1. Interview Guide
2. List OF Essays
3. List OF Imp. Questions For GS Paper II
4. List Of Imp. Questions For GS International Relations (IR) Paper
5. List Of Imp. Questions For GS Paper III
6. Psychology Mock Test
7. GS Mains Test
8. PCS Mains Governance Test
List of Imp. Questions For GS Paper IV
GS PAPER – IV
Q 1.Plato’s Guardians were expected to be men of wisdom and empathy. Elaborate.
Q 2.“Civil Service must remain politically neutral and professionally competent. It must aim to maintain the highest standards of personal integrity and probity”. Evaluate the level of probity in the Indian Civil Services.
Q 3.“We have been running and galloping on the path of administrative reforms, but the distance covered has been negligible.” Do you agree?
Q 4.Good governance must be founded on moral virtues ensuring stability and harmony. Discuss crucial issues affecting its foundation.
Q 5.Explain the significance of Vivekanand’s dictum, “your mind to God and hand to work.”
Q 6.“Soft state is only a euphemism for ineffective governance”. Suggest certain practical measures to mitigate corruption in the governance system.
Q 7.Corporate Governance and Good Governance are allied approaches to the creation of a new moral order. Discuss in detail.
Q 8.The purpose of a government is to make it easy for people to do good and difficult to do evil. Evaluate the role of e-Governance in this context.
Q 9.In Western Philosophy, there are 3 eminent schools of ethics.
(a) First holds that virtues are dispositions to act in ways that benefit the possessor of these virtues.
(b) Second makes the concept of duty central to morality.
(c) Third asserts that the guiding principle of conduct should be the greatest benefit of the greatest number.
Discuss their contemporary significance in administrative ethics.
Q 10.“No responsibility of government is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the higher standards of ethical behaviour.” Evaluate this statement in dynamics of corruption.
Q 11.What is the significance of emotional intelligence in the field of administrative ethics.
Q 12.“Power corrupts and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely”. Would the enforcement of code of ethics and conduct ensure legitimate use of power?
Q 13.Evolve a credible strategy for tackling corruption considering the dynamics of corruption.
Q 14.Ethics is grounded in the notion of responsibility and accountability. Discuss.
Q 15.Discuss the rationale of Sevottam Model. How will it improve quality of public service.
Q 16.How will New Companies Act, 2013 strengthen the Strategies of Ethics Management in Corporate Governance.
Q 17.Attitudes and behaviour share a consistent relationship”. Do you agree?
Q 18.Recently Jan Swasthya Abhiyan suggested changes in the Rules of Clinical Establishment Act 2010. Explain can how these changes ensure patients’ rights charter and an effective grievance – redressal mechanism.
Q 19.“The developed countries had their ideas and discussion focused on everything but public funding.” Discuss this statement in content of International Ethics and funding.
Q 20.Outline the main provisions of the Right of citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances.
Q 1.“The Independent Directors have to do moral policing in a company”. Discuss.
Q 2.Without containing corruption, we cannot conceive of sustainable socio-economic development. Comment.
Q 3.Public administrator the “Guardians” of the administrative state. Elaborate.
Q 4.The movement of Good Governance lays stress on the ethical and moral conduct of administrators. How will it help in achieving administrative effectiveness?
Q 5.“The primary purpose of corporate leadership is to create wealth legally and ethically.” Discuss this statement in context of New Companies Act, 2013.
Q 6.Developed countries had promised to drum up an annual stream of $100 billion starting 2020. But proper countries are demanding a clear road map of how the developed countries will ratchet up their funding support. Discuss their issue in context of international ethics and funding.
Write short notes on following:
Q 1.Bureaupathology
Q 2.Maxim of integrity
Q 3.Maxim of legality and rationality
Q 4.Sanskritization of corruption
Q 5.Components of attitudes
Q 6.3 processes of social influence
Q 7.Rights based framework in India
Q 8.CVC and CBI
Q 9.Recent status of Lok Pal Bill
Q 10.Protection to whistleblowers
Q 11.Major recommendation of Kumar Manglam Birla Committee Report
Q 12.Prohibition of Benami Transactions
Q 13.Buddhist Ethics
Q 14.Kohlberg’s 3 levels of morality
Q 15.Plato’s cardinal virtues
Q 16.Deontological ethics
Q 17.Consequentialist ethics
Q 18.Maxim of Fusion
Q 19.Principles of citizen charter
Q 20.Golden Mean Doctrine
Q 21.Recommendations of Santhanam Committee
Q 22.Cognitive Dissonance
Q 23.Relationship between moral and political attitudes
Q 24.Integrity Pacts
Q 25.Value expressive functions
Q 26.Difference between IQ and EQ
Q 27.Work culture
Q 28.Freedom of information
Q 29.Ethics of Globalization
Q 30.Difference between morality, values & ethics
Strategy For GS Paper 1
IAS paper I comprises of three main subjects i.e. History, Geography and Indian Society. It is the most conventional among all the four G.S papers and needs basic knowledge of the subjects as questions asked are reasonably predicitable.
Let us discuss the paper subject wise
HISTORY
History consists of four major heads
i) Art and culture of India
ii) World History (including events of 18th, 19th & 20th century.)
iii) Modern Indian History and freedom struggle.
iv) Post independence consolidation and reorganisation within the country.
Art and culture is a very vast topic in itself and these days many questions from this are asked in IAS prelims as well. This topic can be best prepared from NIOS material available online. Some topics an also be found in NCERT’s of class XI and XII (e.g. Chapter 2 & 3 of XII NCERT).
Other reference books could be spectrum’s art and culture and Graphics book on art and culture. It is important to practise the questions of NCERT’s while preparing Art and Culture.
World History covers important events of the c from 18th century. There are three sources from which this topic can be prepared
* Modern World History by Norman Lowe is thesis of 1970’s and most comprehensive book. You can also refer to internet for some specialized topics like the oil crisis of 1970’s and the Gulf War. World History by Arjan Dev and NCERT (old) of class X are also good resources to prepare this topic.
Modern Indian History and freedom struggle is already a well prepared topic by all students even during prelims. NCERT’s are must read for this topic. Besides NCERT’s Bipin Chanra(NBT) and spectrum book can also be referred.
Post Independence consolidation and reorganisation is the most tricky topic of History. Before starting all students are advised to watch all episodes of “Pradhan Mantri” on Youtube.This topic can be prepared from NBT Bipin Chandra-India after Independence( Chapter 6-12) and (Chapter 9- 14) of India after Gandhi.
Indian Society, Women & Globalization
This topic constitutes nearly 20% of Paper I. It can be prepared easily as the questions asked are very general. For Indian Society topic NCERT of Class XII is the best resource to get a basic idea of the topic. Reading editorials from various newspaper can help build on .Inevitably writing practise matters a lot here.
Ref Books
Ram Ahiya’s Indian Society however we suggest you to avoid it. The Role of Women, developmental, urban issues should be prepared form magazines, newspapers and internet. Each year there is a special edition of Yojna magazines covering 1 or 2 topics from this. Yojna, The Hindu and Indian Express are good resources. Students should also keep tab on the website of Ministry of Women & Child Development. For other topics read newspaper regularly.
GEOGRAPHY
Geography portion can be split into three sub topics
i) Salient features of world’s physical geography.
ii) Distribution of Natural resource across the world, industry distribution.
iii) Geographical phenomena.
The first two topics are to be covered from NCERT’s .Old NCERT’s are the best resources for preparing world geography and natural resources. For geographical phenomena G.C.LEONG can be referred. Students are advised to read Geography and You magazine selectively. Candidates should also refer to website of moef and meteorological department of India for updations. The mantra is writing practise. These sources should be read and revised.
Strategy For GS Paper II
GS paper 2 along with paper dynamic papers where all the questions are current based. It also is a test of analytical skills of the students as many indirect questions are asked. The main topics consist of Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations.
The basic knowledge of polity helps in concept building and is bedrock for Paper II preparation. The students before starting GS-II must read either the NCERT’s of X, XI, XII of political science or the NIOS material which is available on the internet.
For constitution topic knowing basic structure of constitution is essential. Most of the students have studied Lakshmikanth during their prelims which are enough. However one can also study first few chapters of DD basic (Chapter 1-5) for further clarity. This topic is static, any changes or amendments made/proposed in the constitution should also be covered. This is generally published in India Year Book every year.
The topic like issues related to federal structure, devolution of power and finances, redressal mechanism public grievieance are complete current based tpics and are best prepared from various newspaper and magazines. Reading ARC reports is very useful for this topic. One should continuously browse the internet to locate any good editorials for the related topics in order to prepare.
For comparative constitution S Chand book select Constitution of the world is very useful. Since this topic is very vast and not always questions are asked one should go in detail of this topic .However one should keep a check on some of the peculiar points of various constitutions, changes made in other constitutions, changes made in other important countries and new constitutions or reformed constitutions like Nepal and Pakistan.
For functioning of parliament-Subhash Kashyap’s book our parliament is a good resource. However questions were not asked from this topic in last two years. Laxmikanth again is a mandatory book both for polity in prelims and other small topics in mains. Newspaper supplements preparation of this topic. Some of the websites like (Centre of Budget and policy studies, National Institute of public finance and policy, Indian Institute of Public administration and PRS) should be referred.
Other topics like centre state relationships and performance of various schemes can be checked from the internet. Again websites of various ministries like (MWCW, MSJ, MRD and Ministry of Tribal affairs) should be regularly visited.
Candidates should also keep a check on various reports which are published. Data from economic survey and India Year Book should in inculcated in the answers.
International Relations are a break off topic in paper II which is completely different from polity and governance. Only common point in the two points in the two areas is that current based questions are asked. Candidate can build a base by reading a basic book on International Relations. Any book either IR by Rajiv Sikri on book by pant should be the reference book. Students should definitely refer to the website of ministry of external affairs and Institute of Defence studies and Analysis.
The editorial of newspapers and articles from World Focus magazines are also quiet useful. Candidates should only stick to newspapers and websites for IR and International organisations.
Strategy For GS Paper III
As mentioned earlier GS -2 and GS -3 are totally dynamic papers.GS- 3 paper is generally on expected lines. If the student has studied the topics properly questions can be easily predicted.
GS-3 broadly covers 5 topics
i) Science & Technology
ii) Indian Economy
iii) Ecology, Biodiversity and Environment
iv) Internal Security of India
v) Disaster prepredness and management
Science and technology is a very scoring area.Questions usually is easy and predictable. To study basic sciences again NCERT’s are the best resources, which the candidate has already covered during prelims. A quick revision of NCERT’s from class VI to X is required. The other topics i.e. development in the field of science & technology is quiet detailed. Spectrums book on science and technology is sufficient to cover this topic. It gives you a basic idea of what is to be covered. The candidate should religiously follow the science and technology page every Thursday in the Hindu. Surely questions from topics like Biotechnology Nanotechnology, Robotics and Indian defence are asked. The questions are from latest developments that have taken place in this field. Internet is a constant help to prepare science and technology.
To prepare economy first of all the basic economic concepts should be in place any basic book of Economy which is referred during prelims i.e. either Ramesh Singh or Access Publication or Sanjeev Verma is useful.
One should also follow the five year plan document and the economic survey to prepare topics such as Growth. Economic survey is the most reliable and effective sources to prepare multiple topics in economy. Budget is another government document which is mightily effective to prepare economy for mains. All of government budgeting questions are directly asked from the Union Budget.
Strategy For GS Paper IV
GS mains paper IV is a perfect blend of knowledge of ’s i.e. Philosophy, Psychology and Public Administration. Its preparation demands a journey beginning from Philosophy, halting at Psychology and finally converging into administration.
The student in the end must be competent enough to tackle the questions related to administrative ethics. There is an important section related to case studies as well case studies and situational crisis questions carry as much marks as theoretical portion.
Mentoring is needed in this topic as sources of data are not very clear and concrete. Internet is the most reliable source for preparation.
Recommended Books
Access Publication – Overall
Reference
Ethics - BBC guide to Ethics
- Cambridge University Website
Human Value - IGNOU material
Attitudes - ARC Reports
Integrity - ARC Reports
Moral Philosophers – Internet
Ethics in Governance – Ramesh Arora
