Hello students,

Prof. Vinay Nangia sir was a UPSC Interview panelist for over 13 years. He has interviewes not hundreds but literally thousands of candidates at Interview stage personally.

His first podcast published by LevelUp IAS was his first podcast ever where he debuted into Youtube role to share his wealth of experience. In that, he had revealed how upsc thinks at the Interview stage.

Now, he has come back with another and totally new podcast. This topic is, to be very honest, far more relevant, important and applicable. Why, when and how should one think about Plan B? He has shared his wisdom and practical insight on this.

Most recommended.

Nikhil

https://youtu.be/ZhJHIeOzQ6w

Extremely painful to see that someone can call Col Sophia Qureshi as "sister of terrorists".

She is literally a 4th generation armyperson from her family. From 1947 till today, for the entire duration of India as republic, her family is serving in Indian army. May be longer than that.

Itni wafadari ka matlab bhi samajh aata hai inhe? The comment made by this politician is much more than regrettable, it is revulsive.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/hc-orders-fir-against-mp-minister-for-controversial-remarks-against-col-sofia-qureshi/article69575284.ece

UPSC released 2026 calender. Mark the date.

Apart from Kashmir and Hyderabad in 1947-48, there was this conflict with Pakistan during 1949-1950. This was the background to Nehru-Liaqat Pact which decided to protect minorities on each side. I was never aware of this background. We are never told about this in our regular textbooks that Nehru was about to launch a war in East due to massacre.

When looking at today's Bangladesh, one should not forget that it was the same region and same people where there was Faraizi Movement, those who had largely supported first Partition of Bengal, who were quite ahead in establishment of Muslim League, who were the ones who carried out Direct Action and then in 1950 this bloodbath as well.

While there were some people, phases and places where we found Bangladesh friendly, and we also helped them become free, that was rather exceptional and rare. We cannot be selective when it comes to history. The larger arc of history is undeniable.

Today we face two Pakistans. One in East and one in West.

A new book. Extremely exciting. Linguistics is really a facinsting subject.

We in UPSC get to read only a part of the larger story i.e. how Proto Indo European evolved into Sanskrit. This book gives the whole picture.

#bookreview

How interesting that Tehran Times published the correct map of India. It is very rare in general.

My overall assessment on Operation Sindoor after things have cooled down.

Our net gains have been military and tactical.

1. We proved our precision attack capacity. We strike in Punjab heartland. We showed that we can demobilize part of their airforce, destroy swarm of drones and we can even attack their nuke bases and force them to peace. But we neither destroyed terror infra capacity nor their military power. Whatever losses they faced, they can repair and recover very shortly.

2. All we proved that next time they have to think long and hard as it might lead to more escalation pretty fast. Our new three point doctrine (response in their land, no nuke blackmail and no difference between terror and it's sponsors) have added the risk for Pakistan but also for us. This is a necessary strategy, I am not against it at all because Pakistan has to bear the cost, but this is a high risk strategy.

There was one domestic achievement and one setback for us.

1. After initial communal polarization, we were able to unite as one nation against Pakistan, despite its attempts otherwise. That I think is a major achievement domestically.

2. Our attempts to improve Kashmir situation may have received some setback. We have taken massive efforts since 2019 but now things need to be rebuilt tenuously.

On the other hand, Pakistan net gains are much more in diplomatic arena.

1. Asif Munir's position has become stronger. People in Pakistan were turning against him and army due to Imran Khan but things suddenly changed now.

2. Kashmir got internationalized. This is against our position of bilateralism. We have always suffered when it became international issue. Even in Shimla agreement we ensured a clause that it is a bilateral thing only and no external mediation will be sought. But now suddenly things appear to have changed. It benefits Pakistan's position. Although Trump ka bharosa nahi hai. Aaj ye to kal wo. He has temporarily withdrawn his offer of mediation right now.

3. India-Pakistan got hyphenated. We have worked hard since 1990s against this. We don't want to be equated with Pakistan. However, post Op Sindoor, the world doesn't focus on terrorism issue which started all this, but on two nuclear states fighting. Our diplomats couldn't stop this narrative from gaining dominance. Pakistani ecosystem was able to get its narrative out louder that it's about two nuclear countries. The original issue of Pakistan sponsored cross border terrorism is invisible in global media. They only see two nations doing tit for tat.

4. China and Turkey came to help Pakistan openly. We have no such friend. Russia is weak while America didn't remain even neutral. We are in the situation all alone.

5. Moreover it proved that in air dominance, the Chinese military hardware that Pakistan uses can withstand western military hardware that India uses. So we don't have a very clear and decisive edge in air. Our upper hand may be marginal.

Conclusion:

We have again proved that we may succeed in war but in diplomacy and narrative dominance, we have a long way to learn.

But our only tangible gain is the suspension of IWT. This is a major strategic gain for us. But everything else is mostly positioning.

Nikhil

Two decades ago, such questions were asked and answered.

Today we had a very weird experience.

At LevelUp IAS we were training our entire staff in fire safety drill. Some people from fire department and ex-army personnel specializing in fire safety were training our team.

When all that was happening, at one point of time, we had a demo fire which triggered the smoke detector and fire alarm. We all ran through the emergency exit to safety, to do some practical. But the alarm kept buzzing longer.

Suddenly, exactly at that moment, we could see 3-4 fire tenders moving hurriedly on Pusa Road.

We thought that they are coming to us. What a speedy response....!

Then a thought came that it was perhaps a mistake to let the alarm ring for so long. Ab ye log ayenge, daatenge, aur incident report filing hoga.

As it turned out, it was not us. Our fire was a demo fire by fire specialists. But there was indeed a fire incident exactly at the same time. Some restaraunt and some other coaching institute were on fire on the next road.

I couldn't even feel relieved even though it was not us. Everyone should be trained in fire safety.

Nikhil

Art and Culture Current Affairs (Part B)

In this lecture, we have covered the developments and updates related to UNESCO and Cultural Heritage. The lecture will be available on Youtube in some time.

The first part (Part A) was published earlier. You can find the PDF here.

Nikhil

This milestone took 4.5 years to achieve. Totally organic, natural and genuine.

This is the second part of the Art and Culture Current Affairs 2025.

You can download the handout here.

https://youtu.be/2kJ20aL1RpU

Jayant Naralikar passed away today.

One of the most preeminent scientists in post-independence India, his passing away feels like an era has ended.

When I was growing up in Pune in 1990s, his presence was largely felt in academic, social, and cultural spheres. His excellent and simple science fiction writing nurtured entire generation in Maharashtra. Every visit to IUCAA was charged with excitement, thanks to his leadership.

I never got a chance to meet him personally, but along with Mashelkar, Bhatkar and Kakodkar, the name of Naralikar was very respected back then and today. He was a legend in his own way.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/jayant-narlikar-the-indian-astrophysicist-and-sci-fi-writer-who-challenged-big-bang/article69596819.ece

Dr. Naralikar had put this on the door for his gwala (milkman). To indicate how much milk he needed every morning.

In last few hours, the news is coming that Pakistan had targeted the Golden Temple recently while retaliating to Op Sindoor. It is there on ANI News, and on Shekhar Gupta's video in The Print as well. This is BIG.

Indian side was able to anticipate this. So, there was talks with the Golden Temple administration. The head granthi of the Golden Temple switched off all the lights, first time in many decades. There was pitch dark. Even a short video of this is available now. More importantly, the guns of air defence moved inside the Temple to protect it.

As expected, Pakistan seems to have sent many drones/missiles on Golden Temple which were all thwarted by India's Air Defence. The temple was saved.

I have no words even tell how angry at this moment I am to learn this. The Terroristan has proved once again that neechata ki koi hadd nahi hoti.

Nikhil

I think everyone has seen this photo in last 48 hours. This is the real photo of India's Integrated Air Command and Control System. Released by the government recently.

They are the heroes behind Operation Sindoor, who struck deep inside Pakistan, killed over 100 terrorists, saved India from the barrage of Pakistan drones.

PS: They are wearing masks to hide identity. It is not a Covid era photo.

This is really unfortunate.