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Utkarsh Dwivedi AIR-5 PSIR Notes, Strategy and ANSWER COPIES

Utkarsh Dwivedi IAS  air-5 UPsc cse 2021

PSIR STRATEGY, NOTES AND MY ANSWER COPIES


If there is one factor that has helped me achieve a single digit rank in CSE, it is my optional. I have scored 168 in paper 1 and 146 in paper 2, making it 314 in total. I have still not come across somebody with a score more than this and hence a comfortable claim can be made that this is one of the highest score this year. In this blog, I would mention what helped me achieve this score. 



  • I DID NOT refer to any other source than Shubhra Ma'am's notes. There are two reasons to it. 
    • Firstly, since I had reached the interview stage in all my three attempts, I never had the luxury of time to refer to any book. 
    • Secondly, I believe Ma'am's notes are more than enough to form the core aspect of the subject's preparation.

  • I did value addition from multiple sources so as to get an edge in my answers:
    • I referred to copies of toppers of the respective tests that I attempted during my mains preparation. It helped in three ways:
      • To understand why people are getting the marks they are getting
      • To better understand a topic
      • To get diversified quotes, book references and other keywords related to any scholar
    • Read the solutions of the test series extensively 
    • joining multiple test series even though I couln't solve them. I had joined VisionIAS and Shubhra Ranjan's test series in my second attempt(CSE 2020) and found different perspectives on answers and scholars though both, which too widened my realm of understanding. This was a key reason that my score jumped from 235 (131+104) in my first attempt in CSE2019 to 280 ( 143+137) in my second attempt.
    • I also made a list of books and authors , particularly for my IR paper and have used them extensively in my answers.
For latest/ Updated PSIR PYQs Book - Click
  • In CSE2019, Rank 22, Mandar Patki sir had suggested in an interview that he had arranged his optional notes in Intro - Body - Conclusion format. This is because in mains you don't have much time to think over any question. Hence if you have the intro and conclusion already prepared in your mind, you can put all your focus on the body part and adjust it according to the demand of the question. 

  • Making use of photographic memory- Most of us tend to remember things by looking at them. it somehow gets etched in our brains. The inspiration for making PSIR notes with photos of scholars attached came from Tushar Gupta sir, IPS 2019 batch. His evernote is public and can be referred to for value addition. This too helped me a lot!

  • Referring to topper copies: This is THE MOST important aspect of PSIR answer writing. I referred to three toppers , viz. Navneet Mann ma'am, Yashni Nagarajan ma'am and Trupti Dhodhmise ma'am. There was some element of commonality in all the three that I tried to imbibe in my PSIR answers:
    • Writing end to end- Filling up all the space that's available for the answer.
    • Scholars aren't everything - I noticed that a lot of answers of these toppers didn't have a single scholar. What is important is that you must do justice with the question. You must explain in detail what is asked. This is the approach I followed this year and last year and ended up pretty good marks in PSIR. So this probably works!
    • Using the language of political science - THE MOST important learning from their copies. Optional subject demands more nuanced understanding of the subject than GS papers. Hence when you write your answers, you must appear to the examiner as a serious student of the subject rather than a layman writing the paper. 

  • Keyterms : Any topic in PSIR, has certain keywords associated with it. When the examiner checks your copy, he does not has the luxury of time. So his eyes start looking for certain keyword associated with the topic that is asked. And if they aren't there, then your train has derailed. You are not going to get the score you're expecting. Suppose there's a question on Marx and if words like Communist manifesto, dialectical materialism, etc aren't there, then it's not a good answer. If there's a question on Hong Kong and you haven't written "One country two systems", then no matter what you write, it does not matter.

  • Choosing what questions to attempt: Now this is a highly subjective area . But I'll tell you what I did and if you're still in the confused lot on which part to attempt, you could give this approach a try. I attempted more questions from Part A of paper 1 and Part B of paper 2. Since we have the compulsion to attempt atleast one question from each part, in paper 1 part B section, I attempted the questions that dealt with Institutional polity like office of governor, president, judiciary,etc and not the sociological polity part comprising topics like caste in indian politics, etc. This approach has worked for me well looking at my last two years' scores. 

  • Order of attempting the paper: I used to first do all the 10M followed by 15M and the 20M. This was an approach I followed for last two years. But I reversed this, this time. Because in the end when you're left with crunch time, your chances of damaging the last few questions become high. And if those questions are the 20M, then the impact of damage becomes quite high. So if you first give your best in the 20M and the 15M, then you already gain a lot of marks here. and the scope of damage in the 10M isn't that high, so you're safe there too. But there's a con to it. The 20M and the 15M questions take up almost 2 hours and you are left with an hour for the 10M. So use this approach too at your own discretion. 
  • To handle the dynamic part of paper 2 PSIR dealing with IR-
  • Visit following every month-
  • IDSA website (also see their ask an expert)
  • ISAS,NUS articles
  • Carnegie India articles
  • IR articles on ThePrint
  • Project syndicate website
  • MEA speeches and statements( Most important)
  • ORF articles
  • The distinguished lecture series on MEA is gold standard!

  • Videos on YouTube-
    • National security conversations 
    • Cut the clutter series (The best)
    • Debates on Sansad TV
    • Bharata First channel



Link to my approach towards writing PSIR answers and mistakes that I committed during test series: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s406/sh/7a3b9e51-6625-495d-849d-34249f78ace5/3905373b8eef4e74d4df0e72ced9b529



Having given a detailed approach towards the subject, I am attaching my notes for future reference. Use them at your discretion. They are only for your value addition. Do not make them your primary notes.









It’s already been a long post, but so has this journey been. My tryst with PSIR started in June 2018, and it was nothing but “love at first sight.” The journey has ended on a very beautiful and a satisfying note :)


On an oppressive and humid day, as I entered through the main gate of UPSC , I was stopped short by someone who said “ sir ek minute ruk jayiye, member aa rahe hain.” I watched as the member approached along with few others who too seemed to be a part of his panel. The member saw me standing and I immediately wished him and others good afternoon to which he replied “ Please go . And all the best for your interview.” The member was Sh. R N Chaubey. 

I wanted to write this small anecdote as I was awarded Chaubey sir’s board last year and since I met him again , I thought whether I was destined to get his board again . But this wasn’t the case this time. 


I was the first candidate in the afternoon session. After a thorough security check I was taken by the person incharge and we started moving towards the main UPSC building, which is also referred to as “Dholpur House.” He was explaining to me that the building once belong to Raja of Dholpur (princely state in Rajasthan) and was constructed in 1926. He then asked me from which state I was, to which I replied “Ayodhya.” His face lit up and he said “sir hum bhi sultanpur se hain.” We had some more conversation over it which is not relevant to write. 


Today(7th september) was the first time I had entered the Dholpur House and it had an essence of great historical legacy. I was admiring its beauty and suddenly the person in charge asked me to sit on a chair and wait. As I looked up, I saw “ TCA Ananth” being written and I asked him if I had been allotted Ananth sir’s board to which he replied in affirmative. After waiting for some 10 minutes, at 2:15p, a bell rang, I was called in.


As I entered the room, the members were chatting amongst themselves coming straight from lunch and they did not hear when I greeted them “good afternoon.” So for the second time I greeted them with a slightly loud voice and it was then that I was heard. I was asked to sit down. The Chairperson(CP) asked me to remove my face shield and keep up with the mask. 


CP: so you are from Sultanpur?

Me: Sir I was born in sultanpur . ( I said that because I did not want further questions from sultanpur as that is not my hometown)

CP ( in hindi) : To kahan se ho tum? MP se ? Padhai to wahi se ki hai tumne?

                            Tell me where do you belong?

Me: sir , I belong to India (I said sheepishly)

CP (in hindi):  Nahi kisi state se to hoge he na tum? Sabse zada kaha rahe ho?

Me: Sir, due to my father’s transferable job I have lived in many states.

CP: Tell me all the states that you have lived in. ( I couldn’t understand his words as he was wearing a mask and again asked me the same ques)

Me: Sir I started with Gujarat, then UP, then Maharashtra , then MP and then I went to VIT in Tamil Nadu and then after that I have been living in Delhi.

CP: since you have lived in MP,UP and TN in your adulthood, compare these three states for me and which one did you find best governed.

Me: Sir in terms of governance , I found TN as the best governed state.

CP: why?

Me: sir because I found the people to be the most rule bound. In UP and MP the use of “jugaad” in administration is slightly prevalent. Also these two states have a history of socio-economic backwardness but in recent times MP has seen progress due to its 24x7 electricity supply and increase in road infrastructure and in recent times UP too has seen progress but it still lacks in socio-economic indicators like IMR/MMR and sir rural UP from where I come, the problems still persist.

CP: ok so if you are given your homestate Uttar pradesh, yahi bhara hai na tumne home cadre?

Me: yes sir.

CP: han supppose you get your home state, what are the challenges that you you see in UP and what strength will you bring if you are posted there?

Me: Sir the main challenge is the law and order problem. Because of that, investments don’t come and jobs aren’t generated. Also UP as a state has a history of politics based on religion and caste, hence communal tensions are generally high. My strength would be that since I know the culture of UP and I also speak Awadhi , rest of the languages that are spoken in West UP/Purvanchal are also dialects of Hindi and I can understand them as well, and since I come from rural UP, I understand the challenges of rural areas as well.

CP: ok. ( I was expecting since I had mentioned “rural areas” twice I might be asked about the rural challenges but Ananth sir pointed to member 1)

M1: so you are a mechanical engineer.

Me: yes sir ( started sweating from inside)

M1: tell me what is the meaning of TDI and CRDi written at the back of cars and how do these systems operate and what is there future.

Me: i’m sorry sir, I do not have much idea on it but I only know these are direct injection systems related to fuel injection in engine.

M1: don’t you read these subjects in your college?

Me: sir we do read about IC engines but I am not able to recall the concept right now.

M1: vellore has a temple. Which is that?

Me: sir it is called as the “golden temple” but I do not recall the name of the deity.

M1: have you ever visited that temple?

Me: I’m sorry sir, I could not.

M1: ok you did not.

M1: Since you have lived in Dewas ( it is a district near Indore where I had lived for one year and completed my 10th). What is Dewas famous for?

Me: sir in terms of religious tourism, it has a mata rani ka mandir and in administrative terms, it has the Bank Note Press.

M1: yes, have you visited the Bank Note Press?

Me: Sir I have visited the township as my friend used to live there but I couldn’t go too much inside it.

M1: well you can visit inside it with a visitor pass.

Me: ok sir, I did not know that. Thank you.

M1: ok utkarsh since you come from Indore, tell me how is Indore topping the swachta ranking since two years?

I smiled and said : Sir if I am allowed to clarify, Indore has been topping the swachhta rankings since last         four years and preparation is on for fifth time.   

And sir I would say there was a collective effort from the people’s side and the administration’s side. From the people side, I would say that there has been a behavioural change. My mother keeps two different dustbins for wet waste and a dry waste. And from the administration’s side I would say the Indore Municipal Corp has been very proactive. We have 1200+ GPS connected vans to collect waste. This waste is then segregated and composed. We have Asia’s largest Biomethanation plant. You can see the roads being cleaned after 10pm everyday. Also the Indore Municipal corp has a 311 App where you can register your grievance and the grievance redressal rate of the app is 94% (I emphasised on the word 94 percent). Sir I would say Indore used its best asset-its people, against its worst liability-a bad habit.

M1: but why only Indore could do it ? Why not others? Is it so difficult?

Me: sir since the swachh bharat mission involved behavioural change I would say it is difficult. But since indore has a large urban population and the literacy is high too, it could achieve it, though other cities are catching up too. And sir once Indore bagged the first position, it generated a sense of pride amongst its people and then they weren’t ready to take any other position.

M1: you used a very important word “sense of pride.” How do we generate this sense of pride? What will you do to generate this sense of pride?

Me: sir sense of pride has to be generated right from a young age. Also we can use technology for information dissemination. We need to teach about India’s past and its achievements at national and international in schools through school curriculum . If I am the administrator of the district, I will visit schools and organise seminars. Also since most of the information is derived through whatsapp these days, we can also harness technology to disseminate information.

Then M1 passed on to M2.

M2: Utkarsh when you said you yourself would visit schools, it shows you will lead from the front. So if you have to build a team and lead it from the front what are the three things you would consider ?

Me: sir firstly I would look what objective we need to achieve. Then i would see what is the history of people in that particular field and if someone has achieved excellence in that field. Thirdly I would look at how the inter-personal relations are among the team members. Because sir most of the time lack confidence and trust deficit prevent a team from achieving its objectives.

M2: ok. So you mentioned indore and swacchta. Do you know two officers from Indore have been awarded at national level? What is their name?

Me: sir Sh. Manish Singh and Sh. Ashish Kumar.

M2: absolutely! So tell me do you know what the motto of IAS is? What is written below the logo of the service?

Me ( I knew LBSNAA’s motto was Sheelam param bhushanam) : i’m sorry sir, I do not know.

M2: ok. So what if you don’t clear this exam? What will you do then?

Me: sir in the course of preparing for this examination, I discovered that I had an inclination towards International relations. I might go for higher study in this field or I might join a think tank.

( i am like ab to kuch puch lo IR se please...)

M2: ok. So you have mentioned that you read non fictions . Which is the last non fiction you have read?

Me: sir Tiananmen square : the mak....

CP (interrupts): kaunsi kaunsi book?

Me(smiling): sir Tiananmen Square: the making of a protest by Sh. Vijay Gokhale.

M2: ok. So have you reviewed it?

Me: yes sir.

CP: kaha blog pe?

Me: yes sir.

( CP was using his phone and i thought maybe he might ask for my blog’s ID but he didn’t)

M2: ok so do you have an audience for your blog? Do a lot of people read it?

Me: no sir, currently my audience is limited to just my friends. They read it and send me a review of how I have written.

M2 passes on to M3 who was a lady member and I had the longest conversation with her.( if it doesn’t feel like then I might be missing some questions. But I remember, she had asked me a lot of questions) 

M3: so utkarsh do you know why is Kerala in news?

Me: ma’am it is witnessing rising cases of Nipah virus.

M3: yes. Do you know the agency that identifies such outbreaks?

Me: I’m sorry ma’am, I do not know.

M3: ok. So you were talking about indore municipal corporation and waste segregation. Do you know how waste segregation is actually done?

Me:I’m sorry ma’am, I do not know the technicality of the process.

M3: ok. So What is the work of a municipality?

Me: Ma’am the work of municipality is to make the lives of people living in urban areas simple by providing basic amenities like water,electricity, drainage, etc

M3: yes. So how do you compare two different municipalities? What should be the parameters according to you if you want to say so and so is a better municipality?

Me: ma’am we can use various parameters like I had earlier mentioned that indore municipal corp has a grievance redressal rate of 94%. That could be a parameter. Also the municipalities implement schemes like Smart cities mission, AMRUT mission. We can compare the percentage of projects  that have been completed. Also we could have a social audit at the local level to see what the people want and how they feel about the work of the municipality ( now the third point may sound similar to first one but that is because i couldn’t come up with something new and my mind was conditioned to give 3 points to a ques)

M3: ok. So since you are mechanical engineer, what do you think the future of auto sector is ten years down the line?

Me: ma’am after the paris climate deal and growing environmental concerns, we may see a push to e-vehicles. We might even see more EVs than the IC engine vehicles after 10 years. Also we could see the entry of driverless cars.

M3 (with raised eyebrows and a smile): driverless vehicles? don’t you think it would lead to loss of jobs for the drivers?

Me: ma’am technology can never replace the human element. Also if we use the anecdote of Railways when the unions protested when computers were to be introduced in railways that it might lead to loss of jobs. But since the introduction of computers, railways has only expanded. And with new technology we would generate new jobs and we might be forced to skill the people for a better techonology. 

M3: ok but the govt has already announced the vehicle scrappage policy. don’t you think people would already not want to scrap off their already existing vehicles and you are asking them to switch to EVs?

I couldn’t understand the question and asked her to repeat which she did but even then I couldn’t understand the ques but now I had to speak , else I could have irritated her if I had asked her again. So i said what came instantly to my mind.

Me: Ma’am EVs must be made affordable and the govt has already come up with schemes to subsidise it. Also ola has come up with its ola electric two wheeler and it is also coming up with its electric four wheeler. Also we might see companies like Tesla coming into Indian market. But the introductin of EVs must be accompanied by a behavioural change towards using more public transport. Because even when people in Delhi own a car, they don’t use it much as it takes over an hour to reach any place. We should focus towards shifting people to use more public transport particularly with respect to new technologies like the Metro Neo, metro Lite and the BRTS.

She seemed satisfied by my answer. Or may be she wanted to assure me so that I don’t lose my confidence.

She then passed on to M4:

M4: the lady member was talking about EVs. So what is the biggest hurdle in EVs?

Me: sir I would say the biggest hurdle is the Li ion battery. We are 100% import dependent on it. And that makes up the major cost of EVs thus making them costly. And since India is a highly price sensitive market, we see many automobile companies go belly up. And for the success of EVs we need to generate demand for EVs and that could be done only if we make it affordable for which govt has come up with certain schemes.

M4: but we are also exploring other forms of energy. What is that?

Me: sir recently Hon’ble PM talked about harnessing the Hydrogen energy ( to which the member nodded) but that too is costly at around rs 315/kg and it too needs to be made affordable.

M4: so utkarsh indore in 1960s had a place where they practiced a trench composting method ( he said a technical name that i don’t recall). Do you know what that method was?

Me: I’m sorry sir I do not know.

M4: you read about it.

Me: yes sir, I will.

M4: and do you know which is the place near to Indore where this method was practiced?

Me: I’m sorry sir I’m not aware.

M4: ok. So you mentioned about a mata devi ka mandir in Dewas. What is the name of the mata?

Me: I’m sorry sir I do not recall.

M4: there is also a dargah in Dewas. Have you ever visited it?

Me: I’m sorry sir I’m not aware of the dargah. ( Now i had asked this ques to an All India service officer who had been posted as Dy. Collector of Dewas and even he wasn’t aware of the dargah).

M4: ok so you have lived in Vellore. There was some time back a news about lots of drug abuse in vellore particularly by the locals. What are the name of those drugs?

Me: I’m sorry sir I am not aware of the issue as our college rules were very strict regarding drugs and I seldom ventured outside the college because of in time, So..

M4( interrupted) : yes yes, then you wouldn’t be aware of it.

M4: ok. So you are a mechanical engineer. Tell me what is enthalpy.

Me: sir it is the total heat content of a body,

M4: and how do you calculate that?

Me: sir, there is formula comprising of work, heat and enthalpy which I am unable to recall.

M4: ok. Tell me three laws of Newton.

Me: Sir the first is about inertia , second about momentum through which we derive the F=ma formula and the third is about action and reaction and the action and reaction act on two different bodies.

M4: ok. So tell me how has bangladesh improved its per capita income?

Me: sir there was a news regarding Bangladesh overcoming us in per capita income by a slight margin but that is because of few reasons. Firstly since Bangladesh is a lower developing economy and it is primarily reliant on textile exports, it gets preferential treatment in foreign markets. Secondly bangladesh has high female labour force participation rate which are involved through various SHGs. These SHGs are financed by various Micro finance institutions and bangladesh is known for its micro finance institutions. All this lead to increase in its per capita income but i would say the participation of female workforce has been a major reason.

M4: ok utkarsh what do you mean by decision making and why is it so difficult to take decisions in a democracy?

Me: sir decision making is the sikll of identifying a problem and then identifying its solutions ( to which he nodded). And sir in a democracy taking decisions becomes difficult beacause we need to reconicle a lot of contradictions and different set of people have different demands, choices and aspirations. But sir i would say, once a decision is taken in a democracy, it enjoys huge legitimacy.

At this point CP sir stopped the conversation as it was exactly 30 minutes. I had entered at 2:15pm and at 2:45 my interview was stopped.

CP sir: your interview is over. Thank you. Face shield le lo (which was kept on the table)

I thanked all and left.

Disclaimer: I might be forgetting some questions because the transcript might appear short but I would say I could reproduce atleast 90% of it. 

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