Reading - the crux of Civil Services Examination...

The Civil Service Examination(CSE) demands a multitude of skills from the candidates among which reading has a special place. To answer the different application based questions in the General Studies papers, we require a good analytical mindset which is nourished by in-depth reading. The role of a tutor is very minimal in the CSE preparation and a good amount of knowledge need to be assimilated by the aspirant himself/herself. This article is intended to give you some orientation in this regard.

What to read?

As mentioned in my previous posts, the "whats" refer to the syllabus of the examination. Hence we need to improve the knowledge regarding the various topics mentioned in the syllabus. This is very significant with respect the the GS-II & GS-III papers of the Mains Examination. They deal with the very dynamic subjects like Indian polity, International relations, economics related subjects like inclusive growth, sustainable development etc. GS - III particularly stands out for its diversity of topics spanning from economic development, energy issues, environment and disaster management, Science & Technology and security issues of India. I call them dynamic on account of their connection to the current events. A quick read of the 2013 and 2014 GS Question papers would reveal the same. Hence a good command over the current events is inevitable for the exam preparations.

Where to read?

Now a major confusion that confronts the aspirants is where to read these things from. With lots and lots of current journals and coaching centres giving their own version of current affairs, it is very important that we do not end up at the wrong place. I would like to write some very important sources that is supplementary to the knowledge you gain from the class rooms.

1. News papers and journals.

• While newspapers give day-to-day information, journals give a good analysis of the burning   issues.
• News-papers like The Hindu, The Indian Express are worth reading while Frontline, a fortnightly gives a good analysis of the socio-economic issues of India.     

2. Government publications

• India Year Book - This gives a detailed report of the various Government programmes happened in the last year.
• Economic Survey - This gives an in-depth analysis about the economic situation of India, and various suggestions for the future planning.
• Yojana and Kurukshetra - While Yojana gives an analysis of various issues and the related Government interventions, Kurukshethra dwells deep about the rural development aspect, an area very important with respect to the CSE.

3.  Some sources for advanced reading
     The following electronic/print media can be relied upon.

• PRS Legislative Research (www.prsindia.org) : gives a detailed analysis of the various public policies, programmes and Acts
• Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis - IDSA (idsa.in) : for International Relations and Security of India.
• Important official surveys published by the Government - Census 2011, Family Health Survey, Sample Registration Survey, Socio Economic Caste Census etc.         

NOTE : A general trend visible is the too much dependence on Current Affairs publications. Of course sources like GKToday, Darpan, Wizard etc. are of great help, but you cannot take them as the only source for current affairs. They are to be used as fillers on top of the newspaper feeds so that you don't miss out on any relevant information.

How to read?

The various sources mentioned above need to be approached in different ways for effective learning.

• While reading news-papers, special attention should be given to areas like national news, international news and the editorials. Editorials function as opinion generators and hence their consistent reading is recommended. In the case of journals like Frontline, it is better to be selective, otherwise it might rob you off your valuable time.

• Year Book can be used to study the socio-economic issues like rural/urban development, social justice, women and child development, health and family welfare, education etc. since these things remain more or less the same in the current year too. Matters like finance and banking, foreign trade, industry, energy are highly dynamic in nature and the Year Book is not of much help for those. Instead, the Economic Survey can come really handy here. 

• PRS, an organisation working towards administrative/legal reforms in the country is considered as one of the best sources for policy/legal matters. IDSA comprises of think-tanks in the foreign affairs and defence sector is known for its thorough analysis of International issues and Security aspects.  

• The official statistics published by the Government are considered the most authentic and they can be readily used in writings for articulating our ideas (an application of Data Interpretation).

In the above paragraphs we went through a number of sources, many of which can be exhaustive leading to loss of time and attention. Hence a good amount of rationality need to be applied in selecting the right things and weeding out the unnecessary ones. A quick look at the Mains GS Papers in the recent years would reveal that UPSC has not asked any direct questions, instead certain aspects related to important issues were touched upon. Hence concurrent to the newspaper reading,  it is also important to learn the related facts and terms from the internet or other sources. The aspirants should make their own notes rather than mugging up from the various current affairs capsules. This is very vital for subjects like Science & Technology and Environment that do not have a definite source. Though this may seem to be tedious initially, it will be of great help during the final rounds of preparation since you can readily understand your own notes than any other material.

The preparation for the CSE is a period of gradual transformation. The knowledge cannot be gained in a month or two, but need to be built brick by brick. Hence you need to hold your fort till the end of the game. Confucius, the famous Chinese philosopher, has expressed the same in the following beautiful words...

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising everytime we fall..."

CSAT - the game changer

After a study on the GS Paper for the Civil Services Prelims(CSP), let us now dwell deeper into the Paper II, which is popularly known as the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

Before going into the details, let me start with an important fact related to the CSP. In the Prelims examinations of yesteryears, a general candidate who gets 50% marks would easily qualify for the Mains. But, this trend has changed since the year 2012. The cut-off marks for 2012 and 2013, as published by UPSC is 209 and 241 respectively out of a total of 400 (For the year 2014, it would come around 220).

Now what is the reason for such a jump in the cut-off marks? Here comes the significance of the CSAT paper. People who are not so good in GS, rather perform extremely well (above 150) in CSAT thus raising their total far above 200. Consequently, the range of marks among candidates is comparatively narrow for GS, while  in the case of CSAT it is very wide with some candidates scoring even above 180 marks. This makes the CSAT Paper, the decisive one for the CSP, even though it is of not of much use in the higher levels of the Civil Services Exam.

 Let us now study the syllabus for the CSAT, as notified by the UPSC. As in the case of Paper I, this paper also has a 7 point syllabus which is as follows:

1. Comprehension.
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
4. Decision-making and problem-solving.
5. General mental ability.
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc. - Class X level), Data - interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. - Class X level)
7.  English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level). 

Now, this contains a few topics that are overlapping and in turn confusing, at least for those who are not familiar with such a Paper. Hence let me simplify the syllabus initially, like what was done for the GS Paper of the CSP. I am reducing it to a 5 point syllabus so that you get a clearer picture.

1. Reading comprehension.
2. Decision-making.
3. Logical and analytical reasoning.
4. Basic numeracy.
5. Data interpretation.

To make things simpler, I am giving a brief description of each section below:

• Under Reading Comprehension, the candidates are required to read a given passage and answer the following questions based on it. The candidates can opt for either English or Hindi as the language, except for the compulsory English Comprehension part.
• Under Decision Making, a situation is provided and you would be asked to choose the most appropriate action from the given options.  The UPSC syllabus describes about Interpersonal Skills, but is not asked separately. Rather, it is used for solving Decision Making questions. One important fact is that this section does not have negative marking and credit is given to the best alternative.
• Logical Reasoning involves questions that can be solved using basic logic. They can be classified into two:
• Verbal reasoning - includes problems based on Statements & Conclusions, Logical Connectives, Syllogism etc
• Non Verbal reasoning - includes problems based on figures like pattern detection, dice problems etc.
• Analytical Reasoning problems are more complex compared to the Logical Reasoning ones and require the candidates to draw rough diagrams to find exact solutions. This includes problems on arrangement and ordering, blood-relations, direction sense etc.
• Basic numeracy involves problems based on Xth class Mathematics like percentage, ratio & proportion, time & distance etc.
• Data Interpretation problems involves data represented in the form of graphs, charts or tables and followed by questions based on them. It tests the ability of the candidate to analyse the given data. It is a part of the Statistics subject that you might have already studied in School. 

With this information at hand, it is the right time to analyse the CSAT Questions papers for the years 2013 and 2014.

Section	2013	2014
Comprehension	32	32
Decision making	6	0
Reasoning	22	23
Basic Numeracy	14	19
Data Interpretation	6	6
Total	80	80

Some important observations:

• The number of questions under Comprehension has remained the same in 2013 and 2014. With 32 questions in all ,this remains the largest section in the CSAT paper. But in 2014, six questions from the Compulsory English section were not considered for evaluation thus bringing down the number to 26.
• While there were six questions on Decision-Making in 2013, the whole section was absent in 2014. The most probable reason would be the introduction of the Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude Paper (or GS Paper IV) in the Mains examination. But this doesn't imply that such questions won't be asked in the next Prelims.
• Questions on Reasoning have got almost equal consideration in 2013 and 2014. Among them, more questions (two-third) were from the Analytical Reasoning part.
• Basic Numeracy is a section which saw a sharp increase in the number of questions in 2014 compared to the previous year as is evident from the table. In short, the Decision Making section was effectively replaced by questions from Basic Numeracy.
• The number of questions from Data Interpretation has remained the same in 2013 and 2014.

Important take-aways :

• The pattern of questions from different sections has remained more or less the same across the years. Atleast a few questions from the Reasoning and Numeracy sections were seen to be repeated. Hence the starting point for you would a thorough analysis of the previous years question papers. 

• There is a misunderstanding among the aspirants that the CSAT is complete Maths. This need to be done away with initially. Among the five major sections, only Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation test your arithmetic skills. As is evident from the above table, the number of questions asked from these two sections together is 20 and 25 respectively in 2013 and 2014. Moreover, the UPSC has specifically mentioned that questions from these section will be of the Xth class level. Hence we need to understand that CSAT is not Maths.  

• Decision-making and Comprehension are qualities that are inherent in a person. Hence, we need to hone up those skills by practising more questions. While people with wide-reading and good English language skills can easily answer the questions under Comprehension,  Decision Making demands for practical wisdom among the candidates.

• The most important element of the CSAT is the time-management. 80 questions in two hours implies 1.5 minutes per question. But there can be wide variation in the complexity of questions. While a few can be solved within 30 seconds, some other questions would take above 2 minutes, especially if you are stuck up while solving those. Generally, Comprehension and Reasoning consumes more time and this has to be balanced with the Maths (Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation) and Decision-Making sections.

The exam strategy:

The two hours for the CSAT is a golden time-period and your output depends upon how you manage it. The total time can be divided among different questions; like 80 Q in two hours implies 40 Q in one hour or 20 Q in half an hour. Further, different sections may be mixed up so that there is a balance; like Basic Numeracy can be done in between Reading Comprehension. Ultimately, you should not end up in leaving those questions which you actually know, just because you don't have the time. 

Please be mindful of the fact that "watching the clock is not the same as watching the sun rise".  You have been given a two hour time, not for dreaming, but to accomplish a mission; something which you have been cherishing for long. Hence pick your battles wisely... 

Deciphering the Civil Services Prelims..

I had mentioned about the relevance of the syllabus in one of my earlier posts. Let us take it further to analyse the pattern for the Civil Services(Preliminary) Examination (Here after I call it CSP). A general reading of the CSP syllabus would make your heads dizzy especially for those folks from a non-Humanities background. But a clear understanding of the pattern of the previous years question papers would help a lot in making up a strategy for the examination.

Before directly going to the question paper analysis, we study the syllabus initially and present it in a simpler form. The Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) has published a 7 point syllabus for the CSP and this is in place for the last few years, and most probably will continue this year also. It is as follows:

1. History of India and Indian National Movement.
2. Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
3. Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
4. Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
5. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization.
6. General Science.
7. Current Events of National and International Importance.

Well, that covers many a things, a few among which would have definitely gone over your head. Now let me write these 7 topics once again in a plain language so that you get an overview of the syllabus, if not its details.  

1. History.
2. Geography.
3. Polity.
4. Economics.
5. Ecology and Environment.
6. Science & Technology.
7. Current affairs.

Now let us see what is the weightage for the above subjects in the CSP. It is to be noted that UPSC neither provides any such information, nor follows a fixed pattern. But a general trend can be obtained from the analysis of previous years question-papers. Below is the statistics regarding the same.

Subject	2013	2014
History	16	21
Geography	16	17
Economics	18	11
Polity	16	12
Science & Technology	16	15
Environment & Ecology	18	19
Current affairs	0	5
Total	100	100

Some highlights of the above data are:

• The distribution of marks among different topics seems to be even in 2013(except Current Affairs) while it is skewed in 2014 with topics like History getting a higher weightage.
• History - the most important sub-topics were modern Indian history and Art & Culture. The latter consumes almost half of the history questions (8 no.s) in 2013, while in 2014 the number has risen to 15. On the other hand the ancient/ medieval history is becoming less attractive w.r.t the examination, with just 2 questions being asked each in 2013 and 2014.
• Geography - Most of the questions were map-based. A few were from the field of agriculture, crops, soil-forms etc. In 2014, some questions were asked from World Geography also.
• Economics - A number of questions were from basic concepts like inflation, money supply, public finance, balance of payment etc. Also there has been a stress on the latest economic terms coming in the newspapers like Bank Saathi, Marginal Standing Facility, venture capital etc.
• Polity - Some concept oriented questions were asked from the philosophy of the Constitution. A number of questions were about the Parliament and the Union Executive. The 2014 questions were a lot simpler when compared to the previous year.
• Science & Technology - Many questions were life-science based ie related to living-organisms like micro-organisms, plants, animals and human-beings. A few questions were asked from areas like science in daily-life and latest advancements in technology. 
• Environment & Ecology - The number of questions from this topic has remained almost the same in 2013 and 2014. An important area is ecology and questions about the food-chain, ecological adaptations, succession and exchange of matter have been consistently asked from here. In 2014, a greater stress has been given to various organisations and statutes related to the conservation of environment.
• Current affairs - The notable fact is a set questions on current international issues asked in 2014 (like BRICS, Arctic Council etc). UPSC had not touched upon this area in 2013.

A few take-aways

The preparation for the Civil Service Examination is a smart work rather than hard work. Even though the syllabus seems to be enormous, what we should do is to prioritise the different subjects and their sub-sections. The following tips would help you in this regard.

• In History, stress upon Modern History and Art & Culture.
• In Geography, adopt a map-based learning. Be ready with an ATLAS.
• In Economics, try to understand the basic economic concepts. Track the newspapers for frequently occurring terms.
• In Polity, thoroughly understand the areas like the Executive, Parliament and Constitutional philosophy.
• In S&T, study the basic science(especially biology) from textbooks and update yourself with the latest technology.
• In Environment, understand the science concepts (like ecosystem, Green House Effect) from textbooks and update yourself with the latest happenings related to environmental degradation and its conservation.
• For current affairs, make your own short-notes on national and international issues. 

I would like you to make informed choices on top of these observations. It is better to have your own strategies rather than "doing what others do" and "reading what others read". Hence, try to be yourself and get going.. All the very best..!!!

The winds of change in India

Topic : Energy (GS Paper III)

Wind remains the largest renewable power resource having a share of almost 65% in the total installed capacity. As on December, 2014 the total capacity has crossed 22000MW and the leading state are Tamil-Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka. The largest windfarm in India is Muppandal in Tamil-Nadu. There is a long-term objective to generate 60GW of power from wind energy resources by year 2022, as announced recently by Power Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal.

Why wind power developed in a better manner compared to solar power?

1) The cost factor : The cost per watt generated from wind power plants is lower compared to that from solar-power plants.
2) Government policies : The two important Government programmes related to this sector are

• Accelerated Depreciation Scheme (ADS) - This provides a way of deferring corporate income taxes by reducing taxable income in current years, in exchange for increased taxable income in future years. Thus the producers need not carry the burden of high taxes for their establishment in their initial years but can pay them one's their business is stabilised. 
• Generation Based Incentives (GBI) - incentive of 50 paise is provided for every unit of electricity generated from wind resources.

But these programmes were shelved in between when the Government started to concentrate more on the solar energy sector.

The current challenges ?

• Power generation from wind-mills is highly erratic since it depends of the speed of the wind which keeps varying. This demands for efficient power storage and evacuation systems. 
• Even though it is cheaper than solar energy, when compared to coal-based or hydro power plants, it is expensive.
• Threats to wild-life in rural-areas - The massive turbines are a threat to birds. The large columns require deep digging which may affect the ecosystems there. 

New developments ?

Parallel to the impetus provided to solar energy sector, the Government is also considering a time-bound plan to develop the wind energy sector. Here are a few steps taken in this regard.

• National Wind Energy Mission - to strengthen grid infrastructure for wind power, identify high wind power potential zones, ease land clearances for the projects, regulate wind power tariff and incentivise investment in the wind sector.
• The Accelerated Depreciation Scheme(ADS) and Generation Based Incentives(GBI) have been restarted for putting wind energy on the same league as the high-profile solar mission.
• The Green Energy Corridor - A 43000 Crore project supported by Germany with an objective of synchronising electricity produced from renewable sources, such as solar and wind, with conventional power stations in the grid. Currently the supply from renewable sources suffers from voltage-fluctuations on account of variations in generation. This demands for an efficient power storage and evacuation infrastructure. (A question regarding this was asked in 2013 Mains) 

Sunny days ahead in India's energy sector

Topic : Energy (GS Paper III)

"Solar" has been a frequent buzzword especially in the state of Kerala, but for all the wrong reasons. Let us keep that aside and see what are the better things happening in this sector. Solar energy has great potential in a country like India which is situated in the sub-tropical region and has almost 300 sunny days in an year.

What are the broad objectives regarding solar energy in India?

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission(JNNSM) envisages to have 20GW of grid connected and 2GW of off-grid capacity by 2020. This implies 20GW would be supplied to the national electricity grid, while 2GW will be generated and distributed locally without connecting to the grid. The Power Minister has announced a bigger goal of 100GW of solar power by 2022 in the recently held World Economic Forum at Davos.

How will the Government achieve those ?

The Solar Energy Corporation of India(SECI) has been established as a not-for-profit company to supervise the development of solar power in India. SECI has taken up the following projects/ activities.

• Implementation of JNNSM Phase-II – This runs from 2013 till 2017 and includes grid-connected solar power plants and off-grid systems.
• Solar Thermal installations for water/air heating and industrial process.
• Implementation of  Grid Connected Solar Roof-Top scheme.
• Development and dissemination of low cost solar lanterns.
• Solar Mini/Micro Grids having a capacity of 10kW-10MW. These are off-the-grid systems and would be the best option for rural electrification.
• Research and Development including solar resource assessment.

Apart from this there is a plan to build large solar power plants of capacity 1000MW-4000MW (called Ultra Mega Power Plant). One such plant is coming up in the Sambhar area in Rajasthan and is currently the largest in the world. In canal irrigated regions, there are projects for installing solar panels covering thousands of kilometers.

What are the major hurdles ?

The major hurdles are of three types - technical, cost-related and administrative

1) Technical difficulties :

• Shortage of efficient solar photo-voltaic (PV) cells and modules - Currently a large proportion of solar photo-voltaic cells are imported from countries like U.S and China, since domestic production cannot catch up with the demand. The JNNSM has included a Domestic Content Requirement(DCR) provision in the case of solar cells which would help in the growth of domestic manufacturing sector. Consequently India has invoked Anti-Dumping Duties to restrict the import of solar cells from outside. But this has lead to US approaching the WTO on account of violations of international trade.
• Power evacuation - Solar energy generation depends on the sunlight and is not consistent throughout the day. This demands for efficient power evacuation system, to feed the power to the transmission network in a synchronised manner. India does not have a well developed power-evacuation system.

2) The cost-factor :

• The solar-cell manufacturing industry in India is in its nascent stage and hence does not enjoy the advantage of scale economies. This implies since production is low, cost of the good ie the solar cell/module is high. This puts burden on the solar power producers and in turn on the entities in the value chain till the end customer. This is the reason why the power producers has been demanding for the import of solar cells/modules despite the Government's push for indigenous manufacturing through the "Make in India" programme.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy provides 30% subsidy(70% in case of North Eastern states) on the installation cost of a solar photovoltaic power plant. Further a 30% to 40% subsidy is given on solar-lamps and home lighting. 

3) The administrative bottlenecks:

• This is significant in the case of grid-connected systems. The whole system works on State government run distribution companies (or DISCOMS) that are debt-ridden, inefficient and corrupt. Thus the reforms in generation, transmission and distribution of power need to carried on simultaneously. The Central Government has been encouraging the usage of renewable power by enforcing renewable purchase obligation(RPO) on the state utilities. This makes mandatory for the power distributors to purchase a share of power from renewable sources also. But this has been largely unsuccessful on account of the inefficiency of state discoms.
• Another area is the dissemination of information regarding solar-energy. A web-based platform named SOLAR GUIDELINES has been set up with the support from Germany for facilitating dissemination of information and giving latest updates on the development of solar energy projects.

Are the goals ambitious or can they be realised?

Government has taken a two-pronged approach - large centralised(or grid connected) power plants on one hand and small decentralised(or off grid) micro/mini grids and roof-top systems on the other. The former would require large tracts of land, which would face opposition from people. Moreover the synchronisation of such plants with the national grid is cumbersome(remember the large power blackout that happened in 2012). Hence, the ideal model model for India would be the small localised solar systems. This would be specifically helpful for electrification in rural India which faces frequent power-outages. The goals though seem ambitious, are achievable if there is greater political will-power and bureaucratic efficiency.

Next in line : Wind-power in India

Ensuring energy security in India

Topic : Energy (GS Paper III)

The battles of yesteryears were fought over land, while those of today centre around energy. One of the biggest factors behind the current shifts in geopolitics is energy. Whether it is the American invasions in the Middle East, or the Chinese hegemony in East and South Asia, these are just the different means to achieve the greater end, that is energy. The world witnesses a scramble for resources by energy-hungry nations, who are in a mad rush behind resources to feed their developmental needs.

Now, where is India placed in this state of affairs? The nation under a new government is showing every sign of an accelerated growth in the coming years. There is huge requirement for energy to satisfy its burning bowels. India has been looking for energy sources, both at home and abroad. Energy agreements which India signed with countries such as Australia, which had diametrically opposite views in many subjects, serves as an indicator for the nation's ambitious plans of development at any cost. Now, what are the different sources that India is banking upon to satisfy its huge energy needs. Let us analyse this.

The largest source of power production in India are coal-fired thermal power plants accounting for 58% of the total installed capacity. This is followed by hydroelectricity(17%), renewable energy resource(12%), natural gas(9%) and nuclear energy(2%). India is heavily dependent upon external sources in case of coal, natural-gas and nuclear energy. Hydro-electricity and renewable energy sources are harnessed at home, but are way short of the current demands. Thus India is facing an acute energy-crisis with an accelerated economic expansion in one hand and a large rural population without power on the other.

The current policy of the Government is the development of unconventional and clean energy sources. The most important among them are the renewable energy and nuclear energy, for which talks are going on various levels. The renewable energy sector includes wind (which remains the largest among renewable sources with 65% of the installed capacity), small-hydro power(upto 25 MW capacity), solar power, biomass and bagasse co-generation and waste to energy conversion. The sticking points here are the absence of a modern cost-efficient technology and the administrative bottlenecks. Nuclear energy is another area which India is pushing forward, but requires not just the modern technology but also the essential resources including the nuclear fuel. 

Considering the relevance of the topic, we will have discussions on the energy related issues in India and the various means through which the nation has been harnessing the different resources. Stay on for more information on energy matters.

Next in line : Solar energy in India.

The strategy for preparation

I had stressed upon 3 points in my last article - the significance of the syllabus, relevance of current affairs and the ability to link different facts. Considering these, I am adopting the following approach for the effective preparation for the examination.

• Selecting an important current issue.
• Describing its significance with respect to the CSE.
• Analysing the issue in an easy, interactive and graspable manner. 
• Explaining the related terms, if any.
• People can add more points or get your doubts clarified through the "Comments" section.

Unlike what happens in other examination preparations, here the candidate has a very greater role than that of the mentor. The very nature of the examination demands a greater commitment from the candidate and a combined effort, where every individual adds value, is the ideal model. Hence, try to inculcate a "give more, take more" attitude so that it is not just you who is benefited, but others too. I hope, this online platform can be of a great help to you. Wishing you all the very best in your endeavours.