ECONOMY SECTION IN GENERAL STUDIES Tackling GS-Economy with confidence For dealing with any section in Civil Service Examination, it is mandatory for the students to understand its overall perspective, importance, nature and trend of questions asked with respect to its impact in the examination. This article deals with comprehending such dimensions regarding the Indian Economy section of the General Studies papers at both Preliminary (General Studies Paper I) and Main (General Studies Paper III) levels of the Civil Services Examination and strategizing to learn and perform in the most effective manner. Most of the candidates facing this examination are more concerned or worried about the Indian Economy section than any other. This anxiety is perhaps borne out of the perceived difficulty of the theme, maybe because of its voluminous technical lexicon that looms large from the pink business news paper especially at aspirants from non-economic background. Also, the other reason is ignorant approach towards the subject as many candidates fail to comprehend the true essence of the subject or what essentially is tested by UPSC. UPSC clearly mentions in its prospectus, “The questions are likely to test the candidate’s basic understanding of all relevant issues, and ability to analyze, and take a view on conflicting socio‐ economic goals, objectives and demands. The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.” UPSC in another instance states that the nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers will be such that a well-educated person will be able to answer them without any specialized study. The questions will be such as to test a candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects, which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services. So,one does not have to master all the topics; all one needs to do is develop basic understanding which comes from familiarizing oneself with necessary concepts (source: NCERT books); understand relevant issues of importance which comes from keeping abreast with a primary source of information (source: a newspaper); and cultivate opinionated or analytical bent of mind which comes not through rote learning (memorizing facts and static data) or reading a newspaper piece like a story book but through REAL LEARNING. Now, let us learn about the Indian Economy section in particular. PERSPECTIVE: UPSC expects that a candidate have broad understanding of economic hardships and challenges at the dawn of independence, trajectory of economic growth and development followed in India since independence and policy shift since 1991. It also focuses on socio-economic impact of economic development policies on the citizens of the country. IMPORTANCE AND WEIGHT AGE: In the recent years, with the introduction of changes in the pattern of the exam, restructuring of the syllabus at both the Preliminary and Main levels and changing trend of questions asked in the papers to test inter-disciplinary knowledge of candidates, it has been observed that the section on Indian Economy has witnessed special focus in the syllabus and increased weight-age in question papers. Year No. of Questions in Preliminary Exam 2009 5 2010 25 2011 24 2012 14 2013 23 At the Preliminary stage, analyzing the last 5 years question papers shows an increase in the number of questions asked from 5-6 earlier to 20-25 now. At the Mains stage, in 2013, the General Studies Paper III gave almost 50% weight age (110 marks out of total 250 marks) to the section on Economy and the rest 50% distributed between sections on Environment, Ecology, Science & Technology, Internal Security and Disaster Management. Apart from that, a large number of questions from different sections of General Studies’ papers such as Economic Geography and Socio-Economic issues can only be answered in a comprehensive way by analyzing them through the economic perspective. NATURE OF THE SYLLABUS: The syllabus mentioned in the notification is an overview of the topics that will be covered in the economy section but to know the exact nature of the syllabus, one should have a complete analysis of all its components. The syllabus can broadly be divided into the following topics: - Concept of Economic Development - National Income, Poverty, Employment - Planning - Inflation - Fiscal Policy and Financial System - Social System and Inclusive Growth - Agriculture - Industry and Infrastructure - Foreign Trade and Foreign Exchange TREND OF THE QUESTIONS: On analysis of syllabus (which is contemporary in nature as well as is interlinked with other sections of the syllabus) and taking into consideration the changing trend of questions asked in the examination (from being pure static-factual to at least static-theoretical and static-analytical or current-analytical type), the type of the questions can broadly be divided as follows: Core and basic questions (or static-factual and static-theoretical question type) UPSC is increasingly asking questions to check aspirants on their basic and fundamental understanding of concepts and their implications rather than mere reproduction of facts. So, instead of superficial knowledge proper understanding of relational aspects of all major concepts is required. Application and current affairs based questions (or static-analytical and current-analytical question types): Another prominent trend that is being observed is that UPSC is increasingly using current affairs for asking questions to test core knowledge of this section through its application in day-to-day socio-economic happenings. Consider for instance the following questions: From Prelims-2013 Q: A rise in the general level of prices may be caused by 1. An increase in money supply 2. A decrease in the aggregate level of output 3. An increase in effective demand Select the correct answer using the codes given below: a) 1 only b) 1 and 2 only c) 2 and 3 only d) 1, 2 and 3 Q: Supply of money remaining the same when there is increase in demand for money, there will be a) a fall in level of prices b) an increase in rate of interest c) a decrease in the rate of interest d) an increase in the level of income and employment Such questions were asked because Inflation and RBI’s policies to contain it were in news throughout the year. From Mains-2013 Q: With a consideration towards the strategy of inclusive growth, the new Company’s Bill, 2013 has indirectly made CSR mandatory obligation. Discuss the challenges expected in its implementation in right earnest. Also discuss other provisions in the bill and their implications. Q: Food Security Bill is expected to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in India. Critically discuss various apprehensions in its effective implementation alongwith the concerns it has generated in WTO. Such questions were asked because Company’s Bill and Food Security Bill were passed just before the main exam commenced. APPROACH TOWARDS PREPARATION First of all, the approach for Prelims and Mains should be an integrated one. Since, UPSC is asking application based questions, thus facts and concepts are to be studied together. Facts cannot be understood unless the concepts are clear whereas concepts cannot be substantiated unless they are supported by facts. Apart from that, without having a comprehensive approach or conceptual grasp over the subject a candidate will fail to understand and answer questions from many other sections of General Studies as the nature of questions in exam is getting more and more interdisciplinary in nature. Build Conceptual Knowledge: It is the key to understanding any economic news, make sense of data related to it or build your perspective about it. For instance, one would not really understand the meaning or implication of, let us say, “Current account deficit widens to 4.9% of GDP” if one does not understand the very concept of “Current Account” or “Balance of Payment”. It is only after learning about these concepts that one will be able to understand its implications, let us say “what led to the widening of the deficit” or “what has the government planned to curb the widening?” etc. So, the approach is to build your fundamental knowledge and develop a habit to understand (understand thoroughly and not just go through it definition from the glossary) any new concept that you come across in any newspaper article/magazine/class notes, etc. Sources to build conceptual knowledge NCERT Class X – Understanding Economic Development NCERT Class XI & XII – Indian Economic Development & Macroeconomics respectively NCERT – India People and Economy Further reading: NCERT textbooks can further be supplemented with some standard books on Indian Economy like the one by Mishra & Puri, Uma Kapila, Dutta & Sundaram etc. and class notes on Indian Economy relevant with the examination. Economic Times (Times group) the Business Line (The Hindu) Apply Conceptual Knowledge: Once the basic concepts are tuned, understanding of economy related news becomes effortless. Now, you will understand the inter-relationship between different economic concepts – how change in one affects the other. This will be most interesting part of the journey as you will now start enjoying reading newspaper and analyzing issues from a different standpoint. Sources to develop analytical viewpoint: Economic Times (Times group) the Business Line (The Hindu) Economic Editorials from newspapers, magazines or internet: will provide you not just facts and figures but also inter-relationship among economic variables, implication of any economic event on the economy and most importantly independent opinion and suggestions provided by the author. They will all together help you form your opinions on the situation. India Year Book: Read selectively especially the chapters on basic economic data, commerce and finance. Economic Survey: contains synopsis of state of economic affairs which is released by the government just before the release of the Union Budget. A thorough reading of this will not only help in getting factual data but also useful analysis especially from mains point of view. Internet: It is a great resource for finding anything from archived editorial and reports to researched papers on varied themes and analysis of situations etc etc; however, trust only credible sources of information. Together with the above suggestions, it is imperative for the candidates to solve previous years’ question papers as well as questions they can get from their coaching classes/magazines on the subject etc. Solving questions and writing answer will help you organize all scattered information into consequential knowledge in your brain.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 16:49:56 +0000
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