for fci management trainee interview 2020

MODULE – 3

BASIC INTERVIEW TOPICS AND QUESTIONS

For FCI Management Trainee Interview 2020

An Initiative by:

Prabhat Kumar Sharma

Manager (General)

Food Corporation of India

https://t.me/ProgressiveAspirantsForum

All the Best. May your Hard Work Prosper

Module-3 1


General Notes:

- This module lists out the basic topics on which government service interviews are built.

These are cadre neutral and organization neutral. Questions on these topics will form

the bulk of your interview. And with diligent prior preparation, you can mold your

interview in your favour, based on the answers to these basic questions. - On pages 2-5 of this module, all important topics are covered over which the

interview board will warm you up. Broad topics are headlined in red, and sub topics

under that head are given in bullets. - On page 6, I have listed basic questions, standard answers to which should be

prepared and memorized in advance. Probable cross questions on these questions are

also listed. This list is not exhaustive. In your self-preparation if you can visualize some

more cross questions, prepare them as well. - On pages 7-11, I have given handwritten notes on Moradabad and Uttar Pradesh

as a sample. You can use these notes as template for preparing information about

your hometown & state for interview. Memorize this information that you’ll prepare

for your hometown and state thoroughly. Aspirants from UP can directly use my notes,

they are the latest ones. - This module is the standard interview preparation framework. It will help you in all the

other interviews that you will face in later years. Even if you have to prepare for Civil

Services (UPSC/PCS) interview, you can readily use this module and its framework. - If you consider FCI MT to be just a stop in your career goals and not the end, I

would strongly recommend that you prepare a separate notebook for interview

preparation. Write all the information and answers in that notebook. It will help you

in your later endeavors as well. Use pencil for dynamic data, i.e. data which keeps

changing. For example, MMR, fertility rate, indices etc. keep improving with time. - You can take prints of all the modules and supplementary study material that I have

given till now or will give in next few weeks. Revise and re-revise it before the

interview. I can promise that nothing in your interview will be asked outside this

material. You will only have to prepare current affairs and your domain subject

yourself. Rest is taken care of in my material. - Read one newspaper regularly and keep your current affairs up to date. I am religiously

sharing two reputed national English dailies on our Telegram Channel. I am expecting

that you are augmenting my efforts for your success with your hard work as well.

Module-3 2


Personal Information

Meaning of your First Name:

• Any literary significance of your first name.

• Any popular personality or current news related with your first name.

Hometown: Prepare the following related to your hometown (district):

• Any historical, cultural or economic significance of your hometown.

• Demographics of your hometown

• Any popular geographical feature associated with your hometown. For

example, any dam, hill station, lake, holy shrine etc.

• Popular industry or handicraft associated with your hometown. For example,

brass work of Moradabad, textile industry of Tirupur (TN); cement work of

Katni (MP); Silk saris of Kanchipuram (TN) etc.

• MPs/MLAs/Famous Ministers from your hometown. Also look up the name of

DM, SP & SSP of your city, especially if they are popular personalities or were

featured in recent news.

• Any important or famous personality associated with your hometown.

• Any significant current news (in national media) associated with your

hometown. eg. Shri Ram Temple inauguration if you are from Ayodhya; Air

India Express crash if you are from Kozhikode; Sudiksha case if you are from

Bulandshahar etc.

• FCI ZO/RO/DO/Depots in your hometown and their significance, if any. [Only

for FCI MT Interview]

• Basics of agriculture in your hometown (major crops sown and major

agricultural products)

Home State:

• Prepare significant current affairs related to your state, a month prior to the

interview. For example, NSCN (IM) issue if you are from Nagaland, Anti-

defection case if you are from Rajasthan, Art. 370 if you are from Kashmir etc.

Module-3 3


• Important recurring issues from your state. For example, floods in Bihar, Assam

and Mumbai.

• Demographics and social indicators of your state.

• Important geographical features associated with your state. Only brush up the

basics of geographical features only. For example, longest coastline if you are

from Gujarat; state with largest area if you are from Rajasthan; Silent Valley &

Nilgiris if you are from Kerala etc.

Hobbies/Interests

Being from a government-job oriented middle class family, all you probably did since

childhood is study, study and study. That’s a fact universally acknowledged! You

probably had a fleeting romance with hobbies and interests during graduation only -

maybe some Bon Jovi here, some Linkin Park there, and a whole lot of Hollywood

downloaded free via torrent. I too am an engineer, I know this! And due to competitive

exam preparation now a days, you are back to square one - study, study and study. But

interview board may ask a question on hobbies, so you have to be ready for it.

Surgically.

• Choose an interest which is objective and manageable. Some hobbies (eg.

reading books, listening music, dancing, gardening etc.) are literally too vast to

handle. If you said ‘listening music’ and the cross question came on ‘thumri’ or

‘dhrupad’, all the Arijit Singh lyrics you remember will come a cropper. The

interview board can ask you anything under the Sun and don’t expect board

members to be sympathetic regarding the vastness of domain.

• If your major hobby/interest has a vast domain, then choose one of your minor

interests, which is objective and manageable. For example, my interest of

‘playing table tennis’, which I have told in many interviews, is small and

manageable. All I have to do is, remember dimensions of the table, my

achievements in this field, name of some important national and international

players and some important tournaments. So choose a hobby/interest wisely.

Module-3 4


Academic Information

Your Schooling:

• If you completed schooling from any distinguished school like Sainik School,

Navodaya, Army School, KV etc. then you should know the background details

about your school system. For example, if you have studies from Navodaya,

then you should know what was the reason for establishing them, number of

Navodaya schools in India etc.

• Popular personalities or current news related to your school or school system.

Your University/College:

• Significance of your college or university; any special historical aspect

associated with it. For example, connection of Jamia Millia Islamia with Non-

Cooperation Movement; University of Madras is the oldest university of India

etc.

• If you completed graduation from any distinguished University or your

college/university were in news recently then prepare that issue.

• If it has been 2 or more years since your graduation and you are not in a job (for

example, if you are preparing for civil services) then you should be prepared for

questions on this gap.

You Graduation Subject:

• FCI MT aspirants from Engineering Cadre and Technical Cadre should

especially revise up their graduation subject as much as possible because

they will definitely face questions from their respective domain. Specifically

prepare those topics which are relevant for FCI. For example:

o Civil Engineering candidates should focus on trusses, load bearing

columns, concrete structures, construction materials and their

management, soil mechanics, principles of surveying, distance and

angle measurement, traversing and triangulation etc.

o Technical cadre candidates should focus on topics of agriculture and

storage. Their main work as Manager in FCI will be to inspect quality

of foodgrains during procurement and provisions for their safe storage.

Module-3 5


So they should be thorough with topics such as cropping patterns,

diagnosis of pests and diseases of field crops, pests and disease

management, storage pests and their management, epidemiology of

major crop pests and diseases, pesticides etc.

o Mechanical Engineering candidates should focus on weigh-bridges

(धमर्-काँटा), their working and their instrumentation. Weigh bridges at

depots are the main domain of mechanical engineers in FCI. Apart from

weigh bridges, prepare topics common with Civil Engineering. For

example, trusses, types of joints, joining processes (rivets, welding, bolts

etc.), engineering materials, material science of steel, engineering

mechanics (stress, strain, bending, torsion and their applications in

beams).

• FCI MT candidates from generalist cadres should prepare this questions very

well, “How will you use the knowledge of your graduation subject in working

of FCI?”

• Generalist cadre candidates should brush up basics of Constitution and Indian

Polity. Especially focus on Fundamental Rights (Part-III), Directive Principles

(Part-IV) and Fundamental Duties (Part-IVA).

• Memorize Article-47 of Indian Constitution by heart. Article 47 from DPSP

provides philosophical basis of setting up and existence of FCI.

[Article 47. Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to

improve public health.

The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of

its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular,

the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal

purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.]

Module-3 6


Important Questions that you should prepare thoroughly

Write down answers to the questions given below in your interview preparation notebook

(preferably with pencil). Read them out loud every day, and keep modifying them with good

keywords and phrases. Liberally use internet for this exercise. Read your answers out loud to

your siblings/parents/friends or anyone who can give you a positive criticism. Value the

feedback and incorporate it in answers. After a few such iterations, your answer will be perfect.

Tell us something about yourself? OR Introduce yourself.

Why do you want to join FCI?

Some probable cross questions to put you under pressure:

o So, if you want to do (your reason to join FCI), why not join civil services or

police services?

o Oh, so you will use FCI time for preparation of civil services?

o You couldn’t clear civil services till now that’s why you are here.

You are already in XYZ job, why do you want to come to FCI?


o You think you can do corruption in FCI and get rich?

o You must be tired from hectic working hours of bank, that’s why you are

coming to FCI.

o Don’t you think you can serve the nation better from your current job? Then

why FCI?

You are an engineer/agriculture graduate from such a good college/university. Don’t

you think it will be under-utilization of talent if you join FCI?


o All engineers are coming to government services, that’s why there is no

research in India. All you want is comfort of administrative services.

o What will you do if we reject you?

What are your strengths?

o How will you use these strengths to make FCI better?

o With these qualities as strength, you should join armed forces/police?

What are your weaknesses?

o We can’t take a person with such weaknesses.

What are the functions of FCI? Can you suggest any improvement in these functions?

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