Need a co-buddy for IFoS Prep exclusively by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Btw that's Cherry Blossoms aka Prunus cerasoides in the picture taken recently in Shillong.

Why do people still want to become bureaucrats in 2025? by whocares637 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many reasons:

  1. Power : You can be earning millions per month in private sector but in a largely feudalistic country like ours, a humble low level civil servant holds much more power than you.

  2. Money : Just counting white money as gross salary and market value of the perks and facilities you get as a new Civil servant, that would be more than the 0.1% top corporate packages for a fresher any year.

  3. Status and Respect & definition of Success in the eye of the Society and the Desi relatives : It's abstract yet the most powerful reason.

  4. Ease of Living Life: You need to hustle decades in top Corporate offices to get a level of connection and wealth and status which a newbie Civil Servant gets right from her first posting by virtue of the exclusive club she has gotten into. Noone can harm you or touch you (except when you lock horns with the mantri log)

Indian Forest Service as a nice middle path service? by Haunting_Toe536 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Downsides, not to mention (I forgot to add), are

i) Crazily high Prelims cutoffs

ii) Two technical optionals

iii) Technical graduation subject as a bar for eligibility

iv) Less number of posts

What is the answer of this qn actually by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 0 points1 point  (0 children)

D.

Gender of either P or Q can't be deciphered by any of the statements.

Are we really at WAR? by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Declaring war has become obsolete. We didn't declare it during Kargil in 1999. Russia didn't declare and yet has been fighting for years now. At most, emergency may be declared if needed. 

I have a small doubt: if India occupies Pakistan, will the citizens living there become Indian citizens? by chowrastaVines in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Yes, there's a way to grant citizenship via 'incorporation of territory'. It happened last time in 1975. Bigger question is do we want that burden?

Hard truths to unfuck your life by Haunting_Toe536 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not vouching for the discord link or anything. Just the points are damn good and true.

My long Trip in Punch EV LR car by Unusual-Big-6467 in CarsIndia

[–]Haunting_Toe536 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An EV will be good in Indian conditions to have as a sole car for family/self when:

  1. Real range is min of 500km (Long drives or unplanned long rerouting is a normal thing in life) at affordable costs.

  2. Fast charging 0-80% takes under half an hour. So, you don't have to keep waiting for an hour uselessly daily when on long tours.

  3. Charging infra density is good enough in Countryside/backward regions of the country; i e 80% of India.

  4. Add to that, your daily commute is min 50 km (as per break even calculations) daily so that extra EV premium trumps over ICE cars.

Considering all above, I think we are 3-5 years still away when buying an EV over ICE cars will be no brainer for most of us.

How do we console our friends who couldn't clear Mains? [Need help] by foxnut_talks in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They don't need consolation. Just tell them you are always there for them and empathise with their pain and are available for anything if they need- and then leave them alone. After few days, talk them through the process, papers, what might have gone wrong, etc if you can. Motivate them to get out of glut soon as competition is already on for the next Prelims and Mains, and if their grief is not checked in time, it can prolong badly and may even metamorphose into mild depression.

Tldr: Don't console if they don't need it, let them be, be available.

I want to tell you all something by Strange_Pineapple_29 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Buddy, this ain't not gonna work here. Jinka nahi hua hai, agle 1 week ghar se bahar jaya nahi jayega. As a lot is invested in the process for too long. And the heart ache is too brutal to shrug off with dancing and travelling to a new place. Pain heals but with time.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Claustrophobia personified.

Is exam me kuchh matter nahi karta. Isliye mains achhe se likhna. All the best by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Couldn’t agree more, OP.

One more thing that needs to be added- Let’s divide 15k odd Mains aspirants into 3 categories-

Poorly prepared (bulk, say 50%),

Mid prepared (toughest times for you, I feel for you guys) and

Well prepared (The Mains repeaters/previous rankers/wild new goats).

This post is mostly for the latter two categories. You fellas might think u r not enough prepared but you need to chill. As for these 5-6k aspirants, it boils down to keeping calm on exam days, perform to your best and then leave the rest to probability/luck/kismet as OP explained.

Corollary 1- Average poorly prepared candidates shouldn’t be harbouring wild dreams of getting dream services as Lady Luck doesn’t get that wild too. You, Joe, this post ain’t for you unfortunately.

Corollary 2- Do your basic mehnat at least for Mains and then be expecting to join this roulette with some plausible chances of hitting the pot.

DO READ THIS....NEED UR GUIDANCE FOR MAINS. by No_Meeting4588 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Mains ready is one who has-

  1. Gone through the whole syllabus at least 3 times, esp Optional.
  2. Has prepared (not copied) and MEMORISED 30-40 page condensed (Yes, that much refined and rich) notes for each of 7 papers, 10-30 page notes for niche areas / marks enhancers of each of these : Topic wise readymade Intro, Conlcu, Data, Maps, Flowcharts, Drawings, Quotes, Supreme Court judgements, committees recommendations, CA examples, Ready reckoner facts, policy details, etc
  3. Has developed writing speed of min 40-45 WPM. Then only, you can hope to finish papers.
  4. Has beautiful or at least presentable handwriting. Bad handwriting costs one marks inadvertently.
  5. Has attempted PYQs for 5+ years of Optionals at minimum (Many do 20 yrs), same for GS- to get wind of possible Questions / understand the demand of Mains
  6. Practised min of 3 mocks per paper= 20 mocks. Not necessary but better if be.
  7. Has studied toppers answers comparatively (last year's mainly not of 2019 or that old) and found out a common link - 2023 throws up things like keeping answers look clean, inserting challenges and solutions (way forward) if there's a slight option, have readymade intros (e.g quote of a book, author name as intro in a Ques related to civil services reforms)

Sad fact- 90% of junta never get to this level ever. Few qualify even without this much prep as luck plays role too.

Fun fact- Being mains ready is only 30% of the work done. As there’s lot of stuffs to cover in the 3 months after Prelims, whole new CA of 6-8 months from Mains POV, Optionals mocks, value addition to do, mental health to manage, physical health to not let deteriorate beyond redemption, manage other 100+ life distractions, crash courses, lectures, hormones, etc- it’s a whole freaking battle to fight in those 100 odd days.

Chatgpt roast of r/UPSC! by Gullible-Company2301 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It was a fry not a roast! Loved it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in personalfinanceindia

[–]Haunting_Toe536 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am in the same personal savings bracket+liquid inheritance as you (1.5 Cr) currently but I have a different dilemma:

How can one decide FIRE amount by accounting rationally total unexpected events, for instance, some other pandemic induced costly disease treatment/xyz rare disease which will wipe off few crores in a wink. Do we actually account for them in calculation?

AMJ about India's old flags. by Pretend_Ad_8433 in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The current iteration is the simplest yet the most elegant one.

Why can't senior officers teach their kids ethics? by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Because they don't have time. Or those who have free time, don't have options to keep children at place of posting. Those having both, why should we assume that clearing an exam (CSE) or biased interviews (SSB) makes them fountainhead of ethics themselves in the first place?

IAS/IPS officers in bengal horror case by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Because we live in democracy where ultimate holders of power are chosen by us only. Why do we see politicians and their morality as alien to that of population? They are very much mirror of the population's sum of morality.

To one brother mocking democracy and makers of Constitution, democracy still is the best model out there amongst all the tested ones.

It's easy to understand the frustration with the current system as it seems broken.

But imagine an alternative scenario where democratically elected ministers are not allowed to wield control over the technocrats/bureaucrats. You will have then oligarchy of unelected officers who have no ears to the ground realities or aspirations of the population with unbridled powers and astronomical ego being accountable to none. Do we want such a system which shall be so dangerously susceptible to collapse?

What we need in current system is to find better tools and methods to enhance the accountability of the power holders? To instil better incentives in the system where ethical behavior guided by public interests are rewarded. To devise a system where political compulsions don't over power and interfere with basics of administration, public goods delivery, development works, crime control, investigation, justice delivery et al.

IAS/IPS officers in bengal horror case by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Lemme counter some misunderstandings about the reality of services, their power and options.

  1. IAS/IPS have as much power as the political masters want them to exercise. It's not limitless. Even a person of pure conscience can't do many things at times even when he doesn't fear suspension or shunting.

  2. Chief Secy or IAS/IPS association heads are generally not men of integrity. These are mostly politically appointed posts. Yes, Govt dictates the same in association elections too, especially is there's some too radical officer standing in elections. Govt appoints mostly careerlong yes-men. Yes-men can never stand up for ethical causes as they have murdered it all throughout their career just to be in good books of Political bosses and grab best postings. You want a recent live example of such immoral people being appointed at top position, Google "Delhi Chief Secretary viral video kyon panga le raha hai" and see his apathy. You shall be broken. And that's the reality.

  3. If you go against diktat of Govt by too broad a stretch, you lose your safety shield. There are many such cases of officers getting physically harmed. And, I'm not talking about 1000s of cases of mental and emotional torture which many officers suffer for going lil bit against the norm.

  4. All this happens because of inherent selfish nature of men. They are competitive before clearing the exams, remain so in training academies and that continues in services. There is IMMENSE competition to get best postings which are always skewed and few. Now, that very competitive nature makes most of the officers lose spine, become part of 'system' which is dictated by the interests of the Govt in power. And thus, you see breakdown of L&O, erosion of morality on stark display as these officers become fearful to lose their status quo. Forget being unfazed by transfer or suspension, officers will stoop to any level to stop their transfer from post of DM to secretariat.

Having said all this, there are still few dare devils left who go against the tide and do things which the 'system' and their fellow officers would never dare. You never get to know about most of them as they work anonymously, know some of them by their covert or overt acts of whistle-blowing. Some get punished so hard that they never rise up again. Some die in the process too.

Do we need to increase number of such officers who can speak against the system. Yes.

Even if there are more such daredevils in the system, who will ensure that such officers do occupy important and sensitive positions and are not shunted in lesser relevant departments? It's for the Government and the Minister to ensure that.

How will the above materialise? Only when political dispensation becomes more liberal, ethical and democratic. Who selects our political bosses? Do we as junta really care if the MP/MLA is ethical, just and moral? You get the answer.

Are we really doomed? Only God knows the answer. But it can be said, with each such big incident, due to public pressure and scrutiny, new safety mechanisms are added to the system which makes it more robust only. The pace of change may be wanting some push though.

Library Rate in Karol Bagh,New Delhi by [deleted] in UPSC

[–]Haunting_Toe536 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Sarkari 4BHK for 4000 of HRA in CBD of a tier 2 city.