Update: Find the list of state specific news threads here – State’s News Daily. We request other members to start their respective threads soon and show enough activity to be tagged as official threads.

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Local news comes handy in all the 3 aspects of your IAS/ UPSC Preparation –

1. – IAS Prelims: It helps you keep a tab on some rare, seemingly trivial news items which have the potential to make or break your game in IAS Prelims. Those who wrote Prelims 2016 will do well to remember the questions on state butterfly of Maharashtra, the first state to have NIMZ centre and a few more. If you want to know more – click and read IAS Prelims analysis of 2016
2. – IAS Mains: Understanding state specific initiatives and putting the relevant points in answers as examples of case studies can boost your Mains Scores. A lot of subjects of State list and Concurrent list are discussed and debated every day in public policy and special schemes. Where else will you get most interesting matter for brownie points but in these local highlights!
3. – Personality Test: Those who have appeared for interviews can attest to the fact that the UPSC chairman can (at his whims and fancy) go deep into your native towns and city specific trivias. Don’t wait for the last minute sprint! Stay on top of local news in bits and pieces.

Just 5 minutes a day of everyone’s time and we can ace the Local/ State News perfectly.

So, what to do next?

1. – We want existing members of this community to start and own up separate state level threads which will act as repository of important state level trivias
2. – Since you are supposed to know your state best, you might provide additional information on important news links which an outside is likely to miss! That way current affairs can be fun and interesting
3. – Since you are supposed to know your state best, you can easily weed out unnecessary info which might appear attractive to the uninitiated
4. – Don’t worry. You won’t be the lone warrior here – You should soon be joined by fellow aspirants and your energies will inspire them to contribute and keep the knowledge flow going

At the end of this exercise – you will see an amazing repository of accumulated wisdom which can be compiled and provided in a downloadable PDF at the end of every month!

How to start it?

Simple!

1. – Go to the homepage and create a new thread on the forum with this structure – State Name Daily

Example – Punjab Daily, West Bengal Daily, Tamil Nadu Daily and so on… create one for each state

1. – Set your own conditions on that thread of the kind of news that can be put in there, local dailies that need to be looked at. Since you know the state of affairs better – do mention the focus areas as well so that the new joinees can hit the ground running 🙂
2. – Start contributing!

We are hopeful that you will find meaning in doing this. For now, we will be calling out some of the names which can help us extend this initiative.

But feel free to pitch in!