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[Analysis] General Studies (Mains) 2012 Paper1 & 2: Topicwise Analysis, future approach forUPSC IAS IPS exam

1. Dif f iculty

2. Conspiracy theories

3. History (Freedom Struggle)

4. Culture

5. Polity

6. Yearbook

7. Public Health

8. Environment (NOT Geography!)

9. [PIN] Persons in News

10. Diplomacy

11. Economy

12. Science Tech

13. Stat ist ics and Data Interpretat ion

14. Topicwise Breakup for Paper I and Paper II

1. Length of the paper: GS1 (2011 vs 2012)

2. Length of the paper: GSM2 (2011 vs 2012)

15. Conclusion

16. Bogus market ing propaganda

17. Future predict ion

Scale of difficulty

1. Based on source of quest ion: the quest ion can be either Stat ic (f rom standard referencebooks, Laxmikanth, Spectrum, Majid Hussain, Bipin Chandra, India 2012 Yearbook etc) or canbe Dynamic (f rom newspaper and magazines)

2. Based on wording of the quest ion: it can be either factual or analyt ical.

Example Dif f iculty

Stat icFactual 1. Write a note on Salt Satyagraha of 1930 / Gandhi-Irwain

Pact etc.2. What are the main dif ference between the passage of a

Const itut ion Amendment Bill and other Legislat ive Bills?(2001)

Easy

Stat icAnalyt ical 1. ”The Lucknow Pack of 1916 was signed without regard for

its consequences.” Elucidate. (1993)2. ‘Essent ially all that is contained in part IV-A of the

Const itut ion is just a codif icat ion of tasks integral to theIndian way of life.’ Crit ically examine this statement. (2011)

Medium

DynamicFactual 1. What are the salient features of the Consumer Protect ion

(Amendment) Bill, 2011 introduced in the Lok Sabha inDecember 2011? (2012)

2. List the main object ives of the Nat ional Manufacturing Policy(NMP), 2011.

3. All the Science and Tech 2 markers.

Medium

DynamicAnalyt ical 1. What do you understand by the term “Innovat ion”? Discuss

the need for launching a nat ional innovat ion policy in India.(2012)

2. Discuss the globalizat ion of R&D and its impact on India’sdevelopment. Provide an illustrat ion f rom at least one sectorsuch as Informat ion Technology or Health. (2012)

Hard

Stat ic factual are not ‘easy’ as such, but they’re relat ively the easiest among these fourtype of quest ions. Because you can f ind verbat im answers in the standard reference books,you just have to revise the books and during the exam just recall and reproduce theknowledge in your answer sheet.

Dynamic-Analyt ical are toughest among the four because

you don’t usually f ind the whole answer verbat im in any newspaper column or

magazine art icle.

In most cases, you need to follow the current af fairs and newspaper columns onregularly and the ‘fodder material’ builds up over months.

In the exam hall, you’ve to brainstorm for the ideas, assemble those fodder points inproper order, connect the dots and frame an answer.

Hence Dynamic Analyt ical quest ion = your t ime is drained and brain is fat igued duringthe exam.

Therefore even if only 20% of the quest ions are Dynamic-analyt ical, they signif icant ly drain yourt ime and energy in the exam, and indirect ly af fect your performance, handwrit ing speed in theother quest ions. And then the paper feels even more dif f icult and lengthier.

Answer:

Overall, shif t f rom stat ic to dynamic quest ions.

Where it is hard to f rame ‘dynamic’ quest ions (History for example), then move from Stat icfactual (f reedom f ighter 2 markers) to Stat ic Analyt ical. [Same for Stat ist ics and Datainterpretat ion.]

Where it is hard to f rame ‘stat ic analyt ical’ (culture for example), then frame Stat ic factualquest ions which are usually not covered in Standard reference books / coaching material.That ’d force them out of their comfort zone.

Completely stop asking from the convent ional topics (History, Polity, Geography).

But just like soup and salad is mandatory for modern day wedding recept ion, even fornamesake you’d need to paste a few quest ions from those topics – just for formality.(e.g. rights under Art 21).

Even in Dynamic Factual / Anlyt ical quest ions- donot ask anything from popular / hottopics. For example Olympic 2012, NAM 2.0, Indo-Bangladesh exchange of territories, Syriancrisis, etc.

History (Freedom Struggle)

2011 2012

Trace the salient sequence of events in thepopular revolt that took place in February 1946in the then, ‘Royal Indian Navy’ and bring out itssignif icance in the freedom struggle. Do youagree with the view that the sailors who tookpart in this revolt were some of the unsungheroes of the f reedom struggle?

20 “The Indian independencemovement was a mass—based movement thatencompassed varioussect ions of society. It alsounderwent the process ofconstant ideologicalevolut ion? Crit icallyexamine.

25

Evaluate the inf luence of the three importantwomen’s organizat ions of the early twent iethcentury in India on the Country’s society andpolit ics. To what extent do you think were thesocial object ives of these organizat ionsconstrained by their polit ical object ives?

20 The signif icance ofPatharughat in the Indianfreedom struggle

2

‘Benoy-Badal-Dinesh’ martyrdom 5

Bharat Naujawan Sabha 5

‘Babbar Akali’ movement. 5

total 55 27

Comment

1. Majority of the History quest ions =Stat ic Analyt ical. (25 marks)

2. According to UPSC’s of f icial syllabus, the “History” Is made up of two topics: FreedomStruggle + Indian Culture. So, While it appears that the importance of History has declinedfrom 55 to 27 marks but overall History+Culture in 2011’s paper =63 marks. And In 2012’spaper History+Culture= worth 64 marks.

3. Therefore only the composit ion has changed- more emphasis on Culture port ion, otherwiseweightage given to the whole topic “History of Modern India and Indian Culture” is almost thesame.

4. History unlikely to fall below this level in GS paper- for soup and salad formality. (20 marks) orit might just vanish from the paper like Indian Geography did this year. (you’ll see it af ter a fewparagraphs)

5. I think UPSC has exhausted the stat ic quest ion bank on Indian History (f reedom struggle).Therefor very unlikely that ‘stat ic/direct /factual’ quest ions will appear in future e.g. “Discussthe character of major t ribal uprisings in Brit ish India in the nineteenth Century.”

6. However there was an essay on ‘Swadhinata’, ‘Swaraj’ and ‘Dharmarajya’ in 2012’s paper(Worth 200 marks). So history cont inues to remain indirect ly important.

7. No “quotes” based quest ion (unlike the nightmarish paper of 2009).

8. In 2012’s paper “Persons in News” were worth 1 mark each. So even in future, if f reedomfighters are asked, may be it ’d be 1 mark each. One has to seriously think about cost-benef itrat io of mugging up 150+ freedom f ighers now.

9. Bipin Chandra st ill a good read for stat ic analyt ical topics. But Spectrum’s books= lost thesignif icance, part icularly its f reedom f ighters book (Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore.).

10. Patharughat was in news in 2011 for Army had opened some shrine/ museum there.

Culture

2011 2012

Dist inguish either between the ‘Moatsu’ and‘Yemshe’ fest ivals of Nagaland or the ‘Losar’and ‘Khan’ fest ivals of Arunachal Pradesh.

5 The ‘f lute-playing Krishna’theme is very popular inIndian art . Discuss.

15

What are the major dif ferent styles ofunglazed pottery making in India?

5 Comment on thesignif icance of Rasarnava instudying the history of IndianChemistry.

5

List the classical dance forms of India as perthe Sangeet Natak Akademi.

5 What are the groups intowhich musical instruments inIndia have tradit ionally beenclassif ied?

5

Bhand Pather 1 Comment on thesignif icance of f ire inZoroastrianism.

5

Swang 1 Why is Laurie Baker called‘the conscience keeper ofIndian architecture’?

5

Maach 1 Bagurumba folk dance 2

Bhaona 1

Mudiyettu 1

Dashavatar 1

Total 21 37

Comments

Star of ‘culture’ is on rise (as expected from 2011’s paper), but St ill looking for reliable bookor source.

Classif icat ion of musical instrument is given in the appendix of Spectrum Book on Culture.

Flute playing Krisha’s answer is scattered around, in the same book: Ragmala paint ingsfrom Mewar school, Kisengarh paint ing, Thanjavur etc.etc. but st ill f raming recalling andframing 150 words answer for specif ically “Flute Playing” Krishan, is kinda dif f icult .

Another problem: even if there is a reliable book, how on earth can one mugup all the folkdances of India?

Anyways more on the source part later art icles.

By the way, I’m copy past ing an interest ing post f rom orkut here:

Shriharsha Nettar wrote,

I had observed that for last 3 years, the questions on culture had been asked from thisLink: http://www.ccrtindia.gov.in/performingarts.htm.

So, This time i prepared for culture ONLY from this section, that have not been askedin last 3 years..Puppet art and musical instruments…Musical instrument question had come this year… So my guess for Next year, puppetarts.. Go through these …:-)

Polity

2011 2012

‘Essent ially all that is contained in part IV-Aof the Const itut ion is just a codif icat ion oftasks integral to the Indian way of life.’Crit ically examine this statement.

20 What is the ‘Parivarik MahilaLok Adalat ’?

5

‘The exercise of execut ive clemency is nota privilege but is based on several principles,and discret ion has to be exercised in publicconsiderat ions.’ Analyse this statements inthe context of the judicial powers of thePresident of India.

20 What are the Rights withinthe ambit of Art icle 21 of theIndian Const itut ion?

5

Evolut ion of ‘Green Benches’ in our higherjudiciary.

12 Comment on the signif icanceof the Preamble contained inthe Right to Informat ion Act.

5

Dist inct ion between ‘Department RelatedParliamentary Standing Commit tees’ and‘Parliamentary Forums’.

12 Determining the ‘value’assigned to the vote of aMember of a State Legislat iveAssembly and of a Memberof Parliament in the IndianPresident ial elect ions.

2

Problems specif ic to the denot if ied andnomadic t ribes in India.

12 The Union Cabinet recent lycleared the proposal torename and amend the ChildLabour (Prohibit ion andRegulat ion) Act, 1986. Whatare the salient features ofthe proposed amendments?

15

E-governance init iat ives by the Union Public 5 What are the salient features 15

Service Commission (UPSC). of the Consumer Protect ion(Amendment) Bill, 2011introduced in the Lok Sabhain December 2011?

The Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009 and whyit has been in the news recent ly?

5

Bring out the salient features of thePCPNDT Act, 1994, and the implicat ions ofits amendment in 2003.

20

total 106 47

2011= Polity is worth 106 marks. (Although debatable, some would put UPSC e-governance in[Yearbook] category.)

2012= Total 47 marks worth polity.

Look at the complete reversal of fortune, declined by around 50%! (Same is the case with Personsin News- f rom 14 to 7).

Many ‘hot ’ polity topics that UPSC consciously did not ask.

1. Analyt ical quest ion on judiciary vs Execut ive (just like 2011 had execut ive clemency)

2. Analyt ical quest ion on CAG vs Execut ive (in the light of all scams)

3. 12 or 15 marker quest ion on President ial elect ion.

4. PIL (because of Just ice Kapadia’s approach to them).

Although ^these are dynamic analyt ical, but had become way too hot topics in the temple ofdooms (Delhi’s factories).

Comments on Polity

1. CSAT 2012 had good amount of quest ions from Polity, so your prof iciency on polity wasalready tested. May be UPSC didn’t see any point in again asking truckload of quest ions frompolity further in mains. Besides Stat ic polity = helps coaching factories and muggers.

2. DD Basu’s era is officially over, unless they move to “Stat ic Analyt ical” type of quest ion f rompolity next year.

3. At least 7 marks (Art 21 and Value of MP-MLA’s votes) worth quest ions are no-excuse.Hence Laxmikanth cont inues to remain a good read.

4. You should keep an eye on this website ht tp://www.prsindia.org/ it provides informat ion on allthe pending bills and upcoming bills and their pros and cons.

Yearbook

2011 2012

Crit ically examine the design of theNat ional Rural Livelihoods Mission(NRLM) scheme. Do you think it has abetter chance of success than theSwarnajayant i Gram Swarojgar Yojana(SGSY) in achieving its object ives?

20 Crit ically review the internat ionalconcern in achieving the targetsset for the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. (GS II)

15

Highlight the structure, object ives androle of the Advert ising StandardsCouncil of India, In what way has theAugust 2006 government not if icat ionmade it more ef fect ive?

20 What do you understand by theterm “Innovat ion”? Discuss theneed for launching a nat ionalinnovat ion policy in India.

25

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitat ionScheme (DDRS).

12 Keeping in view the informalsector’s share in the totalworkforce of the country, crit icallyexamine the relevant inclusive measures init iated by theGovernment of India and theiref fect iveness.

25

Benef its and potent ial drawbacks of‘cash-transfers’ to ‘Below Poverty Line’(BPL) households.

12 List the main object ives of theNat ional Manufacturing Policy(NMP), 2011.

5

Composit ion and funct ions of theNat ional Execut ive Comit tee of theNat ional Disaster ManagementAuthority.

5 To implement one keyrecommendat ion of the Mohini GiriCommit tee, the Government hasrecent ly announced theconst itut ion of a Nat ional Council.Highlight the composit ion and themandate of this Nat ional Council.

5

The Telecommunicat ions Ministry’sproposed Spectrum ManagementCommission.

5 Comment on the recent launchingof the Nat ional Mission on Libraries(NML).

5

The Community-Led Total Sanitat ion 5

(CLTS) approach to sanitat ion.

79 80

Note:

1. SPOT-6, IRSO quest ion was in Paper I, technically under “Yearbook”, but I have counted it inScience and Tech.

2. Similarly, the Millennium Development goal was from paper II under “IR”, but I’ve counted itunder Science and Tech.

3. Planning Commission’s chapter on Health, Drug Resistant TB etc. although can be classif iedas Yearbook, but I’ve put them under Public Health.

Comments on yearbook

As everyone expected, the [Yearbook] cont inues to be an important topic. But There isanother signif icant Development. In 2011, most [yearbook] quest ions are factual type. (listmajor recommendat ions, salient feature etc.etc.)

But at least 40 marks of [Yearbook] in 2012’s paper = f rom Dynamic Analyt ical part .(innovat ion, informal sector)

Sources for future preparat ion:

1. India Yearbook.

2. Newspaper columns (part icularly for the dynamic analyt ical type)

3. Yojana + Kurukshetra Magazines. (can be downloaded for f ree, using their of f icialwebsites)

4. Digging through Off icial websites of various ministries.

5. Planning Commission’s draf t paper. (contains chapter on Both health and innovat ion,+ plenty of fodder material for informal sector etc.)

6. Press releases from www.Pib.nic.in

7. + ^Notes making and regular revision

And, one should prepare with an open mind ready for surprizes. Because UPSC’s pendulumcan swing in either direct ion. (like it did in Polity f rom 106 to bare 47 marks). So It ’d again be agrave mistake to put all eggs in just Yearbook, Culture and Science-Tech baskets.

Public Health

Off icial Syllabus of UPSC for General Studies Mains Paper I:

4. (iv) Health issues including the management of Public Health, Health educat ion and ethicalconcerns regarding health-care,medical research and pharmaceut icals.

2011 2012

The f irst-aid thatyou can safelyadminister to aperson standingnext to you at thebus-stop whosuddenly faints.

5 You are stat ioned in a small district town in the plains ofNorthern India, The summer has been severe. Suddenly,a colleague, who had been out since morning, returns tothe of f ice complaining of headache, rest lessness andconfusion. Short ly, he becomes unconscious. His bodytemperature is 40°C. What f irst aid steps would you taketo revive him?

5

Molecular BreastImaging (MBI)technology.

5 The Human Papilloma Virus vaccine has been makingthe headlines in the recent months. Who make the idealcandidates for receiving this vaccine and what are itsbenef its?

5

Omega-3 fat tyacids in our food

5 Many food items contain “t rans fats”. What do you understand by this term? Which Indian food itemscontain t rans fats? What are the implicat ions of t ransfats on human health?

15

Discuss theextent, causes,and implicat ionsof the ‘nutrit iontransit ion’ said tobe underway inIndia.

20 “There is an urgent need for the Planning Commission torevise the chapter on health in the 12th Plan document.”Comment.

15

New init iat ivesduring the 11thFive Year Plan inthe Nat ionalProgramme forControl ofBlindness (NPCB).

12 What do you understand by the term “Mult i-DrugResistant Tuberculosis” {MDR-TB)? What measureswould you advocate for its containment and what arethe implicat ions of its spread in the community?

15

Despite strict prohibitory regulat ions, “doping” hasbecome increasingly common amongst athletes. Namefive commonly used performance- enhancing drugs.What are the risks associated with their use?

10

In the context of Assisted Reproduct ive Technologies, 10

India has emerged as a hub of commercial surrogacy.What key biological, legal and ethical issues meritconsiderat ion while f raming the regulat ion to governsurrogacy in India?

47 75

Note: I’ve counted HPV, Surrogacy and Doping quest ion f rom Paper II under health.Although you can put them under [Science-Tech] as well.

Future source of preparat ion: more or less the same like [Yearbook]+ science tech.

Doping quest ion –due to Olympic games. [I was expect ing an F1 f lag-ish quest ion f rom anyOlympic game though!]

It seems UPSC has made it mandatory to ask one ‘role playing’ quest ion on f irst-aidtreatment.

There ought to be some pdf on egyankosh, list ing all the f irst aid t reatments. And itwouldn’t hurt preparing it . (besides that knowledge might help in real life as well.)

I think the issue of drug price control (the Novart is patent, SC judgement, Pranab Sen Taskforce reports etc) gains signif icance for next mains. But then again if this topic becomes toohot in the Coaching factories of Delhi, then UPSC may not ask it in 2013!

Environment (NOT Geography!)

Geography and Environment are closely interlinked. Let us discuss both together.

UPSC’s official syllabus for GS1

3. Geography of India : In this part , quest ions will be on the physical, economic and socialgeography of India.

4. (iv) Environmental issues, ecological preservat ion, conservat ion of natural resources andnat ional heritage.

Year 2011: There is only one single quest ion f rom Geography: The signif icance of counter-urbanizat ion in the improvement of metropolitan cit ies in India. (12 marks)

Year 2012: “Dushtu lok Geography vanished.”

Not a single quest ion on geography. This is sacrilegious, this is blasphemy but then again, this isUPSC.

And the vaccum is f illed up by Environment and biodiversity. (And similar thing also happened inCSAT GS Paper).

2011 2012

The impact ofclimatechange onwaterresources inIndia.

12 GSI

Explain the concepts “EnvironmentalSustainability” and “SustainableDevelopment of People”.

5 GSII

Phase-IV ofthe t igermonitoringprogramme inIndia.

5 GSI

Explain brief ly the “Clean DevelopmentMechanism” as provided under the UnitedNat ions Framework Convent ion on ClimateChange (UNFCCC).

5 GSII

Thediminishingpopulat ion ofvultures

5 GSII

What is Permaculture? Give at least threecommon examples where permacultureconcepts are being put to use.

10 GSII

‘Billion Acts ofGreen’

2 GSII

Given the accelerated pace of developmentand demand for energy, would you considerrenewable energy as a viable opt ion forIndia’s future?

15 GSI

Analyse crit ically the interlinkages betweenthe Convent ion on Biological Diversity andFAO Treaty on Plant Genet ic Resourcesfor Food and Agriculture.

15 GSII

Examine the causes and the extent of‘desert if icat ion’ in India and suggestremedial measures.

25 GSI

In the context of the growing demands forthe ban of Endosulfan in the country,crit ically examine the issues involved. What,in your view, should be done in the matter?

25 GSI

The issue of tourism in core areas of t igerreserve forests in the country is a subjectmatter of debate. Crit ically examine variousaspects of this issue, keeping in viewrelevant recent judicial pronouncements.

25 GSI

Total 24 125

Note: For Environment topic, I’ve counted the quest ions from Paper II here as well. (CDM,FAO etc)

But just like Yearbook, here also many quest ions are f rom ‘dynamic-analyt ical’ port ion.

It seems Vulture is the most important creature in India. From GS Mains Paper II (2011),CSAT 2012, APFC-2012, this vulture topic is gett ing repeated too much, even SaasBahu serials have less clichés.

RIO+20 was too hot topic here. But no direct quest ion, because Temple of Dooms blew itout proport ion.

Future Source of Preparation [Environment]

1. NCERT+ NOS material for basics (CSAT).

2. India Yearbook (for Government schemes)

3. Off icial websites of MoEF, UNFCC etc.

4. Newspaper columns, magazines.

[PIN] Persons in News

2011 2012

Lieutenant Navdeep Singh 2 P.V. Sindhu 1

Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar 2 Aditya Kumar Mandi 1

Lobsang Sangay 2 Cyrus Mistry 1

P.R. Sreejesh 2 Ashoke Sen 1

Nileema Mishra 2 Mario de Miranda 1

V. Tejeswini Bai 2 Issues highlighted through the work ofPalagumrni Sainath

2

Aishwarya Narkar 2

F1 Flags (GS2) 12

‘News Internat ional’newspaper (GS2)

2

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil 2

Abel Kirui (GS2) 2

Natalie Portman (GS2) 2

Nawaf Salam (GS2) 2

Total 36 7

I classify all the t rivial GK under [PIN], so F1 race f lags and ‘News Internat ional’ newspaperalso included here.

So, Importance of [PIN] has Declined by almost 80%! Besides if you consider thecost:benef it rat io (of mugging up 150 persons in news vs recalling them in actual exam forpetty 7 marks) then the whole scene looks like a sick and cruel joke played by UPSC.

In GSM2011, there were PIN in both Paper I and II, but In GSM2012, only Paper I had PINquest ion.

but, every mark counts in the merit list . Besides, Sainath, Cyrus Mistry and Mario Mirandawere ‘no-excuse’. So doesn’t hurt keeping a cursory eye on them.

Diplomacy

2011 2012

Measures taken by the Indiangovernment to combat privacy inthe Indian Ocean.

12 What is meant by the G8+5 group? 5

List the Central Asian Republicsand ident ify those of part icularstrategic and economicimportance to India. Examine theopportunit ies and bott lenecks inenhancing relat ions with these

20 What are India’s stakes in the SouthChina Sea?

5

countries.

Crit ically examine the security andstrategic implicat ions of the so-called ‘string of pearls’ theory forIndia.

20 Compare the signif icance of IBSA andBRICS in the context of India’smult ilateral diplomacy.

10

“Compared to the South AsianFree Trade Area (SAFTA), the Bayof Bengal Init iat ive forMult isectoral Technical andEconomic Cooperat ion Free TradeArea (BIMSTEC FTA) seems to bemore promising.” Crit icallyevaluate.

20

Subsequent to the NuclearSuppliers’ Group (NSG) waiver in2008, what are the agreements onnuclear energy that India hassigned with dif ferent countries?

12 How have the US sanct ions againstIran af fected India’s bilateral relat ionswith Iran?

10

Trace the progress of India’sef forts for a joint counter-terrorism strategy with China.What are the likely implicat ions ofthe recent Xinjiang violence onthese ef forts?

12 Write a short analyt ical note on IndianDiaspora. How is the “New Diaspora”dif ferent f rom the “Old Diaspora”?

15

Bring out the importance of the‘Small and Medium EnterprisesExpo and Conference’ held inDubai last year for Indian business.

12 Does Put in’s return as President ofRussia mark a shif t to aconfrontat ionist stance ininternat ional diplomacy towards theWest?

15

What are the salient features ofthe polit ical and economicrelat ionship between India andSouth Africa?

12 Do you think that China’s emergenceas one of the largest t rading partnersof India had adversely af fected thesett lement of the outstanding borderproblem?

25

“The causes and implicat ions ofthe Jasmine Revolut ion and itsspread are as much economic innature as they are polit ical.”Crit ically evaluate.

20 Discuss the content ious issues thathave caused the prolongedconst itut ional logjam in Nepal.

25

Success of internat ionalintervent ion in Cote d’Ivoire (IvoryCoast)

5 “ The situat ion today is far dif ferentto that prevalent f if ty years backwhen the Indus Water Treaty wassigned.” Highlight the complexity ofthe current challenges on both sidesof the border in this regard. Do youthink that a review of the Treaty is inIndia’s best interests?

25

Strategies adopted by Colombiato eliminates its drug cartels

5

World Food Programme (WFP) ofthe United Nat ions (UN)

5

Sculpture of the broken chair infront of the UN building at Geneva

5

“As regards the increasing rates ofmelt ing of Arct ic Sea ice, theinterests of the Arct ic Councilnat ions may not coincide withthose of the wider world.” Explain.

12

Is there st ill a role for the conceptof balance of power incontemporary internat ionalpolit ics? Discuss.

12

“Strategic interests seem to bereplacing commercial interests forthe host country with regard toCam Ranh Bay.” Amplify.

12

To what extent has thewithdrawal of al-Shabab fromMogadishu given peace a realchance in Somalia? Assess.

12

total 208 135

Note: Internat ional relat ion looks ‘declined’ because I’ve moved some quest ions tobiodiversity and economy topics. Otherwise this one is st ill an important subject .

The phrase “‘old’ and ‘new’ Indian diaspora” is ment ioned on Ministry of Overseas af fairs

website

Indus Water t reaty was in news because of Nimoo Bazgo hydel project + Kishangangahydel project .

US-Iran-India was in news throughout last two years.

Nepal’s internal t rouble had been a hot topic over last 3-4 years. Finally UPSC has not iced.

No quest ion on Indo-Bangladesh, Syria, Libya, South Sudan, Kof i Anna, India @UNSC etc.despite being hot topics.

Economy

1. Paper I syllabus (i) The Indian economy and issues relat ing to planning, mobilizat ion ofresources, growth, development and employment

2. Paper II Syllabus India’s Economic Interact ion with the World :In this part , quest ions will be oneconomic and trade issues such as foreign trade, foreign investment; economic and diplo-macy issues relat ing to oil, gas and energy f lows; the role and funct ions of I.M.F., World Bank,W.T.O., WIPO etc. which inf luence India’s economic interact ion with other countries andinternat ional inst itut ions

Anyways, candidates don’t prepare Economy in segments. Because Indian and World economy areclosly interlinked in current af fairs. So I’ve combined both papers here.

2011 2012

Funct ions of the World CustomsOrganizat ion. (WCO)

5 GSII

Why is internat ionalt rade perceived to havefailed to act as an“engine of growth” inmany developingcountries includingIndia?

10 GSII

Salient recommendat ions of theRBI-appointed Damodarancommit tee on customer service inBanks.

12 GSI

“Domest ic resourcemobilizat ion, thoughcentral to the processof Indian economicgrowth, ischaracterized byseveral constraints?Explain.

15 GSI

Why the Central Stat ist ics Off icehas not if ied a new series of

5 GSI

Why have the resourcerich African and South

15 GSII

has not if ied a new series ofConsumer Price Index from thisyear?

I rich African and SouthAsian countriesremained poor fordecades? Explain.

II

In the context of the ‘Euro-zone’debt crisis, examine the proposed‘six-pack’ solut ion. Do you thinkthat this has a better chance ofsuccess than the earlier Stabilityand Growth Pact?

20 GSII

Discuss the likelynegat ive impact of theprotect ionist measuresproposed by the US onIndia’s sof twareindustry.

15 GSII

Discuss theglobalizat ion of R&Dand its impact onIndia’s development.Provide an illustrat ionfrom at least onesector such asInformat ionTechnology or Health.

25 GSII

42 80

As expected, star of [Economy] is on rise. Almost 100% increase over last year.

But most of the quest ions are of dynamic-analytical nature therefore one should keep aneye on newspaper columns + some decent fodder material on egyankosh as well (select ivepdfs f rom BA MA Economics)

Science Tech

2011 2012

Nisarga-Runa technologyof BARC.

5 The safe landing of the “Curiosity” Rover underNASA’s space programme has sparked manypossibilit ies. What are those and how couldhumankind benef it f rom them?

10

The Kaveri K-10 aero-engine.

5 Signif icance of the SPOT-6 rocket launch forISRO(GS1)

2

Internat ional Year ofChemistry

5 The Sequoia supercomputer was launched thisyear. What are its specif ic features and what isits purpose?

5

The scourge of e-waste 5 The human populat ion is slated to grow to 9billion by 2050. In this context , many scient istspredict that plant genomics would play a crit icalrule in keeping out hunger and preserving theenvironment. Explain.

25

‘Designer’ poult ry eggs 5

INSPIRE programme ofthe Department ofScience and Technology

5

The ‘Kessler syndrome’with reference to spacedebris

5

Dif ference between ‘spin-dyring’ and ‘tumble-drying’technology with referenceto drying of washedclothes

5

‘Arensic-bug’ and thesignif icance of itsdiscovery

5

F-22 ‘Raptor’ aircraf t 5

‘Concentrated’ solarenergy and ‘photovoltaic’solar energy

5

Analog, hybrid and IPsystems in CCTVtechnology

5

Various applicat ions ofKevlar

5

Dif ferences betweenCompact Disc (CD), DigitalVersat ile Disc (DVD) andBlu-ray Disc

5

Tiangong-1 2

K-computer 2

Gliese 581g 2

MABLE robot 2

‘Operat ion Shady Rat ’ 2

‘SAGA-220’ 2

L’Aquila earthquake 2

OPERA detecter at GranSasso

2

Saturn’s Titan 2

88 42

Don’t be astonished by 50% decline in Science-Tech. Because the weightage has beenshif ted to Public Health and Biodiversity topic (af ter all MDR TB, Trans-Fats, HPV etc areult imately science tech) So, overall science-tech cont inues to be an important topic.

Last year, the ent ire science-tech was 2 marker and 5 marker. So all you needed was tomemorize 3-4 keywords on each term. But this t ime, two quest ions (NASA, Plant genome)are of 10 & 25 marks respect ively that means you’d need content worth minimum 100 words.So the shif t is towards more descript ive quest ions.

Future Approach : same as earlier: Newspaper, Magazine, but going into the details ofpros/cons/features as well, rather than just making notes only for “2 marker/5 marker” type ofquest ions.

Statistics and Data Interpretation

2011 2012

tabulat ion 5 milk avg 2

ogive graph 5 height 3

missing freq 4 bengal populat ion 6

tubelight f req 4 outsourcing 7

avg speed of car 4 income distribut ion 8

defect ive mean 4 scatter plot 9

graph student walk 6

shares average 4

total 36 35

The weightage given to Stat , is almost the same like last year. The only dif ference is‘variety’ of quest ion.

This t ime more analyt ical quest ions, involving lengthier calculat ions.

+ this t ime you had to draw three graphs (scatter plot , Bengal populat ion and more thanogive).

So overall, both length and dif f iculty level of stat port ion =increased. But then again ifeverything was easy and convent ional, then it ’d have helped the archenemies of UPSC.

Future approach : same as usual NCERT+ Spectrum + old quest ion papers, but with morepract ice @home + egyankosh might have something on this new type of graphs. (or prepareall the graphs provided under Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010)

Topicwise Breakup for Paper I and Paper II

Topic 2011 2012

History 55 27

Culture 21 37

Polity 106 47

Yearbook 79 80

Health 47 75

Geography 12 0

Environment 24 125

Persons 36 7

Diplomacy 208 135

Economy 42 80

Sci-Tech 88 42

Stat 36 35

Total 754 690

Notes

1. Total will not be 600 because there are opt ions. But you can clearly see that in 2011, UPSCoffered more opt ions (754-600=154 marks) while in 2012, only 90 marks worth opt ions.

2. Here is the same graph again. Not ice that in the Year 2011, the height of Blue bars haveextreme range (e.g. Geography is 12, Diplomacy is 208). But in 2012 the height of red barshave less range. That means the weight is distributed in a more balanced fashion (not totallybalanced, but yet more “inclusive” distribut ion than 2011).

Click on the images to enlarge them

Length of the paper: GS1 (2011 vs 2012)

No. of Qs Marks per Q. Total Words Total Marks

Words 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

250 5 5 20 25 1250 1250 100 125

150 8 7 12 15 1200 1050 96 105

50 18 11 5 5 900 550 90 55

20 7 5 2 2 140 100 14 10

10 0 5 0 1 0 50 0 5

total 38 33 3490 3000 300 300

^This boring and complicated table says that

1. In 2011, to write 300 marks worth quest ions, you had to write almost 3500 words. While in2012, only 3000. So theoretically, 2012’s paper was shorter than last year. But we are missinganother important fact , that is hidden in the same table.

2. Big quest ions (10,15,20,25 marker types) consume lot of t ime in brain storming and framingthe answer in mind, especially when they’re of “analyt ical” type. And we already saw thatmajority of the big quest ions in History, Public Health, Yearbook and environment were of“Dynamic-analyt ical” nature. So obviously It would take more t ime.

1. In 2011, only 65% of the paper is made up of big quest ions. How did I come up with thisnumber? Marks of 15 and 25 marker quest ions = (100+96)/300=65%

2. But in 2012, 77% of the paper is made up of big quest ions. (125+105)/300=77%.

Therefore, GS paper of 2012 is lengthier than last year, because more than 3/4th of the paper ismade up of ‘big quest ions’.

Length of the paper: GSM2 (2011 vs 2012)

No. of Qs Marks per Q. Total Words Total Marks

Words 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

250 3 4 20 25 750 750 60 100

150 7 5 12 15 1050 1050 84 75

50 18 6 5 10 900 900 90 60

20 15 6 2 5 300 300 30 30

stat 8 6 not uniform depends 36 35

total 51 27 3000 3000 300 300

Using the same approach : big quest ions = brainstorming = more t ime consumed.

2011’s paper : (60+84)/300= 48% of the paper has big quest ions. (12 marker and 20marker)

2012’s paper: (60+75+100)/300=78% of the paper has big quest ions (10,15,25 markers)

Secondly, the Stat port ion of 2011, had (I think) only 2 graphs + relat ively convent ionalcalculat ions.

While Stat port ion of 2012, had 3 graphs + lengthier calculat ions + unconvent ionalquest ions.

Therefore GS paper II of 2012 is damn too lengthy compared any other paper.

Conclusion

This is my personal opinions. (and as usual) I am not going to debate over them.

1. Your command over stat ic port ion has already been tested in CSAT 2012 (It had very fewquest ions based on current af fairs) so, there was no point in f raming the GS mains paperhaving similar ‘stat ic’ structure.

2. Standard reference books cont inue to be important, for the above cited reason (prelims). Butat the same t ime, their signif icance has declined for the Mains examinat ion, unless they’reproviding fodder material for analyt ical quest ions.

3. UPSC will cont inue its Back-breaking moveTM against coaching classes and senior players.Therefore, stat ic-factual types of quest ions are unlikely to appear in future, and even if theyappear in future, it ’ll be done only for namesake soup and salad formality worth 5-10 marks.

4. The era of History+Polity+Geography is over. Another reason could be that UPSC did it toprovide level playing ground to the candidates with non-history,geo,PublicAdministrat ion,polit ical science opt ionals.

5. The new superstars in this Bollywood = Yearbook + Science Tech + Environment +Internat ional Relat ions. (Public health automatically covered under Yearbook +science tech)

6. The papers were ‘inclusive’ in nature. Because if you compare the paper with the of f icialsyllabus of UPSC, then for GS1, there were quest ions from almost every topic except Lawenforcement and community harmony. Similarly, for GS2, quest ions on almost everythingtopic of the syllabus except nuclear policy (actually Nuclear policy is also indirect ly at tachedwith US-Iran-India relat ion).

7. At least the quest ions do not seem to be falling f rom sky (unlike those F1 f lags of 2011).

8. GS Mains papers are already notorious for being lengthy. But 2012 has new heights, just likeA.Raja. So, Let the “length” of this paper be a reminder to those people who donot maintain

notes. Notes making assumes unprecedented signif icance, in the light of these papersbecause

1. Notes making improves handwrit ing speed.

2. Notes making helps in quick-revision and recalling, provides fodder material forDynamic-analyt ical type of quest ions.

3. Notes making creates posit ive vibes in the study room. (else if you just keep stackingnewspapers then their size and volume + the dust gathered on them, will createnegat ive vibes). So ideally, you should cut-down, make notes out of newspapers,Yojana Kurukshetra etc and then throw them in the store room (or even better just sellthem to Raddi-walla).

9. Some candidates prefer to wait for the omniscient coaching factories of Delhi, to release thespecial material on current af fairs. Now consider this: such material starts f looding only 1month before the exam (they deliberately delay the release to prevent UPSC from spying onit ) So, In such a short t ime you cannot possible mugup everything given in such material, evenif it was worth 150 marks! (unless you just throw away your opt ional subjects’ books).Besides it is easier to read, remember 5 things per day than trying to mugup 500 termsovernight. Therefore current af fairs is a home work you’re supposed to do every day ratherthan wait for someone else to come up with readymade digest for you.

10. Compet it ive exams are meant for men and women without guilt . So instead of feeling guiltyabout whatever you have done or not done so far (failure in previous at tempts, coaching nocoaching, job no job etc) just change the study-approach and keep moving forward.

11. You can either respect, fear, resent or hate the UPSC. But you must not let this mood of

cynicism and pessimism surround you. Despite whatever Back-Breaking MoveTM UPSCemploys, every year in the f inal merit list , you’ll see toppers with coaching, you’ll see topperswithout coaching, toppers on f irst t imers, toppers with more than one at tempt, toppers whocracked it af ter leaving job, toppers who cracked it without leaving job and so on….Therefore, if you’re dest ined to be a topper, you’ll be a topper. All that is in your hands, ishard work in right direct ion ,rather than badmouthing and resent ing the factors that areoutside your control- including India’s humiliat ing defeats in cricket.

12. Many of these quest ions can be solved through Indian express as well- be it t ransfats,endosulphan, t iger reserve or consumer protect ion act . So those unable to access The Hinduon day to day basis, need not feel excessively guilty about it .

So, when it comes to UPSC, don’t take everything for granted.