social
• Constitutional
• Historical Issues
• Issues specific to India
• National Security related issues
• Internal security related issues

The candidates are suggested to form their opinion. The interview panel ask the opinion of the candidates about any issue and the empirical basis of that opinion. The candidates should thoroughly research the issue and form an opinion which should be legally correct irrespective of Societal norms.

The candidates appearing in the IAS interviews 2023 are sharing their experiences about the interview as below:

This year the Interview panel is asking a few questions from the DAFs. The Commission is asking the questions related to the following:

• Recent Traffic Law passed in the Parliament. 
• Role of Governor
• State of Federalism in India
• The latest Supreme Court Judgement regarding the Adani - Hindenberg Case and the related terms such as short-selling 
• Indian and Israel Relations
• Comment on Israel and Gaza War (Hamas)

Situation-Based Question

Q. If you are working as an SDM and your promotion is due but one of your subordinates is corrupt and he is a special man of the state's Chief Minister. You have already recommended his transfer to another department but it is not approved. How will you stop this man from doing corruption because it can hamper your promotion and even result in your transfer to a less important department? 

Tricky Questions

The UPSC interview panel also ask the tricky question to check the presence of mind of the candidates. These questions can be about anything general and the answer to those questions can strengthen/weaken the position of the candidate.

Q. What looks like half an apple?

Answer. The answer to this question lies in the question itself. the other half of the apple looks like the half an apple.

Q. Can you name three consecutive days without using the actual days?

Answer. The candidates should apply their presence of mind to this question as it is little tricky. The answer to this question is Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

Q. A person was pushed out of an aeroplane without any parachute. He survived. How’s that possible?

Answer. The aeroplane was standing on the ground/runway/hanger.

Q. If a ship sinks on the border of India & USA, how would you bury the survivors?

Ans: The candidates should patiently hear the question and then think about it. The panel is asking about the fate of survivors, not the dead persons so the candidates answered the survivors need to be rescued, not buried.