Wednesday 26 June 2013

Preparation for the compulsory questions

The question numbers 1 and 5 in every optional paper are very tricky, more so in the changed paradigm when there is no choice and UPSC shifting to 12 markers from 20 markers. In Commerce paper 2 and in Management papers 1 and 2, the general way of asking questions is to give a term and we are supposed to write a note on it.

How i prepared for this

I tried collecting all kinds of terms possible on the topic from many sources like looking at syllabus of all major universities in India, looking at indices of many books etc and then preparing a small 5-10 marker on these terms. This makes sure that you can know the exact meaning of the term and the rest can be expanded during the exam.

If you don't know what "Dominant Coalition" is ( CSE-2012, Commerce, P2, Q1(a)) or what Personnel Ratios ( CSE-2012, Commerce, P2, Q1(d)) are, you will not be able to write correctly on this. Similar examples can be seen in Management papers like "Concept of fit and stretch", Managerial Grid, Hedge accounting , Share Penetration Index in the past 3 years. These terms carrying 120 marks can have a huge impact on your score and hence can't be left to chance.

For example, some sample terms on which notes were made for Industrial relations were: 

Aggregate Unionism, Bargained Corporatism, Class Consciousness, Defocalisation of power, Industrial Jurisprudence, Iron cage of serfdom, Concession Bargaining, Codetermination, Decentralized bargaining, Deductive bargaining, Featherbedding, Good-Faith bargaining, Implicit Contract, Implied obligations doctrine, Industrial feudalism, Jawboning, Job control Unionism, Mediation-Arbitration process, Multilateral bargaining, Normative bargaining Theory, Off-Pattern settlement, Outmigration, Pattern bargaining, centralized bargaining, Reverse collective bargaining, Surface bargaining, Union avoidance, Union substitution, Union suppression,  Productivity Bargaining, Society Unionateness, Structural functionalism, Welfare unionism, Zones of bargaining

Book list for Commerce Paper 2

Organization Theory 
  • Organizational Theory, Design, and Change, Paperback, Gareth R. Jones
  • Organization theory by Daft 
Organizational Behaviour

  • Organizational Behaviour by Robbins ( base book)
  • Kavita Singh and a few other books were used to make brief notes on various terms

Human Resource Management

  • Human Resource Management- C.B.Gupta
  • Notes from various books like Aswathappa, Robbins etc for all kinds of terms that can be asked as 12/20 markers

Industrial Relations

  • Industrial Relations- T.N. Chabra & R.K.Suri
  • Brief notes on various terms from the 2nd Labour commission report of 2002 like Mafia Unionism etc


Used rankers notes available in the market to add to my coverage. Had covered the 1st 3 topics extensively from many sources during the course of my preparation in earlier attempts for Management optional. Made notes on latest examples from the corporate world on various aspects of the syllabus from business dailies like Economic Times, Business standard etc. If I get hold of my examples file, would upload it.

Book List for Commerce Paper -1

Since, i had taken Commerce optional after Prelims there was very little that could be devoted to it. So, i relied generally on 1 book per subject and strengthened some parts in which i was already comfortable because of my MBA and management optional background.

Accounting
  • Corporate Accounting – J R Monga
  • Accounting Standards- CA notes


Cost Accounting
  • Cost Accounting; Theory & Problems- Maheshwari & Mittal 

Auditing
  • Surbhi Bansal auditing notes for CA ( Primary source)
  • Students’ Guide to Auditing- Aruna Jha 

Taxation

  • Income Tax book by- Girish Ahuja
  • Service tax and VAT from CA notes
Financial Management
Did it from multiple sources as it was my strength
  • Financial Management by M Y Khan
  • Financial Management by Prasanna Chandra
  • Financial Management notes of CA by Aditya Jain
Financial Institutions and Markets
  • Made notes from the internet, used CA notes and rankers notes for this part.
You can also look at the following blog for more info:


Thursday 20 June 2013

Some answer writing queries answered

Russell Peters:

Hello Mam, Did you follow point wise writing approach in optional papers also? Was it your priority to write in points ? And what if you don't have much idea about the answer and know little, then I guess writing in points wont be beneficial, plz comment.
ReplyI generally prefer writing in points. With shorter answers being asked in the exam, writing style, introduction etc are not very important. I used to try and give a one line summary of my answer in the beginning itself, so that the examiner knows what he is going to read. If there are 5 broad ideas in the answer, you can mention them in the beginning. 

For eg. 5 macroeconomic problems facing India are: 1) Inflation 2)..... 3).....      5)...... and then elaborate them in separate paragraphs with the same headings.

Even if this is not possible, i used to prefer bullet points. Another benefit of points is that you dont beat around the bush. You can try and put different facets and that would help you better articulate your thoughts. This is valid even if you know less. 

Having said that, it depends on the question, the time at hand and your comfort level with each style. Nothing is cast in stone...
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Max Weber:
thanks. one more question. coming to GS and optionals. is there a factor of attempting max questions ??? is it the quantity or the quality that matters?  but my point here is....question 
attempts are factors? should we like focus on less number of questions and present in better way? or attempt as much as possible?

PS: coz when you write point wise you can simply vomit relevant points and make answers. thats not tough. i hope u got my point what am struggling to explain. 
Reply: In GS, you should attempt as much as possible and do not rely on your judgment of the quality of your answers...It is better to write point-wise as much as possible to be clear abt the answer and save time....For questions you know less, dont write very long answers, but write your guess in brief in para format...Obviously quality matters but sometimes the examiner likes your answers and sometimes not...Even similar answers of 2 people could fetch different marks based on non-uniform checking...This view is based on the experience of number of people around me...

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Tuesday 18 June 2013

Parliament of India

These 2 documents quite comprehensively cover issues related to the Indian Parliament. One has been made by me from various sources while other is a document of the Rajya Sabha secretariat. Hope you find these useful.

Parliament Notes by divyamittalias



Parliament of India by divyamittalias

Sunday 16 June 2013

Physical Geography notes

These notes have been made from NCERT book on Physical Geography. Couple of important chapters have not been covered as they need to read directly from the book. You can supplement this with Goh Cheng Leong.
In addition for location , Geography through Maps book by K Siddhartha should be used along with any good Atlas.

New syllabus topics related to Physical geography are:

  • Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
  • Salient features of world’s physical geography




Book List for Economics Paper -2

Economics Paper-II 

No book was covered cover to cover but topics seen from all sources and preparation done taking into account old questions asked in CSE and IES exams

Pre-Independence

  • Economics history of India by G Kaushal
  • DU reading for BA( Eco) Hons. which has chapters from Tirthankar Roy etc
  • History books like Sumit Sarkar has some pages on syllabus topics

Post-Independence

  • Books by Uma Kapila
  • Oxford Companion to Economics in India by Kaushik Basu
  • Development Planning ( not sure about name of book) by Sukhamoy Chakraborty
  • Data from Rudra Dutt and Sundaram
  • DU readings
  • Currency reports by RBI
  • India's Economic Reforms and Development Essays for Manmohan Singh by Ahluwalia & Little
  • Bimal Jalan book on Indian Economy
  • India development reports
  • Monetary policy linked topics completely from RBI speeches, papers and currency reports
  • WTO from RBI research paper

Current

  • Economic Times newspaper, EPW, RBI website, Yojana
  • World bank, IMF research papers linked to India esp papers by Poonam Gupta, Arvind Virmani, Petia Topalova etc
  • Latest books in the market by well renowned economists like Shankar Acharya etc
  • PD Economy

Book List for Economics Optional - Paper 1

Economics Paper-I Book list

Microeconomics

  • Advanced Microeconomics by Ahuja
  • Topics like Arrow and Sen covered from the internet including proof of Arrow's theorem etc

Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics

  • Macroeconomics by Froyen
  • Macroeconomics by Gardner Ackley
  • Macroeconomics by Dornbusch, Fischer
  • Couple of Indian books index referred to see some terms in macro like 4-sector model which are only used in Indian books and sometimes are asked in the exam
  • Monetary Economics by S B Gupta covers some topics
International Economics
  • International Economics by Salvatore
  • Study guide to International Economics by Salvatore
  • 2 chapters from Modern microeconomics - Part 2 by Kalyanjit Roy Choudhury
  • Notes from the internet 
  • WTO from RBI document on India’s stand at WTO+ WTO website
Growth and Development
  • Thirlwall - HD model, Unbalanced & balanced growth, Lewis model; Myrdal
  • Economic Growth chapters from Mankiw Macroecnomics for Solow model
  • Todaro, Smith for Agriculture, HDI and sm other trivial topics
  • Debraj Ray esp for Human Capital, R&D; Lewis and Migration model; Kuznets empirical etc
  • Notes from internet on Environment, HDI and other indices etc
Public Finance
  • Musgrave and Musgrave
  • H L Bhatia
  • Internet

Book List for General Studies

Please post your doubts and suggestions in the comments section. 

History:
  •  Spectrum Modern History
  •  India’s struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra – some chapters
  •  Modern History by Sumit Sarkar
  •  Old NCERT Class XIIth history – Modern India
  •  Brief notes from Advanced history by Chhabra

Culture
  • Brief Notes from the internet on various painting styles, architecture, Literature , dances etc
  • Some sites covered include India.gov.in; India year book chapter on culture
  • Cultural institutions and their role in promoting and preserving culture
  • Spectrum’s book on culture can also be used

Geography
  • NCERT books on Physical Geography, Human geography and Indian physical geography of classes XI and XIIth
  • Physical geography by Goh Cheong Leong for Prelims ( can be left)
  • Indian Geography by Khullar – Make brief notes on topics not covered in NCERTs
  • Geography through Maps  by K Siddhartha

Polity
  • NCERT Class XI and XII books on Indian Constitution and Democracy at Work
  • Constitution of India by  P M Baxi as reference
  • Indian Constitution by  DD Basu ( Some people prefer Laxmikanth)
  • Indian Parliament by Subhash Kashyap
  • Notes from websites of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha
  • India year book chapter on Polity

Foreign Policy & Economic Interaction with the world
  • Websites of IDSA, World Politics Review, South Asia analysis
  • Some selected articles from World Focus
  • Brief notes on Indian foreign policy from any book on Foreign Policy
  • MEA website for brief notes on Indian relations with other countries
  • Speeches by Foreign Secy, Minister for External Affairs and other ex-ambassadors on MEA website and Public diplomacy blog
  • For current happenings use any notes available in Rajinder Nagar before mains exam of Vajiram, Chokkalingam etc
  • Wikipedia current happenings and Ongoing events on pages on months from January- October of the year of Mains exam
  • Commerce ministry website for economic interaction of India including trade agreements etc
  • WTO from RBI document on India’s stand at WTO

Science and Technology
  • Books by NBT on Robotics and Nanotechnology
  • Notes on various terms of Biotechnology from wikipedia; the terms can be seen from
  • List of emerging technologies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emerging_technologies
  • All scientific terms from wisegeek in areas of general interest to any common person and specifically Biotech, Gadgets, Nanotech etc
  • New happenings in Science from Hindu, Indian Express, Zeenews and some other technology blogs
  • Notes of coaching institutes before mains specifically Sriram and vajiram
  • ISRO website
  • For Defence , brief notes from http://www.livefistdefence.com/
Other National Events and General Knowledge
  • PIB releases brief notes: pib.nic.in
  • All government websites of various ministries and topics covered on main page; Ministries dealing with Agriculture, Women & Child development, Disabilities etc need to be focused on
  • India year book – some important chapters and brief notes can be made
  • Economic Survey – some chapters like Overview, International Trade and Human development are extremely important. Others can be brushed through
  • Coverage of Indian express done as an addendum to Hindu notes available in the market (  coaching notes available in Rajinder Nagar before mains)



It is not that everything was done word to word and books read cover to cover; Only important things from these sources was identified and underlined or brief notes made for quick revision.

Saturday 15 June 2013

Notes from PIB

To make notes from PIB website ( pib.nic.in) is extremely important as it covers almost all news which are related to government and administration. Some questions like steps taken to check piracy etc are answered point-wise in the releases.

My sample notes can be seen and downloaded...Some of them the static things might be useful to you but you need to update them with happenings each day till mid-November.


Wednesday 5 June 2013

Syllabus for GS

SYLLABUS FOR GENERAL STUDIES FOR CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION

General Studies- I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.

Indian Heritage and Culture, History
·        Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
·        Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues
·        The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country.
·        Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
·        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.

Society
Ø  Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Ø  Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Ø  Effects of globalization on Indian society
Ø  Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.

Geography
  • Salient features of world’s physical geography.
  • Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India)
  • Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.,
  • Geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.



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

ü  Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
ü  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.
ü  Separation of powers between various organs, dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
ü  Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
ü  Parliament and State Legislatures - structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
ü  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.
ü  Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
ü  Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
ü  Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies

Governance and Social Justice
Ø  Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Ø  Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
Ø  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.
Ø  Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Ø  Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
Ø  Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
Ø  Role of civil services in a democracy.

International Relations
ü  India and its neighborhood- relations.
ü  Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
ü  Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests
ü  Indian diaspora
ü  Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.

Economic Development
ü  Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
ü  Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
ü  Government Budgeting.
ü  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; e-technology in the aid of farmers
ü  Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
ü  Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
ü  Land reforms in India.
ü  Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
ü  Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
ü  Investment models.

Technology, Bio diversity, Environment, Disaster Management
ü  Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
ü  Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
ü  Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
ü  Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
ü  Disaster and disaster management.

Security
ü  Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
ü  Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
ü  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
ü  Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism
ü  Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate



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.
Ø  Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
Ø  Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Ø  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.
Ø  Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
Ø  Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
Ø  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.
Ø  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.

Ø  Case Studies on above issues.

You can download it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/156536839/GS-Syllabus

Saturday 1 June 2013

Introduction


Hello Everyone,

My name is Divya Mittal, ranked 68 in CSE 2012. My optionals in CSE 2012 were Economics and Commerce & Accountancy. This blog has been created to help Civil Service aspirants and to share notes made over the course of my preparation.

Background: B.Tech ( IIT Delhi), MBA ( IIM Bangalore), CSE-2010 Rank 332 ( 1st attempt, Economics, Management), CSE-2011 Rank 134 ( 2nd attempt, Economics, Management). Currently IPS probationer.

Feel free to post your queries and doubts and I will be happy to help.

Thanks
Divya