[i25] UPSC Mock Interview Questions: Polity & International Relations (IR) current / contemporary issues of 2020

1. Prologue
2. UPSC Interview Questions from Polity
3. UPSC Interview Questions from International Relations (IR)

Prologue

• After a long delay, UPSC declared the IAS/IPS Civil Services Exam Mains result, and the interviews are scheduled from Feb-2020 onwards. (btw, here is a chance to get free mock interview with Mrunal, fill up this form)
• Here is a list of 25 mock interview questions from the recent current affairs issues in Polity & International Relations (IR)

UPSC Interview Questions from Polity

1. After the Gangrape and murder of a veterinary doctor in Hyderabad (2019),  the accused persons were killed in encounter.  Supreme Court guidelines required the state to register and FIR against the police personnel involved in the encounter. But the Telangana state government is refusing to do so. In such a scenario, what are the constitutional powers available to the supreme court and the union government? What are your thoughts on the extrajudicial killings? Isn’t it justified in the era of slow justice?
2. What was the objective of the 126th Amendment Bill? Ans: SC/ST quota extended for another 10 years whereas removal of the Anglo Indian members quota in the Lok Sabha. What are your views on this matter? Don’t you think Parsis and Anglo-indians deserve quota in the Lok Sabha? how else can they win the elections  and present their demands in the parliament?
3. IIMs have written to the HRD ministry that they should be exempted from the SC /ST /OBC /EWS reservation system during the recruitment of faculties. Is the demand justified? Are there any organisations where reservation is not applicable? Hint: Central educational institutions (reservations in teachers cadre) Act 2019 allows the Institutions of excellence, research institutions, Institutions of national and statistical importance to be exempted from providing reservation in the recruitment. IIMs want government should add them in this list.
4. NPR and CAA. Can state governments refuse to comply with the CAA and NPR exercise?  If they do,  that options  available for the union government?
5. We already have a Census exercise to count the number of persons then why is there a need for a separate National Population register? Some states are boycotting the NPR Exercise, In such case what are the options available for the union?
6. What is Article 131? Ans. It deals with the power of the supreme court to hear the centre state disputes. The Governor of Kerala stated that state government went to Supreme Court without informing him and therefore it is unconstitutional.  Can a State Government file a case against the union government without informing the Governor, what are the provisions of the Constitution?
7. Supreme Court has stated that freedom of speech on the internet is a fundamental right.  but the government has blocked the internet in Jammu Kashmir for national security,  because it is routinely used by the protesters to organised stone pelting against the security forces. According to you what is the way forward in this conundrum?
8. The Chief Justice of India has recently said that in many instances RTI is misused for blackmail and extortion. Do you agree? Then how can we prevent the misuse of RTI in this manner? What are your thoughts on the recent amendment of the RTI Act? do you agree with the opinion of critics that it has diluted the act?
9. Andhra Pradesh drafted a “Andhra Pradesh Disha bill 2019” under which government will maintain a public registry of sex offenders. Some human rights advocates criticized this initiative that even after a criminal comes out of jail after serving his sentence, he will be ostracized by the society and will not be able to find a job,  will not be able to find a rented house, if such web registry is maintained and accessible to the public at large. Union government also has a national register of sex offenders but it is not accessible for the public.  what are your thoughts on this matter?
10. Are we seeing rising incidents of unrest and politicking in the Indian universities? Advocates opine that it’s a healthy and necessary development for democracy- do you agree? If you were the vice chancellor of a higher education institute, how will you address the issues similar to the ones that are happening in JNU, Jamia & elsewhere?
11. In the recent elections Britain’s labour party suffered the worst election defeat since 1930. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has to the labour party to abandon its “crazy Socialism”. Has socialism lost its relevance in the modern polity?
12. Why is Donald Trump being impeached? How is the impeachment process of the US President different than that of the President of India? Can you give me the name of some presidents who have been impeached in recent times (Hint: Brazil- Dilma Rousseff, S.Korea: Park Guen-hye) Looking at all these incidents, Can we say that presidential system of governance creates more opportunity for the abuse of power?
13. Ministry of personnel has launched the good governance index for measuring the states and union territories of India. Top three states are Tamilnadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka. What can we do to improve the ranking of Gujarat (or whichever is your home state)?
14. What is GCTOC (Gujarat control of terrorism and organised crime Act)?  if we already have an NIA Act, then why is there a need for a separate act? Which part of the constitution empowers the state government to enact such laws?  Suppose a terrorist is arrested and the penal provision in GCTOC and NIA are different  then which law will prevail? Why?
15. Uttar Pradesh State government has decided to implement the police commissioner system in Lucknow and Noida what does it mean? what are its implications?
16. Uttarakhand government is conducting an opinion poll among the students whether they should be allowed to bring mobile phones in the classes or not?  what are your opinions on this matter? 1)  whether mobile should be allowed or not  in the classroom?  don’t give me a fence-sitter answer tell me yes or no, why? 2)   whether it is advisable to ask the opinion of students what is good for them?  should government also conduct an opinion poll whether they should be given more homework or not?
17. Andhra government has passed direct that will set up three state capitals –  Amravati as the legislative capital,  Visakhapatnam executive capital and Kurnool as the  judicial capital.  Do you think it is an appropriate decision?
18. The Union and the state governments of Tripura and Mizoram have signed an agreement to settle the 30,000 Bru refugees in Tripura because they don’t want to go back to Mizoram. Tell us something about this crisis?

UPSC Interview Questions from International Relations (IR)

Unless you’ve given very high preference to IFS (Foreign Service) e.g. 1st or 2nd preference, the IR questions are rare in official UPSC interviews. Because your 25-30 minutes will be over within DAF & National Qs. So, don’t spend excessive amount of time preparing IR for Interviews.

19. Where is Bougainville located In the world map? Why is it in the news? (Hint: Its people voted for a referendum to become an independent country from Papua New Guinea. So Bougainville has become the newest country of the world). Can you give me names of some new countries that have been born in the last one decade? (Hint: Douth Sudan-2011. In 2017 Catalonia passed referendum to become independent from Spain but failed.)
20. Reasons for the ongoing crisis between USA and Iran? what is the way forward for India in this situation? How does it affect the world?
21. Hong Kong unrest? What are the demands of the protesters? What are the role/interest of China and the USA in this?
22. BREXIT: the present status? How does it affect the Indian interests and global order as a whole?
23. Why has the Government of India refused to sign the RCEP agreement? By not signing it, aren’t we going to loose in the access to Asian export market viz a viz China?
24. Gotabaya Rajapaksa becomes the new President of Sri Lanka. What are the implications for India?
25. Altaf Hussain is the Bahubali type political leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Karachi. recently he has fallen out with the ISI and Army, and sought Asylum in India. Should we give him Asylum? Why not, if Pak can shelter Dawood, we should reciprocate, shouldn’t we?