UPSC-Union Public Service Commission
Announcement of "Civil Services Prelims 2016 Exam Notification" Released/
Last Date to apply;-27,May,2016.
Prelims Exam Date;- 7th, August, 2016
Number of Vacancies:- 1079 (Expected)
For Aspirants of Civil s Detailed Syllabus;-
1-- Current Events of National, International Importance: In terms of coverage, this section covers major events of the last one year. However, one caution here. UPSC has begun to ask some current events questions which were reported two or three years back in the newspapers. So, to be safe, one should cover last three years major events reported in newspapers (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 events). Going by the questions asked in last two years, only few direct and information based questions are being asked. A good number of questions require understanding of the issue in a wider perspective. For instance, instead of asking a direct question on polio eradication, a question was asked on small pox and chicken pox eradication in India. In other words, one has to get into the habit of collecting well rounded information on an area rather than just narrowing down to the obvious news that appears in the media. Another pertinent point to note here is that this area is not just about current events as it is generally perceived but also about general knowledge. For instance, many schemes being run by the central/state governments may not be very new, still questions pertaining to those may be asked. The idea,therefore, is to cover more than just what is frequently appearing in the newspapers. A careful perusal of govt. publications like India Year Book-2015, Annual Reports of certain Ministries, particularly those which have rolled out various welfare schemes will be quite helpful. All these are available on the websites of the respective Ministries.
2-- History and National Movement: By its very nature, History is the lengthiest part of GS syllabus for both prelims and main examination. As far as Ancient and Medieval History of India is concerned, questions are asked from cultural, religious and social aspects. Attention must be given to understand various Art and Architectural forms, Evolution and Growth of Religions, social divisions etc. Besides, many difficult terms associated with ancient and medieval administrations can also be asked. For instance, terms like… Mauryan officials or muhtasibs, barids ( medieval Indian officials) are asked. You should minutely observe these aspects rather than just following political history of
ancient and medieval India. In modern India, questions are mostly from the National Movement, Constitutional Developments, Social and Religious Movements, Lower Caste Movements and the Administrative Apparatus of the British Rule. To cover such a wide range of topics, it is mandated that one should consult different books on history written from different themes. The book list given
3. Indian and World Geography: At prelims level, geography takes a major share of questions, which necessitates intensive preparations. The best way of doing it is to master all the geography books of NCERT from standard VI to standard XII. In addition, one should also look up ICSE Geography books of standard VIII- X. There are many map-based questions for which the best method is to develop an understanding of major areas of crops, climatic zones, mines and minerals from textbooks and then refer to a good atlas.
4. Indian Polity and Governance:Although this section generates common interest of Civil Services aspirants, yet, not all of them are able to answer all the questions asked. This is largely because they go for just understanding the constitutional provisions without applying their minds on the actual working of our polity. What needs to be done in this regard is to simultaneously absorb the constitutional provisions and then link them up with any recent happenings relating to those provisions being reported in news. To cite an example, Uniform Civil Code is a constitutional provision in article 44 of the directive principles, but it is in news because of Supreme Court intervening in favor of implementing it. Therefore, it is highly desirable that this topic is read by linking up both the provision regarding Uniform Civil Code and current developments around it.
5. Economic and Social Development: This part involves the basics of Indian Economy. The safest way to cover this part is to read up on various sectors of Indian economy viz; Agriculture, Industry, Service Sector and Monitor all the recent initiatives of the government to induce growth in these sectors by state intervention. Apart from this, one must master over the Budget, Economic Survey.
6. General Science: In this section, there are two types of questions. One, relating to pure sciences and two, relating to Application of Science, say for example, Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, and new discoveries in Medicine etc. For pure science, NCERT books are most handy. For application based scientific information, the only way out is to pick up Science related news on day-to-day basis.
Recommended Books-Current Affairs:-
- 1. INDIA YEAR BOOK-2016
- 2. Economic Survey 2015-2016
- 3. Annual Reports of Ministries of Environment and Forest, Tribal Welfare, Women and Child Welfare, Social Justice, Rural Development, Department of Science and Technology, Atomic Energy, Renewable Energy.
- 4. Newspapers: National political and business dailies
- 5. Magazines: Yojana, Frontline, Down to Earth
- Websites: PIB, PRS INDIA, INSIGHTS ON INDIA History:
- 1. NCERT: Ancient India( R S Sharma) , Medieval India( Satish Chandra), Modern India( Bipin Chandra)
- 2. A L Basham: The wonder that was India
- 3. The Gazetteer of India: vol . II
- 4. Bipin Chandra: Struggle for India's Independence
- 5. A R Desai: Social Background of Indian Nationalism
- 6. B L Grover: Modern India
- Art and Culture
- 1. Basil Gray: The Arts of India
- 2. Publications Division books on Art and Culture
- 3. A. L. Basham : The Wonder That Was India ( chapter on art and architecture)
- 4. The Gazetteer of India, vol. II: Chapters on Art, Literature, and Culture
- Geography:
- 1. All NCERT books on Geography from std. vi to xii
- 2. ICSE books on Geography.. 8th-10th standard.
- 3. Goh Cheh Leong: Certificate Human and Physical Geography
- Polity and Constitution:
- 1. P M Bakshi : Constitution of India
- 2. D.D Basu: Constitution of India
- 3 S.C Kashyap: Our Constitution
- 4. M P Singh: Indian Federalism
- 5. B K Sharma: Indian Constitution
- Economy:
- 1. NCERT: Indian Economic
- Development
- 2. Mishra and Puri: Indian Economy
- 3. Economic Survey 2015-2016
- 4. Yojana
- 5. The political and business dailies
- General Science:
- NCERT: Standard X books on Physics, Chemistry and standard XI and XII books on Biology
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