Upsc Syllabus
Upsc Syllabus
PART-B
MAIN EXAMINATION
The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding
of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.
The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers (Paper II to Paper V) 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. 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.
The scope of the syllabus for optional subject papers (Paper VI and Paper VII) for the examination is
broadly of the honours degree level i.e. a level higher than the bachelors’ degree and lower than the masters’
degree. In the case of Engineering, Medical Science and law, the level corresponds to the bachelors’
degree.
Syllabi of the papers included in the scheme of Civil Services (Main) Examination are given as follows:-
PAPER-I
Essay: Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic. The choice of subjects will be given.
They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to
write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.
English Comprehension & English Precis will be to test the English language Comprehension and English
précis writing skills (at 10th standard level).
PAPER-II
General Studies- I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.
Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to
modern times.
Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant
events, personalities, issues
The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different
parts of the country.
Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-
continent); 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 water-
bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
PAPER-III
General Studies- II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
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.
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.
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.
Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s
interests
Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian
diaspora.
Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
PAPER-IV
General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and
Disaster Management.
Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and
employment.
Government Budgeting.
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.
Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial
growth.
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.
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
PAPER-V
This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity,
probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing
with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad
areas will be covered.
Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions;
dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the
lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and
educational institutions in inculcating values.
Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and
political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service , integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship,
objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-
sections.
Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns
and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as
sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral
values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity;
Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of
Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds,
challenges of corruption.
Candidates may choose any optional subject from amongst the list of subjects given in para 2 (Group 1).
However, if a candidate has graduated in any of the literatures of languages indicated in Group-2 , with the
literature as the main subject, then the candidate can also opt for that particular literature subject as an
optional subject.
AGRICULTURE
PAPER - I
Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources, their sustainable management and conservation. Physical
and social environment as factors of crop distribution and production. Agro ecology; cropping pattern as
indicators of environments. Environmental pollution and associated hazards to crops, animals and humans.
Climate change – International conventions and global initiatives. Green house effect and global warming.
Advance tools for ecosystem analysis – Remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
Cropping patterns in different agro-climatic zones of the country. Impact of high-yielding and short-duration
varieties on shifts in cropping patterns. Concepts of various cropping and farming systems. Organic and
Precision farming. Package of practices for production of important cereals, pulses, oil seeds, fibres, sugar,
commercial and fodder crops.
Important features and scope of various types of forestry plantations such as social forestry, agro-forestry, and
natural forests.
Propagation of forest plants. Forest products. Agro forestry and value addition. Conservation of forest flora and
fauna.
Weeds, their characteristics, dissemination and association with various crops; their multiplications; cultural,
biological, and chemical control of weeds.
Soil- physical, chemical and biological properties. Processes and factors of soil formation. Soils of India.
Mineral and organic constituents of soils and their role in maintaining soil productivity. Essential plant
nutrients and other beneficial elements in soils and plants. Principles of soil fertility, soil testing and fertilizer
recommendations, integrated nutrient management. Biofertilizers. Losses of nitrogen in soil, nitrogen-use
efficiency in submerged rice soils, nitrogen fixation in soils. Efficient phosphorus and potassium use. Problem
soils and their reclamation. Soil factors affecting greenhouse gas emission.
Soil conservation, integrated watershed management. Soil erosion and its management. Dry land agriculture
and its problems. Technology for stabilizing agriculture production in rain fed areas.
Water-use efficiency in relation to crop production, criteria for scheduling irrigations, ways and means of
reducing run-off losses of irrigation water. Rainwater harvesting. Drip and sprinkler irrigation. Drainage of
waterlogged soils, quality of irrigation water, effect of industrial effluents on soil and water pollution.
Irrigation projects in India. Farm management, scope, importance and characteristics, farm planning. Optimum
resource use and budgeting. Economics of different types of farming systems. Marketing management –
strategies for development, market intelligence. Price fluctuations and their cost; role of co-operatives in
agricultural economy; types and systems of farming and factors affecting them. Agricultural price policy. Crop
Insurance.
Agricultural extension, its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension programmes, socio-
economic survey and status of big, small and marginal farmers and landless agricultural labourers. Training
programmes for extension workers. Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) in dissemination of Agricultural
technologies. Non Government Organization (NGO) and self-help group approach for rural development.
(e) Morphology of the language-conjugation-enclitic definitives and pleonastic suffixes.
(f) Dilectical divergences-the standard colloquial and the Kamrupi dialect in particulars.
(g) Assamese scripts-its evolution through the ages till 19th century A.D.
Section-B
Literary Criticism and Literary History
(a) Principles of Literary criticism upto New criticism.
(b) Different literary genres.
(c) Development of literary forms in Assamese.
(d) Development of literary criticism in Assamese.
(e) Periods of the literary history of Assam from the earliest beginnings, i.e. from the period of the
charyyageets with their socio-cultural background : the proto Assamese-Pre-Sankaradeva - Sankaradeva-post
Sankaradeva – Modern period (from the coming of the Britishers)-Post-Independence period. Special
emphasis is to be given on the Vaisnavite period, the gonaki and the post-Independence period.
PAPER-II
This paper will require first-hand reading of the texts prescribed and will be designed to test the
candidates’ critical ability.
BENGALI
PAPER-I
History of Language and Literature.
Answers must be written in Bengali.
Section-A
Topics from the History of Bangla language
1. The chronological track from Proto Indo-European to Bangla (Family tree with branches and approximate
dates).
2. Historical stages of Bangla (Old, Middle, New) and their linguistic features.
3. Dialects of Bangla and their distinguishing characteristics.
4. Elements of Bangla Vocabulary.
5. Forms of Bangla Literary Prose-Sadhu and Chalit.
6. Processes of language change relevant for Bangla :
Apinihiti (Anaptyxis), Abhishruti (umlaut), Murdhanyibhavan (cerebralization), Nasikyibhavan
(Nasalization),
Samibhavan (Assimilation), Sadrishya (Analogy), Svaragama (Vowel insertion)-Adi Svaragama, Madhya
Svaragama or Svarabhakti, Antya Svaragama, Svarasangati (Vowel hormony), y-shruti and w-shruti.
7. Problems of standardization and reform of alphabet and spelling, and those of transliteration and
Romanization.
PAPER-II
Prescribed texts for close study.
Answers must be written in Bengali.
Section-A
1. Vaishnava Padavali (Calcutta University)
Poems of Vidyapati, Chandidas, Jnanadas, Govindadas and Balaramdas.
3. Morphology : Gender, Case & Case endings, Plural suffix, Definitives, Verbal suffix.
4. Vocabulary and its sources.
5. Syntax : Types of sentences, Word Order.
6. History of Scripts used in writing Bodo Language since inception.
Section-B
History of Bodo Literature
1. General introduction of Bodo folk literature.
2. Contribution of the Missionaries.
6. State Government and Administration:
Union-State administrative, legislative and financial relations; Role of the Finance Commission; Governor;
Chief Minister; Council of Ministers; Chief Secretary; State Secretariat; Directorates.
8. Civil Services:
Constitutional position; Structure, recruitment, training and capacity-building; Good governance initiatives;
Code of conduct and discipline; Staff associations; Political rights; Grievance redressal mechanism; Civil
service neutrality; Civil service activism.
9. Financial Management:
Budget as a political instrument; Parliamentary control of public expenditure; Role of finance ministry in
monetary and fiscal area; Accounting techniques; Audit; Role of Controller General of Accounts and
Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
SOCIOLOGY
PAPER - I
FUNDAMENTALS OF SOCIOLOGY
1. Sociology - The Discipline:
(a) Modernity and social changes in Europe and emergence of sociology.
(b) Scope of the subject and comparison with other social sciences.
(c) Sociology and common sense.
2. Sociology as Science:
(a) Science, scientific method and critique.
(b) Major theoretical strands of research methodology.
(c) Positivism and its critique.
(d) Fact value and objectivity.
(e) Non- positivist methodologies.
3. Research Methods and Analysis:
(a) Qualitative and quantitative methods.
(b) Techniques of data collection.
(c) Variables, sampling, hypothesis, reliability and validity.
4. Sociological Thinkers:
(a) Karl Marx- Historical materialism, mode of production, alienation, class struggle.
(b) Emile Durkheim- Division of labour, social fact, suicide, religion and society.
(c) Max Weber- Social action, ideal types, authority, bureaucracy, protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism.
(d) Talcolt Parsons- Social system, pattern variables.
(e) Robert K. Merton- Latent and manifest functions, conformity and deviance, reference groups.
(f) Mead - Self and identity.
5. Stratification and Mobility:
(a) Concepts- equality, inequality, hierarchy, exclusion, poverty and deprivation.
(b) Theories of social stratification- Structural functionalist theory, Marxist theory, Weberian theory.
(c) Dimensions – Social stratification of class, status groups, gender, ethnicity and race.
(d) Social mobility- open and closed systems, types of mobility, sources and causes of mobility.
6. Works and Economic Life:
(a) Social organization of work in different types of society- slave society, feudal society, industrial /capitalist
society.
STATISTICS
PAPER - I
1. Probability:
Sample space and events, probability measure and probability space, random variable as a measurable
function, distribution function of a random variable, discrete and continuous-type random variable, probability
mass function, probability density function, vector-valued random variable, marginal and conditional
distributions, stochastic independence of events and of random variables, expectation and moments of a
random variable, conditional expectation, convergence of a sequence of random variable in distribution, in
probability, in p-th mean and almost everywhere, their criteria and inter-relations, Chebyshev’s inequality and
Khintchine‘s weak law of large numbers, strong law of large numbers and Kolmogoroff’s theorems,
probability generating function, moment generating function, characteristic function, inversion theorem,
Linderberg and Levy forms of central limit theorem, standard discrete and continuous probability distributions.
2. Statistical Inference:
Consistency, unbiasedness, efficiency, sufficiency, completeness, ancillary statistics, factorization theorem,
exponential family of distribution and its properties, uniformly minimum variance unbiased (UMVU)
estimation, Rao-Blackwell and Lehmann-Scheffe theorems, Cramer-Rao inequality for single parameter.
Estimation by methods of moments, maximum likelihood, least squares, minimum chi-square and modified
minimum chi-square, properties of maximum likelihood and other estimators, asymptotic efficiency, prior and
posterior distributions, loss function, risk function, and minimax estimator. Bayes estimators.
Non-randomised and randomised tests, critical function, MP tests, Neyman-Pearson lemma, UMP tests,
monotone likelihood ratio, similar and unbiased tests, UMPU tests for single parameter likelihood ratio test and
its asymptotic distribution. Confidence bounds and its relation with tests.
Kolmogoroff’s test for goodness of fit and its consistency, sign test and its optimality.
Wilcoxon signed-ranks test and its consistency, Kolmogorov-Smirnov two-sample test, run test, Wilcoxon-
Mann-Whitney test and median test, their consistency and asymptotic normality.
Wald’s SPRT and its properties, OC and ASN functions for tests regarding parameters for Bernoulli, Poisson,
normal and exponential distributions. Wald’s fundamental identity.
Fixed effects model (two-way classification) random and mixed effects models (two-way classification with
equal observation per cell), CRD, RBD, LSD and their analyses, incomplete block designs, concepts of
orthogonality and balance, BIBD, missing plot technique, factorial experiments and 2n and 32, confounding in
factorial experiments, split-plot and simple lattice designs, transformation of data Duncan’s multiple range test.
PAPER - II
1. Industrial Statistics:
Process and product control, general theory of control charts, different types of control charts for variables and
attributes, X, R, s, p, np and c charts, cumulative sum chart. Single, double, multiple and sequential sampling
plans for attributes, OC, ASN, AOQ and ATI curves, concepts of producer’s and consumer’s risks, AQL,
LTPD and AOQL, Sampling plans for variables, Use of Dodge-Roming tables.
Concept of reliability, failure rate and reliability functions, reliability of series and parallel systems and other
simple configurations, renewal density and renewal function, Failure models: exponential, Weibull, normal,
lognormal.
Problems in life testing, censored and truncated experiments for exponential models.