How To Prepare for IAS by Swarochish Somawanshi Sir IAS AIR 49

I do not find myself to be the
competent authority to guide anyone
regarding preparation for GS. My
score in GS has not been good
enough to inspire anyone. Lets see
them 202(2009), 229(2010),
250(2011). But the silver lining is
that its constantly increasing!
Having said that, I must confess that
I kept on changing the strategy,
study pattern and material
throughout, as 4 years’ span is long
enough to be confused.
It will be naïve if I say that all the
material which I glanced should be
regarded as “serious study”. I read
and referred much while retained
very less. So lets divide the list in
two broad sections viz. “Core n
Peripheral”.
The “Core (C)” was revised repeatedly
n was almost learnt by heart. The
“Peripheral (P) ” was read n revised
if time permitted. Hereafter I will be
writing (C) for the CORE to indicate
the importance attached by me, for
revision purposes.
I have never studied GS for Prelims
separately, only revision was based
on that. So its an Integrated Approch
I m putting here, for both pre and
mains.
Before we discuss it section wise,
lets be clear that
* I joined ALS for GS and followed
their study material and class notes
for every section, if not stated
otherwise explicitly. (C)
*studied lots of NCERTs, both new
and old, even wasted my valuable
time in reading some. Still I rate
them the best to install solid
foundation of the citadel. Its not
possible to name them, the list of
NCERTs provided by ALS is well
thouhgt of. Please refer to it. I dnt
have it right now.
Now lets do it section wise-
Indian Polity-
*Started with not less than DD Basu.
When I was in third yr of my engg.
Then Subhash Kashyap by NBT.
*Then “Perspectives On Indian
Constitution” edited by Subhash
Kashyap.
*Indian Constitution At Work (NCERT
Class XI textbook in political science,
newer syllabus)
*Politics in India since Independence
( NCERT Class XII textbook in
political science, newer syllabus)
*Democracy in India: Issues and
Challenges (NCERT Class XIIth
textbook in Political science, older
syllabus)
*Democratic politics (NCERT Class
Xth, newer syllabus)
*Finally I landed on Wizard Polity By
Jojo Matthew n stuck to it till 4th
may 2012. (C)
Modern History-
*Started with not less than Bipan
Chandra’s moti wali book, The
Struggle For Independence or Indian
Freedom Struggule whatever the
name be.
*But due to sea change in the pattern
n declining importance of History in
mains I landed over Spectrums
Modern History by Rajiv Ahir (C). It’s
a good book. Seems to be short but I
failed to complete it till date!
*Its worth mentioning here, an
NCERT by Bipan Chardra for class
12th is must read. (C)
Geography-
Wizard Geo by Jojo matthew is
comprehensive (C). Khullar I referred
here n there. Obviously apart from
NCERTs.
Map is essential part. Be very
thorough with both India n worlds
Nadi-Pahaad-Naale (C) . I had Orient
Longmans atlas and a friend to help
me… thanks to Raj Prakash Singh J
In my second attempt I read the
magazine “ Geography And You” and
used the material thereafter where
ever I found it suitable.
Indian Economy-
*It was the most difficult part of GS
for me being an engineer. Relied
wholly on ALS class notes by
Arunesh Sir (C).
*Economic Survey n Budget Speech
are important documents to
substantiate n update (C).
*Indian Economy Special Issue by
Pratiyogita Darpan is also well to go
through, especially for prelims.
*For reference- Indian Economy by
Mishra and Puri.
International affairs/ Bilateral Issues-
*Contemporary World Politics( Class
XIIth NCERT)
International relations chapters in
the book *Democracy in India: Issues
and Challenges (NCERT Class XIIth
textbook in Political Science, older
syllabus)
*I found Frontlines World Affairs to
be very useful, even for this mains it
was very relevant. (C)
*I simply love following C.
Rajamohan’s Blog. Plz do find
associated scholars’ notes of Indian
Foreign Policy Reseach Institute.
Science and Tech-
Wizard SnT by Jojo sir (C) Put
together internet etc. I failed utterly
to do justice with this section in all
my 3 attempts. No gyan to be
delivered on it.God save me!
Current affairs-
Newspapers-
The Hindu or Indian Express.
Magazines-
Let me admit at the very outset that I
hate reading competition magazines
except Toppers’ Interview Section
which I used to read since the “Stone
Age”…hehehe.
When I was in 6th standard, I used to
buy Pratiyogita Darpan (Hindi wali)
used to tear off the Toppers’
Interview Section. Put it secured in a
file n throw out the rest of
IRRELEVANT PART of magazine .
Silsila dilli tak jaari raha ;)
*Jokes apart, Initially I used to read
Yojana and Kurukshetra. Later on I
stopped it due to paucity of time
when I changed one of my optional.
*Competition Wizard we used to get
free at ALS. Then Chronicle then PD
for some time.
*I used to like “South Asia Politics”
edited by Sh Subhash Kashyap n
read it for almost one and half initial
years.
*Apart from these, its important to
brush up the material, u have studied
throughout the year, right before the
exam, for this material/ notes/
current affairs books by Vajiram and
Ravi and Wizard (moti wali current
affairs book) are very handy.
*You may yourself search on the
book stalls @ Mukherjee nagar or
Rajinder Nagar because its possible
that a better publication is there this
year!
To conclude, I think I have
reproduced what all I did last four
years for GS. At the same time my
memory’s vulnerability is also to be
appreciated. As and when I recall
anything worthy I will surely update.
Its also to be repeated time and
again that there is NO ONE BEST
WAY to get it done, its subjective and
explanations vary considerably. I
think its good enough to start with
towards our cherished dream ie IAS.
Go and get it!
With best wishes,
Swarochish Somavanshi,
AIR-49, CSE-2011.