Current affair is
the most important area for Mains exam, although till 2010 it was an important
area for prelims also but now in prelims it is conspicuous by its absence. One
should thoroughly prepare this area for Mains exam as 80% of GS paper comes
from directly or indirectly related to current affairs only. Any question in mains
exam comes because that question was somewhere in news during that period.
A candidate
should atleast cover current affairs for last 10 months before mains exam i.e.
from January to September 15th should be covered for mains purpose. One
should read the newspaper till 15-20 days before the exam e.g if this year
mains exam is starting from 5th October so a candidate should at max
read newspaper till 15th September to cover important news items. News
from June to Sep 15th is most important for mains exam as most of
the questions come from these three & half months, hence a candidate should
read these months’ newspaper thoroughly with keeping in mind 2 marker, 5 marker
in mind. One should not break the continuity while reading the newspaper and
not even a single day newspaper should be left to keep one’s information
updated.
How to cover a newspaper?
Most of the
candidates are confused about number of newspapers to be read and how to read a
newspaper. I will suggest a candidate to read only one newspaper carefully.
I used to read only The Hindu and a
student should not devote more than two hours on reading the newspaper.
One should not
read each & everything in the newspaper. One should leave state news and political
news directly and should focus on front news, editorials, National News,
International News, Economy or business news & sports news. Self notes are
necessary to cover the newspaper and without self notes a newspaper becomes
useless as it is impossible to remember each & every news item and cuttings
of newspaper unless organized is of no use to a candidate. One should prepare
self notes like he/she is preparing his/her own magazine, thereby, dividing it
into different sections like:
ü Personality
ü National News
ü International Affairs
ü Committees
ü Awards
ü Science & Tech
ü Economy
ü Ecology & Environment
ü Sports etc
One should be
careful while reading editorial as well as all editorials are not important
from exam point of view. If some relevant information can be extracted it
should be jotted down in your notes or if complete article is important, the
same can be pasted in your current affairs notes as well. This process of notes
making will make your revision part easier as all the reading material will be
organized at one place.
While reading
newspaper, 80% time should be devoted for reading the newspaper and 20% time
should be spent to think over it and proper analysis of news item. One should
try to frame some logical questions from the news item which an examiner can
frame for mains exam. It will help in increasing the analytical ability of a
candidate and will help in answer writing during mains exam as well.
How to read Magazine??
Magazines
served as support function while preparing for current affairs; hence these are
only supplementary to your newspaper reading. I will not suggest a candidate to
read too many magazines rather focus on one or two magazine at maximum. One
standard magazine like Chronicle or Wizard can be taken and second Yojna
should be purchased to cover some important topics. Whenever magazine comes
at the end of the month, a candidate should spent maximum 6-7 hours on a
magazine and should select those areas which are not already covered in your
notes and should be pasted or noted down in your own current affairs notes
only, hence, it will complete your major news from the previous month.
Frontline can be used for covering only International Affairs as it covers international
affairs meticulously, otherwise this is a very bulky magazine and can be left
for other areas.
Integrated Study
What I meant by
integrated study is that current affairs relating to traditional area should be
integrated to concepts which you have learnt during prelims study e.g. news related
to economics should be seen in context of syllabus of economics and concepts of
economics should be integrated with the news appearing in the newspaper e.g.
Vodafone case was in the news and a candidates should see the conceptual
dimension of economics related with this case like what is capital gain tax,
what do you meant by DTAA, what is round tripping etc. because questions in
mains will not come directly and examiner will be more interested in
application of concept by the student with the news analysis and impact of news
with the administration of the country.
Other Sources of Current Affairs
Television can be a good source if you have access to it. Do not spend too much
time on it rather devote half an hour on DD news for the news item for the
whole day. DD news is compact and easy to understand and next day before
reading newspaper one will also be aware about the world news for that
particular day.
Internet can also be a good source of information but it should be used for
limited purpose only as most people have tendency to spend more time on social
networking sites or for chatting etc. So keep your internet surfing for
important things only. Some good sites are available for civil service exam preparation
like UPSCportal.com. ias100.in, civilserviceindia.com etc which covers day to
day important current affairs news, these sites can be checked at the end of
the day to cover your current affairs part.
Some important
documents like Eco Survey, Census data, NCERT books etc are now available on
internet and can be downloaded to save the purchasing cost if one is
comfortable with online reading.
Some important
topics one should cover from current affairs point of view area as follows:
Health Issues:
India is always put ahead of other countries because of “Demographic
Dividend”, but it can be helpful only when a country have a proper health
facilities system in place. Health related topics have also become very
prominent in GS exam. One should cover this topic from India Year Book like
health schemes, (In 2011, question from this section was on PC & PCNDT act,
1994 as female foeticide has reduced child sex ratio to 914 in 2011 from 927 as
compared to 2001 census) major government health programs, recent epidemic
outbreaks etc. A candidate should keep his mind open in the exam and even if
he/ she are not aware about exact content of question, answer can be produced
on the basis of commonsense. Some magazines also covered special issues on
health areas which can be relied upon for mains exam.
New researches in health sector regarding drugs, some innovation should
be given special attention.
Security related
issues:
Internal and external security threats have become menace for any country
in the present world. External security issues for India are Terrorism, Kashmir
issue, Narcotic drugs smuggling, Pirates threats, Eastern boundary threats and
Internal security issue includes Naxalism, communalism etc. These issues can be
seen as latest development in the GS paper as well. In 2011, question was
related to pirate threats and government recent efforts to tackle the piracy
attacks. Magazines like chronicle or wizard publish special articles on
security related issues which can be referred to cover this area. A candidate
should be aware about related laws on security issues, any new government
program to tackle these security threats, para military agencies and their
role, north eastern specific problems, National Integration Council etc.
Good Governance
& Human Rights issues:
Good governance & protection of human rights are the hallmark of any
welfare society. These topics have also gained importance in civil exam. A
candidate should be aware about HDI report and India’s position in this index.
How to calculate this index and what improvements can be made to improve the
index etc. Human right issues like right to life, right to water, right to
health, right to fair trial etc should be read by a candidate. Magazine like
Yojna gives special issues over human right & good governance issues which
should be used for preparation. RTI, Citizen Charter & Lokpal related
topics should be thoroughly covered, although these issues seem traditional but
still these are favorite areas for the examiner.
Environment &
Ecology related issues:
Environment value is now clearly evident in UPSC exam also. Those
candidates appeared in this year prelims can very well understand the
importance of this area for mains exam also. A candidate should be well
prepared for environmental conventions like Ramsar Convention, CBD, UNFCCC
conventions etc. The Ecological terms like coral reef, water eco system, bio
diversity, IUCN red list etc should be on finger tips of a candidate. A
candidate should be very well aware about various laws, heritage program etc.
to get hold over this area. Believe me guys; environment has emerged as very
important area in changing pattern of this exam. There are so many books
available on this area in the market; a candidate should select carefully some
good books to cover this area or special issue of magazine like chronicle on
environment can be used to cover this area.
Apart from the above mentioned areas, a candidate should also read latest
demographic data like Census data. Census data can appear in any exam and often
proved to be very scoring during mains exam. A candidate should also pay
attention to the traditional areas like government poverty schemes, employment
scheme or any other scheme recently introduced by the govt. In 2011, question
on renamed scheme of NRLM appeared in the exam.
One should
behave like a SWAN while preparing for mains preparation which selects only
useful item from the water and leave the rest of the thing in the water; similarly
a candidate should read only important items for the exam point of view and
leave the rest of things.
Best of Luck!
Regards,
Deepak Singla
