Papers of IAS Mains Exam

There are total 9 papers in the CS Mains Exam.

1. Essay (250 marks)
2. English (Compulsory)
3. Indian Language (Compulsory)
4. General Studies Paper I (250 marks)
5. General Studies Paper II (250 marks)
6. General Studies Paper III (250 marks)
7. General Studies Paper IV (250 marks)
8. Optional Paper I (250 marks)
9. Optional Paper II (250 marks)

The marks of the compulsory papers are not considered for final score.

Know Yourself: The step which precedes everything else

The preparation of CSE starts at the moment when you decide to become an IAS officer.

Preparing IAS is like a journey. When we say it is a journey it means, it entails a starting point and a destination. The destination we all know i.e. to become an IAS officer. The entire process of preparing IAS exam is such that it engenders transformation in an aspirant so that he will be an IAS OFFICER from being a layman.

But what about starting point? How will you plan your journey if do not know your current status or level of preparation? To determine physical location of a person we use longitude and latitude, in the similar way we use those 4 pillars of CSE preparation i.e. Language ability, Conceptual clarification, Factual awareness and Emotional and Intellectual ability.

You have to get yourself tested against these pillars. This will help you to decide where you are and what efforts are needed to reach the destination. I have designed some questions to test a candidate against these pillars. Those who wish to get evaluated just contact me at idreamtobeiasofficer@gmail.com I will send you those questions.

General Studies Paper IV

General Studies- IV: Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude

This paper will include questions to test the candidates’

attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity

in public life and his problem solving approach to various

issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society.

Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine

these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered.

•

Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and

consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions

of ethics; ethics - in private and public relationships.

HumanValues - lessons from the lives and teachings of

great leaders, reformers,-and administrators; role of

family, society and educational institutions in inculcating

values.

•

Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and

relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political

attitudes; social influence and persuasion.

•

Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service,

integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity,

dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and

compassion towards the weaker-sections.

•

Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and

application in administration and governance.

•

Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from

India and world.

•

Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public

administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns

and dilemmas in government and private institutions;

laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of

ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance;

strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance;

ethical issues in international relations and funding;

corporate governance.

•

Probity in Governance: Concept of public service;

Philosophical basis of governance and probity;

Information sharing and transparency in government,

Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct,

Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service

delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of

corruption.

• Case Studies on above issues.

General Studies Paper III

General Studies-III:Technology, Economic Development, Bio

diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.

•

Indian Economy and issues relating to planning,

mobilization, of.r.esources, growth, development and

employment.

•

Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

•

Government Budgeting.

•

Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the

country, - different types of irrigation and irrigation

systems -storage, transport and marketing of agricultural

produce and issues and related constraints; etechnology

in the aid of farmers.

•

Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and

minimum support prices; Public Distribution Systemobjectives,

functioning, limitations, revamping; issues

of buffer stocks and food security; Technology

missions; economics of animal-rearing.

•

Food processing and related industries in India- scope’

and significance, location, upstream and downstream

requirements, supply chain management.

•

Land reforms in India.

•

Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in

industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.

•

Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways

etc.

•

Investment models.

•

Science and Technology- developments and their

applications and effects in everyday life.

•

Achievements of Indians in science & technology;

indigenization of technology and developing new

technology.

•

Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers,

robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues

relating to intellectual property rights.

•

Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation,

assessment environmental impact assessment.

•

Disaster and disaster management.

•

Linkages between development and spread of

extremism.

•

Role of external state and non-state actors in creating

challenges to internal security.

•

Challenges to internal security through communication

networks, role of media and social networking sites in

internal security challenges, basics of cyber security;

money-laundering and its prevention.

•

Security challenges and their management in border

areas; - linkages of organized crime with terrorism.

• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

General Studies Paper II

General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

1.Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.

2.Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local

levels and challenges therein.

3.

Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.

4.Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries

5.Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.

6.Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.

7.Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.

8.Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

9.Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

10.Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

11.Development processes and the development industry—the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other

stakeholders

12.Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

13.Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education,Human Resources.

14.Issues relating to poverty and hunger.

15.Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance-applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.

16.Role of civil services in a democracy.

17.India and its neighborhood- relations.

18.Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.

19.

Effect of policies and polities of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.

20.Important International institutions, agencies and fora their structure, mandate.

General Studies Paper I

General Studies-I : Indian Heritage and Culture, History and

Geography” of the World and Society.

1.Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture    from ancient to modern times.

2.Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present-significant events, personalities, issues

3.The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.

4.Post-independence consolidation and reorganization

within the country.

5.History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.

6.Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.

7.Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

8.Effects of globalization on Indian society, Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

9.Salient features of world’s physical geography.

10.Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India)

11.Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of

such changes.

Syllabus of Civil Services Preliminary Exam

Preliminary Examination

Paper I - (200 marks) Duration : Two hours

1.Current events of national and international importance

2.History of India and Indian National Movement

3.Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic

   Geography of India and the World.

4.Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political

   System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues,

   etc.

5.Economic and Social Development-Sustainable

   Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social

   Sector Initiatives, etc.

6.General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity

   and Climate Change - that do not require subject

   specialization

7.General Science.

Paper II-(200 marks) Duration : Two hours

1.Comprehension

2.Interpersonal skills including communication skills;

3.Logical reasoning and analytical ability

4.Decision making and problem solving

5.General mental ability

6.Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of

   magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation

   (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X

   level)

7.English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).

Note 1 :

Questions relating to English Language Comprehension

               skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus

               of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from

               English language only without providing Hindi

               translation thereof in the question paper.

Note 2 :

The questions will be of multiple choice, objective

               type.

Note 3 :

It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both

               the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for

               the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will

               be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in

               both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

How to begin IAS/UPSC Exam preparation

This is the most frequently asked question. "How should i begin my IAS exam preparation?"

Well, your first step in the course of preparation is aquisition of previous years papers of general studies of mains exam (i am assuming here that you know the stages of CSE), NCERT books of stds. from 6th to 12th (of History, Geography, Polity, Economics, General Science etc.) and subscribing a newspaper (preferably THE HINDU, if unavailable INDIAN EXPRESS or TIMES OF INDIA will do), and a good dictionary of ENGLISH Language (OXFORD's Advanced Learners Dictionary is the best in my opinion and was recommended even by my teachers).

Your next step is to finish with preliminary reading of all NCERT books with fair understanding. Here, fair understanding means you must be able to get big picture which these books are trying to give you. While doing this please do not touch any reference book or magazine or any class notes. Also refrain from choosing your optional subject(about which i will discuss later in a separate post).

Always keep in mind your Mains exam's preparation begins well before your prelimanary exam's preparation.

There are 4 major pillars on which your entire preparation of CSE rests:

1. Language Ability

2. Factual Awareness

3. Conceptual Clarity

4. Emotional and Intellectual Maturity

NCERT books and a newspaper will help you to enhance you factual awareness and conceptual clarity on a primary level. This is just a begining. During this phase, please avoid the temptation of purchasing any other books which may prove unnecessary later on.

Once you complete this phase, approach a sensible and knowledgeable teacher for further guidance. If it is unaffordable or not feasible to approach such a teacher you can remove this handicap  by investing in a good laptop/computer/smart-phone with internet connection. Thereby you can get connected with like-minded people. As i said in my earlier post you can approach me too for anything related to CSE preparation and won't hesitate to help you in whatever way i can.

About the aforesaid 4 pillars, i will dwell upon each of them at length in separate posts.

Remember, " a long journey begins with one step and only one step can be taken at a time."

What prompted me to write this blog

Few days back when i was conversing with some IAS aspirants in Pune, i was  taken aback by their level of awareness as far as preparation of CSE (Civil Services Exam) is concerned.
Most of their beliefs, ideas and concepts about CSE and its preparation are heavily influenced by plethora of spurious magazines, coaching classes, toppers talk which they read in magazines (which are often manipulated to suit their purpose), huge amount of material available on internet and heresay at best.
Many of them have ended up paying exhorbitant fees (from Rs.50000 to Rs. 100000) and buying expensive class notes without adequate understanding of one's own strengths & weaknesses. Somehow they are made to believe that in order to prepare such a coveted exam you need to join a well-known coaching class. So, many students flock to the cities like Delhi, Pune, Bangalore every year to undertake coaching.
Even the choice of their optional subject is often guided by their misinterpretation of one's likings in a subject in school days rather than the purpose of choosing an optional in CSE.
During the course of preaparation they often end up reading the irrelevant study material and magazines supplied and recommended by coaching institutes. When they join such an institiute they realize that most of them are teaching the stuff which is already there in the books and which is rarely asked by UPSC.
It is very difficult on their part to believe that CSE can be prepared even by residing in rural areas or small towns or by staying at home or while doing your daily chores. Their preconcived notions help them to make entire gamut of CSE preparation complex, costly and lengthy too.
Being taught by stalwarts and passionate teachers who were more interested shaping minds rather than earning bucks, i feel now it is my turn to handover those little secrets which i have learned to those who would like to be self-driven and who believe that "there is no short-cut to the success and there is no option to the hardwork."
In the subsequent posts i will dwell at length on the various aspects of CSE preparation. However those are common elements applicable to all aspirants. But, as a doctor prescribes medicines to his patients after doing their careful examination, my teachers used to assess a candidate thoroughly first and they they used to suggest raodmap of preparation as per his/her strengths and weaknesses. I will do the same to help those who want to realize their dream of joining IAS. It doesn't matter where you stay. The least facilities you should have is a cell phone and internet connection.
I will be reachable at idreamtobeaniasofficer@gmail.com. After assessing your seriousness for CSE i shall provide you my contact number. I will also either mail or dispatch you NCERT books if you are finding it difficult to get them where you are staying. But in case of dispatches, you will have to pay books' cost plus courier cost. If you are not getting any useful mazagines like YOJANA, KURUKSHETRA and newspapers don't worry i will mail all of them to you.
Don't worry! To become an IAS officer is no longer an exclusive privilege of students with elite and urban background. With right guidance and smart work you can be the one.
All the best!!!