An Eagle Eye View of the UPSC Syllabus 2013-14 Stagnant Vs Dynamic Earlier the syllabus was stagnant. The present syllabus is dynamic meaning it calls for inter-disciplinary and cross-domain preparation where the bottomline can only be dynamic flux. Ethics & Ethical Concern Gains Ground In the previous GS syllabus ethical word was used only once in Paper I-“Health issues including the management of Public Health, Health education and ethical concerns regarding health-care, medical research and pharmaceuticals”. Now the word has become the most used terminology. This has certain implicit as well as explicit connotation. Explicitly it calls for a certain way of understanding the whole mechanism of State and Citizenry whereas implicitly it indicates a certain aptitude and attitude while dealing with any concept even if it has no direct relation with the ethical dimension. "Salient" Becomes the salient feature of the Syllabus In the present syllabus "Salient" is also used many times. In fact it is used three times in Paper II and one time in Paper III. In Paper II it is used in the following points: • Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times • Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India • Salient features of world’s physical geography Whereas; in Paper III it is used in • Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act. This in itself calls for a holistic and comprehensive methodology covering • the historical aspects • the evolutionary aspects • the concurrent aspects and not to miss; • the futuristic angle of the same leading to the ways of improving it further as per the demands of the times to come when new social, political and governance structures will come up. Newer Horizons as per Newer Demands & Concerns The syllabus also has some newer dimensions as per the concurrent situational churning and evolution in the society and State at large. Here we mention those portions specifically which can truly be called as new additions to the syllabus. Having said this, we would like to underline the fact that many a times the present syllabic content is more elucidated and elaborated form of previous syllabus. It includes specific dimensions that makes the correspondingly similar previous syllabus more dynamic and concurrent. So even if in various domain the question pattern may not see an overnight and paradigm change but the treatment that is expected from You as per the question should certainly change in the current context. Exemplifying this fact truly can be the history portion. A domain so static has also been endeavoured by the UPSC to make it contextually concurrent by including the • Salient aspects of art, literature and architecture from ancient to modern times • Modern Indian History from middle of the eighteenth century until the present times • Significant events, Personalities and Issues has also been included • Even Post-Independence consolidation and reorganization has been included • Not only this- World History with all the stages of development and political ideologies has also been included. To make the things limitless (in a way) the whole thing has been qualified with the word salient. Words like • Sustainable • Equity • Pragmatic • Participative • Democratization • Ethical Governance Model • Empathy • Self-lessness requires to be used more often wherever applicable. In paper II that is GS Paper I • Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues • Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country • History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawing of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society. • Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. • Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies • Effects of globalization on Indian society • Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism • Salient features of world’s physical geography. • Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India) • Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes. Some Key Points to Look for: If we can discuss briefly some of the points that come to mind instantly after looking at these then we can come up with the following points: This Paper has witnessed the most elaborative widening of its content. When Salient features of Indian Society and Salient feature of the World’s Physical Geography is used it means that in a way You can expect any question from Sociology and Geography. Some of the Gender specific issues under the present context have also gained ground. It is expected thus from a future bureaucrat to have gender sensitive attitude. Resource nationalism and economic nationalism having thrown to the centre-stage of geopolitics has forced the UPSC to bring in topics like the one concerning the resource distribution. Issue like the Energy Securitization and also the one concerning the rare earth metals that have recently gained traction instantly comes to mind. In PAPER-III that is General Studies- II • Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein. • Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions. • Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries • Parliament and State Legislatures - structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these • Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary, Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity • Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act • Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation • Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders • Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections. • Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures • Role of civil services in a democracy. • Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora Some Key Points to Ponder: In this section which has governance as the core issue whether that be at the Social, Political, or International level will have more questions from the area of: • Moral Relativism • Challenges • Dispute Redressal • Local Levels Governance Model • Newer Institutions like the “pressure group” (in foreign developed democracies like the USA these have their own de-facto standing and are called “lobby group”) and NGOs • Representation of People’s Act and all such acts which are increasingly being “churned” and are undergoing through a lot of evolution as per the demands of the current times So, in a nutshell if any section that demands a very nuanced, subtle and cautious way of writing answers with the correct and properly-qualified syntax then it has to be this section. In PAPER-IV that is General Studies-III • Major crops, cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers • Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing. • Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management. • Land reforms in India • Investment models • Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life • Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology • Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights • Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment • Disaster and disaster management • Linkages between development and spread of extremism • Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security. • Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention • Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism • Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate Some of the Key Points to Remember: This Paper can truly be called the applied part of all that gets to Your mind. If You leave the conventional economic portion then all the other part is the practical application of everything that has to do with the development and advancement of the human society in general and India in particular. A lot of stress has been thrown to make the student more aware about the innovative and technical intervention in the domain of agriculture and allied activities. UPSC is also interested in making the to-be DM agri-bureaucrat when he is working in the hinterland having four out of five people in his district dependent on agriculture and food processing. If earlier basic idea about the newer domains of science and technology was required; now the UPSC needs You to be “Aware” about all the new that is happening in this domain. Being aware certainly means more than having a basic idea about a concept. Not only that, now You are also required to know about the indigenization of technology. This certainly has geopolitical dimensions related to cyber security in the area of telecom and IT. Investment Models can include the conceptual like the Mahalanobois or Rao-Manmohan model or may be the applied part that is related to the funding and implementation models of the infrastructural investment. Ecology and environment has two points but even those points underline the implication part and not the factual. The need to: Conserve Sustain and Disaster Management crops up prominently. Linkages of development with the spread of extremism throw the critical angle to the “exclusivist” approach to development Internal Security, linkages between internal Maoist-Naxal threat with the external forces and various security agencies will certainly invite UPSC to frame questions that will be directly in consonance to all the concurrent inter and intra institutional differences of approach within these domains. *Paper V being a new addition will be discussed separately. To just give You an idea of our discussion- a leitmotif if You can call that- we will delve into the aspect that the whole paper (seeing the current dialectical debate) is in a way an extension of a single point that was mentioned in the previous paper. In the previous syllabus the sixth point of the fourth chapter in Paper I had the point: Issues relating to good governance and accountability to the citizens including the maintenance of human rights, and of probity in public life. Now, this has been elaborated and extended to be made into a complete chapter rather Paper carrying 250 marks. *Further in detail we will be discussing this paper with a case study at opportune place in the write-up. PT Remains Unchanged but with Forest Services Joining PT Treadmill; It Needs to be Deciphered Differently UPSC uses the jargon of being a “well read person” to widen its circumference as far as the syllabus of this exam-which selects the top echelons of Indian Bureaucracy- is concerned. Even as we are in the throes of the transformational and paradigm change in the mains exam post the CSAT regimen in PT; the GS syllabus needs to be deciphered and interpreted more clearly. Here we present the syllabus of GS reduced to its lowest denominations for PT. After CSAT the same wordings of the syllabus got impregnanted with different meaning as far as its ‘indicative’ value is concerned. So, it becomes all the more important that you not only know the syllabus but understand it as well. For that you need to comprehend the same in the more holistic manner. In fact if you have set goals than you can think of getting there! The syllabus below can be considered as your set goals. The emphasis is to read less number of journals and sources and gain most; so the suggestions takes the format of engaging You with least number of materials but the quality rather than the quantity is intrusive….
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 04:06:27 +0000
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