PYQ DOCUMENT – SHASHANK SAJWAN

UPSC CSE MAINS YEARWISE SUBJECT WEIGHTAGE

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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA WORLD HISTORY

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 YEAR-2022
GENERAL STUDIES 1
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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Medieval Indian temple sculptures
AND ART & • Significance of the lion and bull figures in Indian Mythology, art and
CULTURE architecture
• Contribution of Gupta and Chola Period to Indian heritage

MODERN HISTORY
• Famines in Colonial India in Mid-Eighteenth Century
• Armies of the British East India Company: Reasons for their
continuous wins despite less numbers

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• Political and Administrative reorganization of states and territories:
Process ongoing since mid-nineteenth century

WORLD HISTORY
•

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Primary Rocks: Characteristics and Types
• Troposphere: Determination of weather process
• Straits and Isthmus: significance in international trade
• Forces that influence Ocean Currents: Their role in fishing industry
• Colour-coded weather warnings for cyclone prone areas
• Wind Energy: Potential and Limited spatial spread
• Deccan Trap: Natural Resource Potential
• Globalization and new technology in a world of scarce resources
• Distribution of rubber producing countries and environmental issues
faced by them.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Diversities among tribal communities in India
• Indian form of Secularism: Key elements
SOCIETY • Salience of sect vis-à-vis caste, region and religion
• Rise of new middle class: Growth of Tier 2 cities and culture of
consumption
• Impact of Work from Home on family relationships (Current)

GENERAL STUDIES 2
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POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Constitutionalization of environmental problems
GOVERNANCE • Right to movement and residence: These rights are not absolute
• Role of Vice-President as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
• National Commission for Backward Classes: Transformation from
statutory to Constitutional body
• The Representation of People Act, 1951: Disputes arising out of
election and remedies
• Governor’s powers: Conditions to exercise the legislative powers
• Procedure of Election of Presidents of India and France
• Election Commission and Model Code of Conduct
• Indian Federalism: National Parties prefers Centralism whereas
regional parties favour State Autonomy

GOVERNANCE
• Impact of Decentralization of Power in the governance landscape

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • Recent Crisis in Sri Lanka: India Sri-Lanka relationship
• BIMSTEC and SAARC comparision
-NATIONAL • I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE and USA) grouping
RELATIONS • India’s changing policy towards climate change: Clean Energy

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Gati-Shakti Yojana to achieve the goal of connectivity
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: Need for sensitization
JUSTICE • Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme
• Deft management of inflation and unemployment besides welfare
scheme in India
• Increasing dependence on donor agencies for development
• Inadequacy of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education
Act, 2009

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 GENERAL STUDIES 3
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ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Public Private Partnership (PPP) and its role in redevelopment of
Railway Stations in India
• Inclusive Growth under market Economy
• Public Distribution System (PDS): Major challenges
• Increased Life Expectancy and its challenges
• Economic Growth and Labour Productivity
• Upstream and Downstream process pf marketing of agricultural
products in India
• Integrated Farming System
• Food Processing Industry: Scope and Significance
• India’s target of meeting 50% energy needs from renewables by
2030 and role of Subsidies for renewable energies

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Cellulose deposited on earth surface: Natural processes undergone
by the cellulose to produce CO2, water etc
MENT
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 • Photochemical smog, 1999 Gothenburg Protocol
• Global Warming: Effect on global Climate, Kyoto protocol, 1997.
• Coastal Erosion: Cause and effects

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • James Webb Telescope: Unique features, Key goals
• Vaccine Development: Basic principle, working. Production of
AND COVID-19 vaccines
TECHNOLOGY

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Mechanism and Occurrence of Cloudburst
MANAGEMENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Organised crime: Types and Linkages with terrorists
• Maritime Security: Challenges and remedial steps
SECURITY • Elements of Cyber Security, development of National Cyber Security
Strategy
• Naxalism: Multilayered strategy to tackle the menace of Naxalism

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 YEAR-2021
GENERAL STUDIES 1
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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Bhakti Movement and its contribution to Indian culture
AND ART &
CULTURE MODERN HISTORY
• Rise and growth of socio-religious reform movements: Young Bengal
and Brahmo Samaj
• Role of moderates in preparing a base for the wider freedom
movement
• Constructive programmes of Mahatma Gandhi during Non-
Cooperation Movement and Civil Disobedience Movement

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• Administrative issues and socio-cultural problems in the integration
process of Indian Princely States.

WORLD HISTORY
• Challenge to the Democratic State System between the two World
Wars

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Landslides in the Himalayan region and Western Ghats: Causes
• Less contribution of mining sector to India’s GDP despite being one
of the countries of Gondwanaland.
• Environmental implications of the reclamation of the water bodies
• Global occurrence of volcanic eruptions in 2021
• India as a sub-continent
• Alignment of major mountain ranges of the world, impact on local
weather conditions
• Impact of melting of the Arctic ice and glaciers of the Antarctic
• Implications of uneven distribution of mineral oil in the world.
• Development of IT industries: Main socio-economic implications

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Uniqueness of tribal knowledge system when compared with
mainstream knowledge
SOCIETY • Continuity in traditional social values in Indian Society
• Role of Gig Economy in women’s empowerment in India (Current)
• Objectives of Population Education
• Cryptocurrency and its effect in global society as well as Indian
society (Current)

GENERAL STUDIES 2
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POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Constitutional Morality: Doctrine and relevant judicial decisions
GOVERNANCE • Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and state’s
fiscal policy
• Parliament ensuring accountability of executive
• Human Rights Commission: structural and practical limitations, and
remedial measures
• Right to Equality in Constitutions of USA and India
• Establishment of Legislative Councils
• Need for strengthening of the Earn while you learn scheme
• Digital illiteracy lack of ICT accessibility in rural areas: Negative
impacts on socio-economic development in India

GOVERNANCE
• Pressure groups: Role and Contributions of business associations
in public policies
• Central Bureau of Investigation: Jurisdiction and Power of states to
withhold consent to CBI
• Department related-Parliamentary Standing Committees, their
working and Parliamentary Control
• Alternative model of public service delivery: civil society and Non-
Government Organisations
• Primary health structure: necessary pre-condition for sustainable
development

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • India’s influence in Africa in recent years
• Threats faced by the USA from China
-NATIONAL • Aims and Objectives of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and its
RELATIONS importance for India
• Tri-nation partnership AUKUS: Strength and Impact of AUKUS

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Desirability of greater representation to women in the higher
judiciary
JUSTICE • Role of microfinancing in SHGs in breaking the vicious cycle of
gender inequality, poverty and malnutrition
• Patriarchal social attitude towards women and the feminist
movement and needed interventions.

GENERAL STUDIES 3
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ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Difference between computing methodology of India’s GDP before
and after the year 2015.
• Capital Budget and Revenue Budget difference.
• Improvement of the socio-economic conditions of small and
marginal farmers due to Land Reforms
• Emerging technologies and globalisation contribute to money
laundering: measures of tackling it

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 • V-shaped recovery in the Indian Economy
• Investment in infrastructure for rapid and inclusive economic
growth
• Micro-irrigation in helping solving India’s water crisis
• Salient features of National Food Security Act, 2013
• Present challenges before crop diversification

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Purpose of Green Grid Initiative launched at the World Leaders
Summit of COP26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasglow in
MENT November 2021.
• Key points of the revived Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs)
• Major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the
Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC).

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • Superiority of S-400 air defence system.
• Research and developmental achievements in applied
AND biotechnology
TECHNOLOGY • Blue LEDs: Impact of this invention

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Vulnerability of India to earthquake related hazards. Salient
features of major disasters caused by earthquakes
MANAGEMENT • Various causes and the effects of landslides, important
components of the National Landslide Risk Management
Strategy.

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SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Impact of cross-border cyber-attacks: Remedial Measures
• Multidimensional challenges posed by external state and non-state
SECURITY actors, to the internal security in India.
• Complexity and intensity of terrorism, its causes, linkages and
obnoxious nexus.

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 YEAR-2020

GENERAL STUDIES 1
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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Rock-cut Architecture as important sources of our knowledge of
AND ART & early Indian art and history.
CULTURE • Pala Period as the most significant phase in the history of Buddhism
in India
• Role of Indian Philosophy and Tradition in conceiving and shaping
the monuments and their art in India.
• Persian literary sources of medieval India

MODERN HISTORY
• Policies of Lord Curzon and their long-term implications on the
national movement
• Expansion of the social base of the National movement due to
acquiring of various ideological strands since 1920s

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
•

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 WORLD HISTORY
•

SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Geophysical characteristics of the Circum-Pacific Zone
• Process of desertification and climatic boundaries
• Impact on water resources of India due to melting of Himalayan
Glaciers.
• Present location of iron and steel industries away from the source of
raw material.
• Viable solutions to the multi-dimensional inter-related problems of
droughts, floods, etc. by Interlinking of rivers
• Remedial measures for huge flooding in India
• India’s potential for Solar Energy
• Status of forest resources of India and its resultant impact on
climate change

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Relevance of caste in understanding the multi-cultural Indian
Society.
SOCIETY • Acceleration of class inequalities and poverty in India.
• Regionalism in India appears to be a consequence of rising cultural
assertiveness.
• Threat to diversity and pluralism due to Globalization
• Suppression of reasons due to Customs and Traditions leading to
Obscurantism
• Contribution of digital initiatives in India to the functioning of the
educational system.

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 GENERAL STUDIES 2
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POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Simplification of procedure for disqualification of persons found
GOVERNANCE guilty of corrupt practices under Representation of People’s Act,
1951
• Impact of amendments to RTI Act on the Information Commission
• Cooperation, Competition and Confrontation on shaping the
nature of Federation in India
• Judicial systems in India and UK: Convergence and Divergence
• Once a Speaker, Always a Speaker: Implications if this practice is
adopted
• Centralising tendency of Indian Constitution in perspective of
Epidemic Diseases Act 1897, The Disaster Management Act, 2005
and Farm Acts.
• Judicial Legislation and large number of PILs praying for issuing
guidelines to executive authorities
• Rajya Sabha’s transformation to the most useful supporting organ
• Challenges faced by Local institutions in terms of their functionality
• Constitutionalization of a Commission. Imparting constitutionality
to the National Commission for Women

GOVERNANCE
• Reforms in Civil Service for strengthening democracy for
Institutional Quality

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 • Fourth Industrial Revolution (Digital Revolution) and e-Governance

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • Significance of Indo-US defense deals over Indo-Russian defense
deals
-NATIONAL • Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) transformation into a trade
RELATIONS bloc from a military alliance
• United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.
• Indian diaspora and its role in the politics and economy of America
and European Countries
• Role of WHO in providing global health security during the COVID-
19 pandemic

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Sound and adequate health care policies to enhance the prospects
of social development
JUSTICE • Micro-Finance as an anti-poverty vaccine and the role of Self-Help
Groups in empowering women in rural India
• National Education Policy 2020 and its conformity with the
Sustainable Development Goal-4 (2030)

GENERAL STUDIES 3
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ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY
TECHNOLOGY

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Intra-generational and inter-generational issues of equity
• Potential GDP and its determinants
• Investment in an economy in terms of capital formation
• Rationale behind the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to
States) Act of 2017
• main constraints in transport and marketing of agricultural produce
in India
• Challenges and opportunities of food processing sector in the
country
• major factors responsible for making rice-wheat system a success.
Challenges in this system
• Measures to improve water storage and irrigation system.

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Difference between Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
Notification, 2020 and the EIA Notification, 2006
MENT • Salient features of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan
• Benefits of deriving electric energy from sunlight in contrast to
conventional energy generation
• Key features of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP)

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • Nanotechnology and its role in the health sector
• Striking changes in agriculture triggered off by science-based
AND technologies
TECHNOLOGY • Technology’s aid in the management of the pandemic

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Recent measures initiated in disaster management by the
Government of India
MANAGEMENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Types of cybercrimes and remedial measures to tackle it
• Steps to be taken for effective border management
SECURITY • Sound determinants of left-wing extremism in Eastern part of India
and steps taken to counter the threat
• Internal security threats and transborder crimes along Myanmar,
Bangladesh and Pakistan borders including Line of Control (LoC).

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 YEAR-2019

GENERAL STUDIES 1
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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Central Asian and Greco-Bactrian elements in Gandhara art.
AND ART &
CULTURE MODERN HISTORY
• 1857 Uprising as the culmination the recurrent big and small local
rebellions that had occurred in the preceding hundred years of
British rule
• Linkages between 19th centuries ‘Indian Renaissance’ and the
emergence of national identity.
• voices that strengthened and enriched the nationalist movement
during the Gandhian phase.
• Role of British imperial power in complicating the process of
transfer of power during the 1940s.

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
•

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 WORLD HISTORY
• Foundation of the modern world laid by the American and French
Revolutions.

SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Restoration of Mountain Ecosystem
• Urban Mass Transport – Key to rapid economic development
• Difference in the impacts of ocean currents and water masses on
marine life and coastal environment
• Regional resource-based manufacturing – Promoting employment in
India.
• Localization of agro-based food processing industries of North-West
India
• Water Stress: Reasons for it to differ regionally in India.
• Impact of global warming on the coral life system
• Depletion of mangroves and their importance in maintaining coastal
ecology.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Empowering women: the key to control population growth.
• Challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism
SOCIETY • Cultural pockets of small India all over the nation
• Continued challenges for women in India against time and space
• Losing our local identity for the global identity
• Uniqueness of Indian society in sustaining its culture

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 GENERAL STUDIES 2
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POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Grounds of disqualification under Representation of People’s Act,
GOVERNANCE 1951 and remedies against such disqualification
• Limited power of the Parliament to amend the Constitution: Can
Article 368 help mitigate it?
• Limited impact of Women’s reservation in local self-government on
the patriarchal character of Indian Politics
• Principle of checks and balance in the Indian Constitution
• Central Administration Tribunal exercising its powers as an
independent judicial authority.
• Principle of Federal Supremacy and Harmonious Constitution
• Indian Constitution’s approach to Secularism and what France can
learn from it
• Attorney-General of India
• Decline of Individual Parliamentarian’s role as national lawmaker

GOVERNANCE
• Methods used by the farmers organization to influence the policy
makers.
• Factors affecting the Implementation of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT) and its remedial measures
• Neo-liberal paradigm of developmental planning, multi-level
planning is expected to make operations cost-effective.

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 • India’s development process in the light of development
discourse, partnership, collaboration, and team spirit.
• Ineffectiveness of performance of welfare scheme implemented
for vulnerable sections

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • Friction into the ties between India and the United States:
Washington still unable to find for India a position in its global
-NATIONAL strategy, which would satisfy India’s National self-esteem and
RELATIONS ambitions.
• India and Japan: To build a strong contemporary relationship
• US withdrawal from UNESCO and its accusation of the cultural body
as being ‘anti-Israel bias.
• Image of India as a leader of the oppressed and marginalized
Nations disappeared due to its newfound role in the emerging
global order

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • India still goes with the lowest indicators of human development
despite High growth.
JUSTICE • Growing divergence in the relationship between poverty and
hunger in India

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 GENERAL STUDIES 3
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ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • The indirect taxes which have been subsumed in the goods and
services tax (GST)
• Steady GDP growth and low inflation have left the Indian economy
in good shape.
• Strategy of inclusive growth to meet the objectives of inclusiveness
and sustainability.
• Public expenditure management is a challenge to the Government
of India in the context of budget-making during the post-
liberalization period.
• Role of Integrated Farming System (IFS) in sustaining agricultural
production
• Impact of the National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural
production from water-stressed areas.
• Contributions of Sir M. Visvesvaraya and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan in
the fields of water engineering and agricultural science respectively.
• Reformative steps taken by the Government to make the food grain
distribution system more effective.
• policy taken by the government of India to meet the challenges of
the food processing sector.

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Carrying capacity of an ecosystem as relevant to an environment –
Its importance while planning for the sustainable development of a
MENT region.
• Coastal sand mining, as one of the biggest threats to our
environment.

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • India’s plan to have its own space station and its benefits
• Role of biotechnology to help improve the living standards of
AND farmers.
TECHNOLOGY • Protecting traditional knowledge of medicine from patenting by
pharmaceutical companies

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Vulnerability – Definition and characterization of vulnerability to
disasters
MANAGEMENT • Disaster preparedness – Hazard zone mapping’s help in disaster
mitigation

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Role played over-ground workers (OGWs) in assisting terrorist
organizations in insurgency-affected areas and its remedial
SECURITY measures.
• Amendment of the unlawful activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA),
1967, and the NIA Act - Scope and reasons for opposing the UAPA
by human rights organizations.
• Challenges currently emanating across the India-Myanmar border
and remedial measures.
• CyberDome Project – Its usefulness in controlling internet crimes

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 YEAR-2018

GENERAL STUDIES 1
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ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Safeguarding the Indian Art Heritage
AND ART & • Importance of the accounts of the Chinese and Arab Travellers in
CULTURE the reconstruction of the history of India
• Bhakti movement: Its remarkable re-orientation with the advent of
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

MODERN HISTORY
• Significance of thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi in the present times.
• Reasons for indentured labour being taken by British from India to
other colonies.

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• Whether the formation of new states in recent times is beneficial or
not for the economy of India.

WORLD HISTORY
•

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 SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS)
• India taking a keen interest in the resources of the Arctic region
• consequences of the spreading of ‘Dead Zones’ on marine
ecosystems
• Ideal solution of depleting groundwater resources in India – water
harvesting system
• Blue revolution – problems and strategies for pisciculture
development in India.
• significance of Industrial Corridors in India and their main
characteristics
• core strategies for the transformation of aspirational districts in
India – nature of convergence, collaboration & Competition for its
success.
• Mantle Plume – Its role in Plate tectonics

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Difficulty in Eradication of caste system due to the caste system
assuming new identities and associational forms.
SOCIETY • Existence of poverty despite the implementation of various
programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India
• Women’s movement in India has not addressed the issues of
women of lower social strata.
• Strengthening of the cultural specificities in the Indian society
despite Globalisation
• Communalism arises either due to power struggle or relative
deprivation.
• Difference between Indian Secularism and Western Secularism

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 GENERAL STUDIES 2
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POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Constitutional validity and competency of the tribunals in India.
GOVERNANCE • The basic tenets on which the two political systems of India and
USA are based.
• Constitution of the Finance Commission of India: terms of
reference of the recently constituted Finance Commission
• Importance of the Panchayat system in India as a part of local
government. Sources the Panchayats can look out for financing
development projects.
• Challenges before the Election Commission of India to ensure the
trustworthiness of elections in India
• Implementation of constitutional reservation for the Scheduled
Castes in the religious minority institutions
• Conditions and consequences of the proclamation of the Financial
Emergency in India
• Usefulness of Parliamentary Committees in context of the role of
the Estimates Committee.
• Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)

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 • Whether the Supreme Court Judgment (July 2018) can settle the
political tussle between the Lt. Governor and elected government
of Delhi

GOVERNANCE
• Inadequate protection and prevention of degradation to the
environment due to Policy Contradictions among various
competing stakeholders
• E-Governance – utilization of the power of new technology as well
as the ‘use value’ of information.
• Lack of availability of food as the main cause of hunger takes the
attention away from ineffective human development policies in
India.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • India’s relations with Israel
• India’s joining the Ashgabat Agreement, 2018.
-NATIONAL • Key areas of reform if the WTO has to survive in the present context
RELATIONS of the ‘Trade War’
• Impact of US-Iran Nuclear Pact Controversy to the national interest
of India

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Local community level healthcare intervention is a prerequisite to
achieve ‘Health for All’ in India.
JUSTICE • Bringing all commissions for the vulnerable sections under an
umbrella human rights commission to avoid overlapping
jurisdiction & duplication of functions
• Limitation of Citizen’s Charter as an ideal instrument of
organisational transparency and accountability.

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 GENERAL STUDIES 3
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ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy - to
achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Important changes introduced in respect of the Long term Capital
Gains Tax (LCGT) and Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) in the Union
Budget for 2018-2019.
• Difference of principles followed by NITI Aayog and the erstwhile
planning commission of India
• Protectionism and currency manipulations in world trade and its
effect macroeconomic stability of India
• Minimum Support Price (MSP) and its role in rescuing the farmers
from low-income trap
• Role of supermarkets in supply chain management of fruits,
vegetables, and food items
• Role of the National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in boosting the
production, productivity, and income of horticulture farms

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 • Changes in cropping patterns brought by the emphasis on certain
crops. Emphasis on millet production and consumption.

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • The impediments in disposing the huge quantities of discarded solid
waste which are continuously being generated. Ways to safely
MENT remove the toxic wastes accumulated in our habitable environment
• Wetland – Ramsar concept of ‘wise use’ in the context of wetland
conservation
• Ecological and economic benefits of Organic State
• Variation of biodiversity in India, Role of Biological Diversity Act,
2002 in conservation of flora and fauna.

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • The work of ‘Bose-Einstein Statistics’ done by Prof. Satyendra Nath
Bose and how it revolutionized the field of Physics.
AND • Activity in the field of biotechnology in our country and its benefits
TECHNOLOGY in the field of biopharma.
• The facts and fears associated with nuclear energy.

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Various measures taken in India for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
before and after signing ‘Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-30)’.
MANAGEMENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Brief description of China Pakistan Economic Corridor and
enumerate the reasons why India has distanced itself from the
SECURITY same.

Shashank Sajwan | 30
• The Government of India’s approach to counter the challenges
posed by Left Wing Extremism.
• The strengths and weaknesses of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna
Committee Report relating to protection of personal data in cyber
space.
• Linkages between drug trafficking and other illicit activities such as
gunrunning, money laundering and human trafficking and its
counter measures.

Shashank Sajwan | 31
 YEAR-2017

GENERAL STUDIES 1
10
9
9

5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1 1
1

0
ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• The level of excellence of the Gupta numismatic art is not at all
AND ART & noticeable in later times.
CULTURE
MODERN HISTORY
• Mid-eighteenth-century India was beset with the spectre of a
fragmented polity.
• Reasons for the failure of the ‘Moderates’ to carry conviction with
the nation about their proclaimed ideology and political goals by the
end of the nineteenth century.
• The decline of traditional artisanal industry in colonial India crippled
the rural economy.

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• Importance of new objective that got added to the vision of Indian
independence since the twenties of the last century.

Shashank Sajwan | 32
 • Difference between religiousness/religiosity and communalism and
how the former has got transformed into the latter in independent
India.

WORLD HISTORY
• Problems were relevant to the decolonization process in the Malay
Peninsula

SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Juno Mission of NASA – helping to understand the origin and
evolution of the Earth
• Inevitability of coal mining despite the adverse environmental
impact
• Advantages of the cultivation of pulses because of which the year
2016 was declared as the International Year of Pulses by United
Nations.
• Affect of cryosphere on the global climate
• New avenues of employment as well as new problems created by
the growth of cities due to the opening of I.T. Hubs
• Variations in oceanic salinity and its multi-dimensional effects.
• Implications of the Petroleum refineries not being located nearer to
crude oil-producing areas in many of the developing countries
• Ways in which floods be converted into a sustainable source of
irrigation and all-weather inland navigation in India
• Characteristics that can be assigned to monsoon climate

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • That the regions form cultural units rather than the States in the
context of the diversity of India
SOCIETY • Major legal initiatives by the State since Independence addressing
discrimination against Scheduled Tribes (STs)
• The spirit of tolerance and love – an interesting feature of Indian
society in the past and plays an important role in the present.
• Major issues and debates concerning women during 19th century
social movement.

Shashank Sajwan | 33
 GENERAL STUDIES 2
12

10
10

4 4
4

2
2

0
POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Salient features of the constitution (One Hundred and First
GOVERNANCE Amendment) Act, 2016
• Scope of Fundamental Rights in the light of the judgement of the
Supreme Court on Right to Privacy.
• the occasions when the joint sitting of the Parliament would
normally happen and also the occasions when it cannot happen
• Reform suggested in the electoral reforms 2016 and their
significance in making democracy successful
• Ineffectiveness of the Local government system as an instrument
of governance – Remedial measures
• Supreme Court’s judgement on ‘National Judicial Appointments
Commission Act, 2014’ with reference to appointment of judges of
higher judiciary.
• Impact of simultaneous election on time and money spent in
elections and government’s accountability.
• Influence of pressure groups in Indian Political process
• Role of Public account Committee in establishing accountability of
the government to the people.

Shashank Sajwan | 34
 • Role and ability of national commission for women

GOVERNANCE
• WASH Scheme – Identification of beneficiary segments for
effective implementation of policies that address water, sanitation
and hygiene needs
• Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 – ensuring an effective
mechanism for empowerment and inclusion of the intended
beneficiaries
• Progress of successive governments to deal with the challenges of
Hunger and Poverty
• The performance of the major poverty alleviation programmes in
India

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • Role played by the Indian diaspora in southeast Asian country’s
economy and societies.
-NATIONAL • India’s energy policy cooperation with West Asian countries.
RELATIONS • China using its economic relations and positive trade surplus as
tools to develop potential military power status in Asia and its
impact on India
• Main functions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC)

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Role of the SHGs in developmental activities and the measures
taken by the Government of India to promote the SHGs.
JUSTICE • In the context of lacking neutrality and effectiveness – drastic
reforms are required in Civil Services (agree/disagree)

Shashank Sajwan | 35
 GENERAL STUDIES 3
12

10
10

4
4
3

2
2
1

0
ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Factors available for India’s growth potential
• Failure of the manufacturing sector in achieving the goal of labour-
intensive exports rather than capital-intensive exports
• Developments of Airports in India through Joint Ventures under the
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
• Measures proposed in the Budget 2017-18 to achieve the objective
of ‘transform, energize and clean India’.
• Salient features of ‘inclusive growth’ and measures for inclusive
growth
• Various types of revolutions that, took place in Agriculture after
Independence in India.
• Reasons for poor acceptance of cost-effective small processing units
• The major reasons for declining rice and wheat yield in the cropping
system, benefits of crop diversification system
• The cropping pattern, crop diversity and economy of farmers
affected by the subsidies
• Industrial growth rate has lagged-behind in the overall growth of
Gross-Domestic-product (GDP) in the post-reform period, recent

Shashank Sajwan | 36
 changes in Industrial-policy are capable of increasing the industrial
growth rate.

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • The advantages of river linking and its possible impact on the
environment.
MENT • Effects of climate change on India and the Himalayan and Coastal
States of Indian

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • Stem cell therapy and its advantages over other treatments
• India and space missions: Manned and Unmanned
AND • Growth and development of nuclear science and technology in
TECHNOLOGY India.

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • The mechanisms for preparedness to reduce the risk during
tsunami – in the context of guidelines of NDMA (2010)
MANAGEMENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Potential threats of Cyber-attack and the security framework to
prevent it
SECURITY • Major reasons for the survival of armed insurgency in the north-
eastern region.
• The causes and consequences of Mob violence.
• Solutions to curb growing of Terrorism, Major sources of Terrorist
funding

Shashank Sajwan | 37
 YEAR-2016
GENERAL STUDIES 1
9
8
8

6
5
5

4
3
3
2
2
1 1
1

0
ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Early Buddhist Stupa-art expounds Buddhist ideals
AND ART & • Krishnadeva Raya, the King of Vijayanagar, as an accomplished
CULTURE scholar himself and also a great patron of learning and literature.

MODERN HISTORY
• Uprising of 1857 revolt as a watershed in evolution of British Policies
towards colonial India
• Role of women in the freedom struggle especially during the
Gandhian phase
• Difference in the approach of Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma
Gandhi in the struggle for freedom.

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
• Formation of linguistic states strengthening the cause of Indian
unity

WORLD HISTORY
• Anti-colonial struggles in West Africa were led by the new elite of
Western-educated Africans

Shashank Sajwan | 38
 SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Air mass and its role in macro-climatic changes.
• The causes of Landslides in the Himalayas and suitable measures of
mitigation.
• Management of land and water resources to reduce human
miseries
• Geopolitical significance of South China Sea
• Vulnerability to flood in context of Major cities in India
• Indus Water Treaty and its ecological, economic, and political
implications in the context of changing bilateral relations.
• Problems and prospects of inland water transport in India.
• Micro-watershed development projects’ help in water conservation
in drought-prone and semi-arid regions of India.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Influence of Globalization in the core of cultural diversity in India
• Liberation of poor from the process of deprivation – Essential
SOCIETY condition to eradicate poverty.
• Reasons for the tribals in India referred to as ‘the Scheduled Tribes’
and major provisions enshrined in the Constitution of India for their
upliftment.
• Objectives and strategy of the ‘Smart City Programme.’
• Basis of regionalism – consequences of unequal distribution of
benefits of development on a regional basis , reasons for promotion
of regionalism

Shashank Sajwan | 39
 GENERAL STUDIES 2

8
8

4 4 4
4

0
POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• CAG’s powers – whether audit of the Government’s policy
GOVERNANCE implementation could amount to overstepping its own (CAG)
jurisdiction.
• Each adjective attached to the word ‘Republic’ in the ‘Preamble’.
• Coelho Case – Importance of judicial review
• Government of India Act, 1935 laying down a federal constitution
• Quasi-Judicial body.
• Essentials of the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act and
anomalies if any
• To what extent is article 370 temporary?
• Indian party system’s phase of transition – full of contradictions
and paradoxes

GOVERNANCE
• Role of non-state actors in the Indian Governance system

Shashank Sajwan | 40
 • Interdependence of Effectiveness of the government system at
various levels and people’s participation
• Response of the Indian Government to the demands of
Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization started in 1991.
• Main provisions of the National Child Policy and the status of its
implementation.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • the aims and objectives of the McBride Commission of UNESCO
• WTO aims and the Doha round of negotiations.
-NATIONAL • Economic and strategic dimensions of India’s Look East Policy
RELATIONS • Interference in the internal affairs of several member-states by
Pakistan not conducive for the future of SAARC.

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Suggestions to improve the status and performance of primary
education and primary health care.
JUSTICE • The legal, political, social and cultural factors that have caused the
decline of public morality in India .
• Traditional bureaucratic structure and culture have hampered the
process of socio-economic development in India.
• Measures taken by the government to enhance the capacity of our
population to be more productive and employable

Shashank Sajwan | 41
 GENERAL STUDIES 3
10
9
9

5
4 4
4

3
2
2
1
1

0
ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY
TECHNOLOGY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • Reduction of employment in the formal sector of the Indian
economy due to globalization.
• Requirements and status of gender budgeting in the Indian context
• Necessity of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) for financial
inclusion of the poor section of the Indian society
• Smart Cities and their relevance for urban development in India.
Smart Villages - PURA and RURBAN Mission.
• Need for FDI for the development of the Indian economy.
• Challenges for inclusive growth which include careless and useless
manpower in the Indian context.
• Water-use efficiency - the role of micro-irrigation in increasing
water-use efficiency.
• Role of land reforms in agricultural development – factors that were
responsible for the success of land reforms in India.
• The need for crop insurance and the salient features of the Pradhan
Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).

Shashank Sajwan | 42
 SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Measures suggested for mitigation of the impact of Rehabilitation of
human settlements while proposing major developmental projects.
MENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • Allelopath and its role in major cropping systems of irrigated
agriculture
AND • India’s achievements in the field of Space Science and Technology.
TECHNOLOGY • Nanotechnology as one of the key technologies of the 21st century
• Current status and targets pertaining to renewable energy sources
in the country.

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • The reasons for urban floods and the mechanisms for
preparedness to reduce the risk during such events.
MANAGEMENT • The measures to be adopted to mitigate the impact of recent
incidents of cloudbursts in many places of Uttarakhand.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Strategic impact of ‘Hot Pursuit’ and ‘Surgical Strikes’
• Terrorism is emerging as a competitive industry.
SECURITY • The challenges and strategies for effective border management
• Use of internet and social media by non-state actors for subversive
activities and remedial measures

Shashank Sajwan | 43
 YEAR-2015

GENERAL STUDIES 1
8

7
7

6
6

3
3

2 2
2

0
0
ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Difference in the ancient civilization in the Indian sub-continent and
AND ART & those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece
CULTURE • Mesolithic rock-cut architecture of India – reflection of cultural life
of the times but also fine aesthetic

MODERN HISTORY
• The achievement of Indian independence without Mahatma
Gandhi.
• Common goal of amelioration of the downtrodden: Mahatma Gandhi
and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
• Role of experiences gained from Government of India Act 1935 in
helping the Constituent Assembly complete its historic task of
drafting the Constitution for Independent India in just three years

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
•

Shashank Sajwan | 44
 WORLD HISTORY
• Occurrence of industrial revolution in England, Life of the people
during the Industrial Revolution
• Germany’s role in causing two World Wars

SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Factors responsible for the origin of ocean currents – their influence
in regional climates, fishing, and navigation
• Reason for greater air pollution in Delhi despite Mumbai and
Kolkata being Megacities too.
• Reasons for India suffering water scarcity despite being well
endowed with water bodies.
• States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand
reaching the limits of their ecological carrying capacity due to
tourism
• Changing behaviour of the Indian monsoon due to humanizing
landscapes
• Smart Cities and smart villages: rural-urban integration
• Economic significances of the discovery of oil in the Arctic Sea and
its possible environmental consequences

SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Any four cultural elements of diversity in India and their relative
significance in building a national identity.
SOCIETY • Whether a growing population is the cause of poverty OR poverty is
the main cause of population increase in India.
• The sex ratio in Tribes in India is more favourable to women than
the sex ratio among Scheduled Castes
• Changes in the trends of labour migration within and outside India
in the last four decades.
• Positive and negative effects of globalization on women in India
• Contemporary movements for the assertion of Dalit identity work
towards annihilation of caste.

Shashank Sajwan | 45
 GENERAL STUDIES 2
8

7
7

5
5

4 4
4

0
POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• rationales justifying the power to promulgate ordinances, whether
GOVERNANCE the power to promulgate the ordinances be repealed.
• Major changes brought in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,
1996 through the recent Ordinance promulgated by the President.
• Right to clean environment entail legal regulation on burning
crackers during Diwali - Article 21 of Indian Constitution and
Judgement(s) of the Apex court.
• Possible factors that inhibit India from enacting for its citizen a
uniform civil code
• Drawbacks in the existing structure and the extent to which
cooperative federalism would answer the shortcomings.
• Panchayats and Samitis as political institutions but not effective
instruments of governance
• Amendment to the Whistleblowers Act, 2011

GOVERNANCE
• Khap Panchayats - often delivering pronouncements amounting to
human rights violations: actions taken by the legislative, executive
and the judiciary to set the things right in this regard.

Shashank Sajwan | 46
 • Recent changes in the rules governing foreign funding of NGOs
under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 1976.
• Self-Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP), as one of
the most effective poverty alleviation and women empowerment
programmes.
• Changes brought in corporate governance to ensure transparency,
accountability – Satyam Scandal (2009)
• Independence and autonomy of regulatory institutions

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • Use of soft power like sports and cultural exchanges to help
generate goodwill between India and Pakistan
-NATIONAL • Increasing interest of India in Africa has its pro and cons
RELATIONS • Impediments India is facing in its pursuit of a permanent seat in the
UN Security Council.
• Strategic dimension of Project Mausam

SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Ways by which the role of NGOs be strengthened in India for
development works relating to protection of the environment.
JUSTICE • Impact of the entry of foreign educational institutions in the quality
of educations in India
• Limitations of Public Healthcare System in providing universal
health coverage – Its alternatives
• Reduction in poverty levels in India over time

Shashank Sajwan | 47
 GENERAL STUDIES 3
9

8
8

5 5
5

1 1
1

0
ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY
TECHNOLOGY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • The nature of economic growth in India is described as jobless
growth. (Agree/Disagree)
• Replacement of price subsidy with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
• Impediments in marketing and supply chain management in the
industry in India
• The merits of the Gold Monetization Scheme.
• Success of ‘Make in India’ programme depends on the success of
‘Skill India’ programme and radical labour reforms.”
• The issues plaguing the success of SEZs with respect to taxation,
governing laws and administration.
• Livestock rearing has a big potential for providing non-farm
employment and income in rural areas
• Pros and cons of promotion of contract farming and land leasing in
agriculture

Shashank Sajwan | 48
 SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Namami Gange and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG)
programmes and the causes of mixed results from the previous
MENT schemes

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • ‘Digital India’ programme in helping farmers to improve farm
productivity and income
AND • Factors attributed to the recent dramatic fall in equipment costs
TECHNOLOGY and tariff of solar energy
• ‘Standard Positioning Systems’ and ‘Protection Positioning Systems
• Prohibitive labour that can be sustainably managed by robots
• pros and cons of making the database of India’s Traditional
Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) publicly available under open-
source licensing.

SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • Significant gaps in India’s preparedness for mitigating
Earthquakes’ impact
MANAGEMENT

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Advantages and security implications of cloud hosting of servers
vis-a-vis in-house machine-based hosting for government
SECURITY businesses.
• Sections of AFSPA are opposed by the activists
• ISIS and its mission and ISIS as a threat to the internal security of
our country
• Corrective strategies needed to win the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)
doctrine affected citizens back into the mainstream of social and
economic growth.
• The National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 and the challenges
perceived in its effective implementation.

Shashank Sajwan | 49
 YEAR-2014

GENERAL STUDIES 1
12

10
10

6
5

4 4
4

2
2

0
0
ART & CULTURE MODERN HISTORY POST-INDEPENDENCE WORLD HISTORY GEOGRAPHY INDIAN SOCIETY
INDIA

SUBJECT TOPICS
HISTORY ART AND CULTURE
• Urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization providing
AND ART & inputs to the present-day urbanization.
CULTURE • Gandhara sculpture owed as much to the Romans as to the Greeks
• Taxila University - unlike Nalanda, it is not considered as a university
in the modern sense.
• Sufis and medieval mystic saints failed to modify either the religious
ideas and practices or the outward structure of Hindu / Muslim
societies.

MODERN HISTORY
• Reasons for many empire shaking battles being fought at Panipat
• Various facets of economic policies of the British in India from mid-
eighteenth century till independence.

Shashank Sajwan | 50
 • Naval mutiny proved to be the last nail in the coffin of British
colonial aspirations in India.
• Major political, economic, and social developments in the world
which motivated the anti-colonial struggle in India.

POST-INDEPENDENCE INDIA
•

WORLD HISTORY
• Events that led to the Suez Crisis in 1956 – leading to
final blow to Britain’s self-image as a world power
• New Economic Policy – 1921 of Lenin had influenced the policies
adopted by India soon after independence.

SUBJECT TOPICS
GEOGRAPHY • Outcome of the El-Nino effect
• world’s fold mountain systems located along the margins of
continents - association between the global distribution of fold
mountains and earthquakes and volcanoes.
• Formation of thousands of islands in the Indonesian and Philippines
archipelagos.
• Reasons for Tropical cyclones are largely confined to the South
China Sea, Bay of Bengal, and the Gulf of Mexico.
• Relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the
symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent.
• Reasons for failure in developing tea gardens along the Shivaliks and
Lesser Himalayas from Assam to Himachal Pradesh
• Reasons for the Green Revolution in India virtually bypass the
eastern region despite fertile soil and good availability of water
• The change in the spatial pattern of the Iron and Steel industry in
the world.
• various resources of the oceans which can be harnessed to meet the
resource crisis in the world.
• India and its place in the economic space of rising natural resources
in Africa

Shashank Sajwan | 51
 SUBJECT TOPICS
INDIAN • Impact of patriarchy on the position of a middle-class working
woman in India
SOCIETY • Reasons the adverse sex ratio in some of the most prosperous
regions of India
• The life cycle of a joint family depends on economic factors rather
than social values.
• Difference of Indian debates on secularism from the debates in the
West
• Sociocultural forces driving increasing feminization of agriculture in
India

GENERAL STUDIES 2
8

7
7

5 5
5

3
3

0
POLITY GOVERNANCE INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS SOCIAL JUSTICE

SUBJECT TOPICS
POLITY & POLITY
• Concept “freedom of speech and expression”, reasons for the films
GOVERNANCE in India to stand on a slightly different plane from other forms of
expression.

Shashank Sajwan | 52
 • Commutation of death sentence by the president
• Role of NHRC as an effective complement to the judiciary and
other institutions in promoting and protecting human rights
standards.
• The role played by judicial activism in achieving the ideals of
democracy.
• Federalism in India – Federal Character of the constitution
• Reasons for the absence of legal codification of the ‘parliamentary
privileges’ – and remedial measures
• Relationship between the efficacy of a government and the size of
the cabinet

GOVERNANCE
• Pros and Cons of increase in FDI in news media
• Rail Tariff Authority – will it benefit the consumers, the Indian
Railways or the private container operators.
• Consequences of Upliftment of vulnerable and backward
communities by government schemes in stablishing businesses in
urban economies
• Cadre based Civil Services Organization
• Aadhar and NPR scheme - potential of the schemes to achieve
development benefits and equitable growth.

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTER • India as a founding member of the New Development Bank (NDB)
and also the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) - strategic
-NATIONAL significance of these two Banks for India.
RELATIONS • Mandate of WTO and how binding are their decisions, India’s stand
on the latest round of talks on Food security
• Bilateral issues between India and China.
• Impact of Information Technology Agreements (ITAs) on India’s
interests
• Merits of International Funding agencies

Shashank Sajwan | 53
 SUBJECT TOPICS
SOCIAL • Socio-Cultural hurdles faced during the penetration of Self Help
Groups (SHGs) in rural areas in promoting participation in
JUSTICE development programmes
• Merit of state sponsored talent hunt and its cultivation as against
the rationale of a reward mechanism as encouragement.
• More academic independence to premier institutions in designing
courses and also decide mode/criteria of selection of students.

GENERAL STUDIES 3
10

9
9

5
5

3
3

2
2

1
1

0
ECONOMY ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DISASTER MANAGEMENT INTERNAL SECURITY

SUBJECT TOPICS
ECONOMY • The reasons for the huge growth of services vis-a-vis the industry in
the country, India become a developed country without a strong
industrial base.

Shashank Sajwan | 54
 • India’s demographic dividend and rate of employability
• Implication of - The right to fair compensation and transparency
land acquisition, rehabilitation, and resettlement act, 2013
• Is it correct to believe and adopt capitalism driving inclusive growth
in India.
• Influence of liberalized FDI in defence sector on Indian defence and
economy
• Arrangements that need to be put in place to ensure that successive
generations’ capacities are not compromised in context of private-
public partnership agreements.
• Success of various strategies of the government in National urban
transport policy
• Agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) set up under the
state – effect on food prices
• Constraints and challenges financial institutions supplying
agricultural finances face, use of technology to better reach and
serve rural clients

SUBJECT TOPICS
ENVIRON- • Environmental impacts of coal-fired thermal plants located at coal
pitheads.
MENT • Pursuit of Carbon Credits and Clean development mechanisms set
up under UNFCCC with respect to India’s energy needs for economic
growth.

SUBJECT TOPICS
SCIENCE • Consequences of overuse and the availability of antibiotics without
doctor’s prescription, available mechanisms for monitoring and
AND control of drug-resistant diseases in India
TECHNOLOGY • Decline of Scientific research in Indian universities
• Distinguish between the terms – copyrights, patents and trade
secrets.

Shashank Sajwan | 55
 SUBJECT TOPICS
DISASTER • The mechanisms for preparedness to deal with likely El Niño and
La Niña fallouts in India with a focus on the September 2010
MANAGEMENT guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority
(NDMA)

SUBJECT TOPICS
INTERNAL • Strategies to be adopted to counter the impact of radicalism
• implications of International Civil Aviation laws on the space above
SECURITY this airspace and its challenges
• illegal transborder migration as a threat to India’s security and its
remedial measures
• Impact of moving of the longitudinal marking for high-risk areas of
piracy from 65 degrees east to 78 degrees east in the Arabian Sea
by the International Maritime Organization on India’s maritime
security concerns
• Threat to India’s security due to China and Pakistan entering into an
agreement for development of an economic corridor.

Shashank Sajwan | 56