Newspapers and various government reports are the most important sources for this paper.
Before I list out the various sources for various topics mentioned in the syllabus, I would like to talk a little bit about how to read the huge bulky reports. Government reports like 2nd ARC, Punchhi and Fourteenth Finance Commission reports are extremely important for the exam. Reading suggestions alone would not suffice because without the context these suggestions will not make any sense. So to appreciate the importance of the suggestions one must understand the context (like the problems in the existing system) and for that the whole report should be studied. But reading each and every line in these reports is not practically possible. So I usually look at the Contents and Headings to identify the topics, which would fit into the exam syllabus and then prepare on these topics. That way, I was able to finish off these reports rather quickly.
Following is the list of sources that I had studied from.
- Newspapers – The Hindu and Indian Express
- Magazines – Frontline (only relevant articles)
- Indian Polity by Lakshmikanth – to get the basics right
- Punchhi Commission report – for Centre-State (federalism) issues
- 2nd ARC Reports:
- Local Governance – for Local Bodies
- Social Capital – for NGOs, SHGs, Civil Societies etc.
- Selected readings from Personnel Administration and E-Governance.
- Fourteenth Finance Commission – This is extremely important as it came only this year.
- Representation of People’s Act – relevant provisions that appeared in Newspapers like the Supreme Court judgments.
- Comparison of Indian Constitution with others – I have prepared this only for few countries from internet like UK, USA and Japan in great depth. I also covered the ‘borrowed’ features of Indian Constitution from Lakshmikanth itself.
- International Relations:
- Newspapers, especially C. Raja Mohan’s column in Indian Express
- Frontline (extremely good for International Relations)
- idsa.in website (selected articles)
- Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) website
- Wikipedia for the mandate and objectives of various bodies and organisations
Bane rises! 
Hello brother again awesome article from you 🙂 what is your next article u almost covered everything !?
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On remaining topics of GS III
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But none write up brother 🙂
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*nice
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Thank u sir😀
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hello brother can you please suggest me what to read in down to earth website?should i do it in regular basis should i only read matter which concerns indian affairs?
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Read only the topics which fit into the syllabus.
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Hello sir,
are ncert books not needed for polity?will only laxmikanth be more than enough?
And in your next article please do throw somelight on science and tech part.
Thanks.
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I’ve read the NCERT only once for Polity. In my opinion Lakshmikanth would suffice.
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Yes sir…pls explain the science and tech part….in detail…what topics should be read…if possible write the article considering a beginner aspirant
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Hello sir I beginner started my preparation from past 3 months still reading NCerts, now my doubt I started reading hindu should write answers now itself? When should suggestions start writing answers ? When did you start?
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It’s upto you and the earlier you start the better.
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Hello brother I heard that Delhi old rajendranagar is filled with many good books! While you are preparing did you got hold of any books from there or Hyderabad book stall is enough for that need?
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Hahaha, not at all.
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sir first congrats for your success! The strategy which you suggested for note making in gs-3 article is awesome sir but i have a doubt in it should,that terms will be useful for the economy prelims rights or gs-3 mains also it is useful sir and which application did you use for making columns? i am using ever-note but i am unable to do in it.
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It was useful for both prelims as well as mains. I have used Google docs.
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Sir,
Is a candidate having colour blindness eligible for ips?
If one gives service preferences in this order:IAS,IPS,IFS,IRS etc. then will getting disqualified for ips due to colour blindness effect the prospect of other services in any way?
Thank you..
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There are certain technical services that you would not be eligible for, if you’re colour blind. One such service is IPS. But you’ll be eligible for IRS.
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Hello brother,in today’s editorial in hindu they gave so many cases now doubt we read about each case?
2) in business page we get so many business interview of the CEO other is it necessary to read them out should I skip it?
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The question that you need to ask yourself is whether the article in the newspaper comes within the syllabus or not. Study it only when it is part of the syllabus.
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Hello brother I have heard that after mains its 3 months before interview is different phases (so called dangerous) why is it called dangerous? What was your schedule after mains before getting call for interview?
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Hahaha, I don’t know why it is called dangerous myself. In fact I’ve never heard of such a thing. I tried to prepare for the interview just like I’ve mentioned in one of my earlier posts related to interview preparation.
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Hello brother in the mrunal you have mentioned that in an institute u went you felt history and geography useful my doubt is how did you feel that class nice compare to polity and economics what made you decide? In what aspects is the economics and polity class are lacking in your view?
Thanks
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They were boring and was wasting my time by bullshitting a lot during the class.
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Hello brother thanks for each every reply you gave me,you are so humble 😃 thanks brother,brother from tomorrow I am starting my journey my classes are going to start from tomorrow I joined rc reddy.I am starting my journey can you please bless me 😃
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Bless is a little too much 😛 I wish you all the very best for your future endeavours!
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Lol thanks brother😃
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Hello sir,
Is it necessary to solve the previous question papers for gs2 and gs3 ?Does solving the old question papers help in narrowing down the important topics to be picked up from newspapers as its so vast?or we will have to prepare everything that comes in newspaper related to syllabus?
What are the clues/points that you look for through old question papers analysis for paper 2 and 3 where almost all questions are current happening based?
By the way,thanks a ton for your altruistic attitude of helping aspirants by addressing
each and every query however irrelevant and annoying it may be!In fact,no words are enough to thank you.God bless u…
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I have gone through the previous year question papers only to get an idea of what sort of questions would be asked in the exam. Out of curiosity I found the answers to most of the questions as well. You may also do the same but prepare everything that is part of the syllabus for upsc is known to surprise aspirants!
Thanks a lot and you’re most welcome. All the best!
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Hello sir
Which preliminary test series you took?
Sir which source did you refer ancient and medieval history?
Sir many topper is using vision ias and gktoday module! Is this 2 sources are really useful?which 1 is better?
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I have already answered these questions in my earlier posts. I have enrolled for CL test series for prelims – only paper 2 was good in this test series.
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Congrats brother you have done it ias 👍
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Thank you so much.
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