History in civil
service exam has always been a scoring area for both Prelims & Mains, if
prepared properly but most of
the time it is neglected out of sheer negligence. It has been an easy area
because history cannot be changed and good
basic analysis of the subject can
help in scoring marks.
Good books are available on this area but too many references may create some confusion. In prelims, it is
an area of problem also for many candidates because syllabus is huge and now a
days questions are not even sure from both ancient & medieval history.
However, still due to changing pattern of exam ancient & medieval history
based questions are somehow managing to come in almost every prelims exam.
Some candidates choose to leave
ancient and medieval history but it is not prudent on the part of candidates to ignore this area completely. Now prelims paper
contains 100 questions and atleast 3-5 question comes from ancient history alone, precisely speaking 3-5% of questions
come from this area. So a candidate should not ignore both ancient &
medieval history completely and prepare for atleast some selected areas for it.
Prelims:
Ancient History
Ancient
History covers time period from 10000 B.C. to 7th Century A.D. appx.
It covers some very important areas like Indus Valley civilization, Pre Vedic
& Vedic age, Jainism & Buddhism, Maurya period, Satvahnas, south india
history & Gupta period etc. Questions mostly based on concept clarity from
Ancient India are being asked in the exam like in 2011 pre exam question was
“The Jain philosophy holds that the world is created and maintained by”
supported by four options. Fact based questions were asked before CSAT exams on
this area but now UPSC expects a candidate to have a conceptual clarity on this
area rather than fact based knowledge.
What to
read??
ü
Class XI
book on Ancient History of India (Old NCERT book)
ü Ancient History by Romila Thapar or
Chronicle special issue on ancient history and also check out
relevant current affairs from newspaper also. ( Friday supplement of The Hindu is good for current affairs)
Medieval History
Medieval History
for a long time is not contributing a major role in prelims question paper and
hence reasonable risk can to taken to leave some area as well. Medieval History
covers time period from 8th Century AD to 18th Century AD
till Mughal period. Some important areas in medieval history with focus on art,
architecture, bhakti, sufism, regional cultural development and personalities are:
ü
Cultural
contribution of Islam alongwith kingship
ü
Delhi
Sultanate
ü
Sufi &
Bhakti movements of Kabir etc.
ü
Mughal
period
The above is an illustrative list
of topics and a candidate is required to read atleast some above stated
important topics, however, due to paucity of time during preparation and a huge
syllabus some area can be left also.
What to read??
ü
Class XI
book on Medieval History of India (Old NCERT book)
ü
Chronicle
special issue on medieval india history
›› Best way to study history is to study it chronologically; it will help
you establish the link between important events as well; do not go for unnecessary
factual details.
Modern India (Both for prelims
& mains)
Modern
history is the most important area to be tackled in the History paper both from
the prelims as well as mains point of view. Typically, period for modern
history is taken from 1857 AD to 1947 AD i.e. from Indian National Movement
onwards, but i will suggest candidates to read this area from 1772 AD i.e. from
first Governor General of Bengal (Lord Warren Hastings) for both prelims &
mains. Questions in mains are even asked before 1857 war like subsidiary
alliance, contribution of any particular governor general etc.
List of
topics to be covered from this area:
ü
All
Governor General
ü
Social, Religious
& Tribal Movements ( Very important
topic)
ü
The Revolt
of 1857
ü
Indian
National Congress & Concept of Nationalism
ü
Swadeshi
Movement
ü
Surat Split
ü
Revolutionary
Activities
ü
Important
events from 1905 to 1947
ü
Non
cooperation Movement
ü
Gandhian
thought & his methods to fight against British Govt.
ü
Civil
Disobedience movement
ü
Administrative
Changes after 1857
ü
Economic
Impact of British Rule in India
ü
Development
of Indian Press
ü
Development
of Education in India
ü
Civil,
Police & Judiciary during British rule
ü
Peasant
Movements, Working class movements & farmer movements
ü
National
Movement: Towards freedom & partition ( 1939-1947) Very Important topic
ü
Important
personalities associated with freedom
struggle & their contribution ( 2 Marker)
The above topic largely covers the
syllabus for modern India and a candidate should create conceptual clarity on
these topics alongwith factual knowledge as UPSC is now asking more concepts
based question both in prelims & mains.
What to read??
ü
Class 6th
to 10th NCERT books (old one) for basic clarity
ü
Class 12th
NCERT book ( Old one) by Bipin Chandra
ü
Spectrum’s
book on Modern History ( A must book to read)
Although there are lots of books available for history syllabus,
but I will advice candidates to keep their material limited to few good books
and rather should read same books again & again to get more clarity on this
area. I find spectrum on Modern History very good and it largely covers the
entire area for mains, though
cross check for factual details can be made through
other books or internet also. Internet can also be an additional source for History but be
careful while reading it from Wikipedia as there can be areas where different
authors have different opinion and hence authenticity for the same should be
checked from other sources as well, however it is easier said than done,
therefore patience is the key.
If a candidate has conceptual
clarity on this area, i don’t think he/ she will find any difficulty in writing
answers in the main exam. Sometime questions are asked indirectly also, but
with careful reading of question, it can be answered easily. A candidate should
keep his/her mind open and should use commonsense also to answer difficult
questions. For
sincere and committed students i am hereby making available email link of my
Professor Vikas Bhardwaj for any queries and in depth Guidance:
vikkyswy@gmail.com.Best wishes
Best wishes to all UPSC aspirants!
Regards,
Deepak Singla
