How to Prepare for Current Affairs

Important sources for covering Current Affairs  

  • Newspapers 
  • Press Information Bureau
  • Yojana, Kurukshetra and Science Reporter
  • Economic survey
  • India Year Book 
  • Economic and Political weekly
  • Pratiyogita Darpan – Economics special issue
  • All India Radio, Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV
  • General Studies Live 
  • 2nd ARC reports

NEWSPAPER 

  • Read one newspaper daily preferably The Hindu or Indian Express.
  • Pre requisite to read the newspaper effectively is understanding the syllabus for exam.  Read all the articles which are related to the syllabus of both prelims and mains. 
  • Do make notes of newspaper articles, especially of OPED page and editorial page as it will provide you enough content for answering questions related to mains subjects and essay paper. 
  • Notes should be made in such a way that the notes of each paper of General studies syllabus remain at one place . 
  • You should focus on the issue being dealt with in the newspaper article rather than the details of it 
  • Detailed explanation with examples on how to read Hindu and Indian Express are given below :

How to read The Hindu Newspaper

How to read Indian Express Newspaper

PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU

  • Press Information Bureau disseminates informations on government plans, policies, programme initiatives and achievements
  • This is an important source of questions for prelims as well as mains 
  • Don’t ignore this source even though it is laborious to cover regularly. Spend at least 10 minutes daily on our PIB live section. You can also download the PIB app or even visit their website. Most of the topics will be covered in the next day’s newspaper also.    
  • We will be  providing material based on PIB releases.

Yojana, Kurukshetra and Science Reporter

  • All the above magazines are important for both prelims and mains.
  • Yojana and Kurukshetra should be covered regularly. It helps in General Studies 2 and General Studies 3 of Mains as questions are often asked from the topics covered by these magazines.   
  • Read science reporter magazine in addition to the Science and Technology section of The Hindu. 
  • Our General Studies Live section on Science and Tech will be providing snippets of articles on latest innovations in Science and Technology. 

INDIA YEAR BOOK

  • India Year Book is published by the Publication Division of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Hence the contents are highly reliable. 
  • It is released in February / March every year
  • The new edition published every year will only have updates relating to that particular year. Rest of the contents remains the same. 
  • Some of the very important chapters from India Year Book are : Agriculture, Culture and Tourism, Education, Energy, Environment, India and the world, Scientific and technological development, Rural and Urban development etc.   

Economic Survey, Pratiyogita Darpan ( Economics extra issue), and Economic and Political Weekly 

  • For Economics related topics the most important source is the Economic Survey. You should read only the latest edition released immediately before the Finance Budget.
  • Pratiyogita Darpan is a magazine for competitive exams. It releases special edition dedicated to economics. It covers many of the current schemes and policies implemented by the govt. in the recent years.
  • EPW is a weekly magazine covering all spheres of social science topics. You will get enough contents for mains if you read it regularly. 

RAJYA SABHA TV and ALL INDIA RADIO

Some of the programmes in the above mentioned channels are extremely useful for preparation as it gives a comprehensinve analysis with pros and cons of a particular topic. Hence aspirants should watch these programmes.

  • The Big Picture : It discusses important topics of current affairs of national and international importance. It is broadcasted on Rajya Sabha TV from Monday to Friday at 6 . 30 PM
  • India’s World : It discusses topics of International relations and will be helpful in General Studies Paper 2. It is broadcasted in Rajya Sabha TV at 10 PM on every Monday.
  • Policy Watch : It deals with  economic policy related discussions. It is broadcasted in Rajya Sabha TV at 8.30 AM every Sunday.
  • Science Monitor : It will be useful for Science and Technology section. It is broadcasted every Sunday at 11 AM in Rajya Sabha TV.
  • News at 9 : It is broadcasted by ALL India Radio every day at 9 PM. The subsequent discussions on important topics related to the syllabus should  also be listened.

Important Videos useful for Preparation

  • Story of India – A documentary in BBC Channel presented by Michael wood 
  • Samvidhaan – It is a 10 episode series broadcasted by Rajya Sabha TV showing the details of discussion and arguments taken place in the Constituent Assembly of India
  • Bharat ek Khoj – It is based on the book Discovery of India. It is useful for preparing the history section of the syllabus.
  • Pradhanmantri – It is helpful for preparing the post independence part in General Studies 1 as the series shows in detail the contribution of each Prime Minister and the issues faced by him

Official Government Reports and various Committee Reports 

  • 2nd ARC reports – ARC is the committee appointed by the Government of India for giving recommendations for reviewing the public administration system of India. It is a very important source for mains as many of the reports in the 2nd ARC reports are related to the sub-topics of General studies 2, General studies 3 and General Studies 4. 
  • There are many reports published by Niti Aayog. But one particular report on “India Three Year Action  agenda – 2017 -2020” seems to be useful for exam Click here to download the report
  • Punchhi Commission report on Centre – State relationship Click here to download the report
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