Flagship & Advanced students,
This blog is to give guidance to students about the first advanced test on Polity and Economics on the 21st of November. Advanced tests will not use basic sources such as NCERT’s (although some NCERT’s like old history NCERT’s are suited for advanced studying), they will instead be based on books such as Laxmikanth for Polity and similarly advanced sources for economics. First let’s discuss polity.
Polity
The syllabus will be the first 20 chapters of Laxmikanth. If you are reading DD Basu the same information will be there. In fact if you see in the syllabus you will see some standard references and other sources too. Generally all books contain the same information, and students may prefer some particular book as they prefer an author’s style. The first 20 chapters of Laxmikanth contain the following topics –
1.Constitutional Framework – Chapters 1-10 – Historical background, making of the constitution, Salient features of the Constitution, Preamble, Union and its Territory, Citizenship, Fundamental Rights, DPSP, Fundamental Duties, Ammendment of the Constitution, Basic structure
2.System of Govt – Chapters 11-20 – Parliamentary System, Federal System, Centre-State relations, Inter-state relations, Emergency Provisions, President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Central Council of Ministers
Economics
The syllabus here broadly covers the first 7 chapters, the 11th and 12th and some topics from the 18th chapter of Ramesh Singh. The topics are –
1.Basics of an economy – Chapter 1 – types of economy, role of state, sectors, national income
2.Growth, development and happiness – Chapter 2
3.Evolution of the Indian economy – Chapter 3 – planned and mixed economy
4.Economic Planning – Chapter 4
5.Planning in India – Chapter 5 – objective of planning, all attempts at planning such as the Bombay Plan etc, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog etc
6.Economic Reforms – Chapter 6 – Liberalisation, privatisation etc
7.Inflation and the Business cycle – Chapter 7 – types of inflation, measurement, e.g. CPI etc
8.Indian Financial Market – Chapter 11 – institutions, money market etc
9.Banking in India – Chapter 12 – RBI, NBFCs etc
10.Fiscal and Monetary Policy – part of Chapter 18
We would like to remind students (especially those giving the exam this year for the first time) that the prelims this year has been preponed and hence the UPSC exam is in June and not August.
Students are strongly urged to finish their entire syllabus for the first time by January end. Main topics such as polity, economics, geography and history should be finished by December end.
The first reading will only introduce you to the topic, it is only after your 2nd and 3rd revision that you will start remembering and understanding these subjects. These revisions will also take you a few months.
