Current Affairs Strategy

Current Affairs Strategy 

Current Affairs is one of the most important part of UPSC CSE preparation. Hence, it becomes important to have a proper strategy with regard to current affairs. Although there is a plethora of resources available for it, I will be sharing my approach with regard to it.

My strategy with respect to Current Affairs and Resources

a) Starting my day with the newspaper- Indian Express.

b) Reading Insights IAS daily current affairs summary on their website=> would hardly take 10mins => This would be 2nd revision after newspaper=> Made no notes.

c) Didn’t had time to read Monthly magazine but did Vision PT-365 & Mains 365 thoroughly=> It is advisable to read monthly magazine (if you have time) of any coaching institute => This would be your 3rd revision.

d) Also for Mains, I took Forum IAS Current Affairs course by Dipin Sir=> was not able to see lectures due to less time but revised the notes 3-4 times. Helped a lot in Mains

e) Also, prepare a list of topics/issues in news with friends/peers => then just google the topic and put UPSC in front of it and make notes out of it (eg. "xyz UPSC") => you will have holistic notes => This exercise is highly recommended 

f) Some Youtube Channels that I referred during leisure time => you can watch it at 2x to save time=> Remember you have to watch them selectively and that too only relevant topics. The main purpose of these is to get yourself acquainted with important issues/topics.

a. Sansad TV Big Picture program (earlier RSTV) => can be watched during lunch/dinner=> develops analytical ability and viewpoint on various issues

b. Bharata First

c. Amit Sengupta 

d. Pathfinder Channel

e. World Affairs 

Reading Newspapers: 

Read only 1 newspaper - Indian Express recommended, as it has more balanced approach and sections like EXPLAINED are highly helpful in understanding various issues. Initially, it took me more than 2 hours to complete the newspaper. After 1.5-2 months, it should be reduced to less than an hour. 

i). Do we need to make notes? => NO. I realised that in my case making full-fledged notes from newspapers was less productive. I tried it for a week and it took me more than 3hrs just to make notes, they too were not holistic since the numbers of dimension covered were less. Also, when various coaching institutes are working very hard to give monthly magazines, it’s better to directly read that. It will save your time which can be utilised either in optional or GS. However, I noted down various data, reports, committees and quotes mentioned in newspaper if I found them useful at one place. Will share the document called ‘Important One Liners’ to show it can be useful.

ii). How to read newspaper? => Always try to identify issues behind any headline or news and connect them with the keywords mentioned in syllabus. Now how to identify issues is addressed in the latter part of this article with examples from last year's UPSC Mains papers. Avoid reading any political news, local news like city based, I would have also said to avoid Sports section but looking at this year’s Prelims paper, it’s better to have quick glance over it :). Also, pages like front section headlines (if it’s relevant), IR page, editorials, economy & explained section are to be read.

iii). Utility of newspaper => See many of you would think what is the need of newspaper when we have coaching material in form of magazines. The main purpose of newspaper is to develop analytical ability which will be helpful in both your Mains and Interview. You will have informed opinions on various issues which will help you write down different points in Mains. You will realise this after 2 months. 

Making Current Affairs Notes?

i). For Prelims, due to lack of time I didn’t make any Current Affairs notes. I just revised Vision PT-365 multiple times and highlighted important pointers in the document itself.

ii). For Mains, I made dedicated notes on One Note=>

a. Firstly, made notes from Vision Mains 365 => helpful in doing quick revision just before Mains.

b. Along with my friends, listed down important topics in news probably around 60 and then made notes on it through the help of Internet

c. Also revised Dipin Sir Forum IAS Current Affairs Notes multiple times => didn’t watch the lectures. 

How to Identify Issues?

● The most important aspect of preparing current affairs is to understand the underlying Issue and then to analyze it. In Mains, these issues are asked as question. For Instance

1. General Studies - I

Q14. The interlinking of rivers can provide viable solutions to the multi-dimensional inter-related problems of droughts, floods and interrupted navigation. Critically examine. (Answer in 250 words) 

नदियों को आपस में जोड़ना सूखा, बाढ़ और बाधित जल-परिवहन जैसी बहु-आयामी अन्तर्सम्बन्धित समस्याओं का व्यवहार्य समाधान दे सकता है । आलोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

Q15. Account for the huge flooding of million cities in India including the smart ones like Hyderabad and Pune. Suggest lasting remedial measures. (Answer in 250 words) (15 Marks) 

भारत में दशलक्षीय नगरों जिनमें हैदराबाद एवं पुणे जैसे स्मार्ट सिटीज़ भी सम्मिलित हैं, में व्यापक बाढ़ के कारण बताइए । स्थायी निराकरण के उपाय भी सुझाइए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

▪ Both of these questions were asked in GS-1 and are part of Geography. These issues came in news frequently, so you have to identify issues like this and then can make holistic notes at one place so that you can revise them right before the exam.

2. General Studies - II  

Q14. The interlinking of rivers can provide viable solutions to the multi-dimensional inter-related problems of droughts, floods and interrupted navigation. Critically examine. (Answer in 250 words) 

नदियों को आपस में जोड़ना सूखा, बाढ़ और बाधित जल-परिवहन जैसी बहु-आयामी अन्तर्सम्बन्धित समस्याओं का व्यवहार्य समाधान दे सकता है । आलोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

Q15. Account for the huge flooding of million cities in India including the smart ones like Hyderabad and Pune. Suggest lasting remedial measures. (Answer in 250 words) (15 Marks) 

भारत में दशलक्षीय नगरों जिनमें हैदराबाद एवं पुणे जैसे स्मार्ट सिटीज़ भी सम्मिलित हैं, में व्यापक बाढ़ के कारण बताइए । स्थायी निराकरण के उपाय भी सुझाइए । (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए)

▪ Now 4th Industrial Revolution is in news from a long time, hence you can prepare notes on it and other things like AI, Block Chain etc and their applications in governance and administration. It is important and advisable to quote various good government initiative and data in this regard

▪ WHO was also in news last year, it came from the part of syllabus of GS-2 (Important International Institutions) => so you can make a list of these important organizations. 

● So, this is how you connect current affairs with the syllabus and identify the underlying issues. You will also have to inter-connect topics across GS papers. This exercise is highly beneficial in Mains and would help you to write better answers and do value addition as well.

● I hope that this article would help you all on how to prepare current affairs => We will also be shortly coming up with different articles on Answer Writing strategy, Note Making, and overall Mains strategy. We will also share all our notes as well in due course of time.