Role of Current Affairs in answering GS papers as well as your Essay.
Hello aspirants, hope your preparations are in good flow. By good flow I mean that you have finished your newspaper today including the editorial section. Yeaa, that seems hectic but current affairs are the key to scoring good marks in civil services.
You all must have heard about the importance of newspaper reading in your civil services preparation in various topper’s talks and youtube videos on UPSC preparation. The classical dilemma of an aspirant is whether to opt for The Hindu or Indian Express? So the question generally arises why there is so much thrust on newspapers or current affairs magazines?
What does UPSC says about Current Affairs:
Current Affairs is an integral part of your UPSC CSE preparation. It is included in the syllabus of Prelims under the title, “Issues of national and international importance”. Although it is not explicitly mentioned in the syllabus of the UPSC CS (Main) Examination, descriptive questions on recent events are often asked in the examination. For example this question was asked in 2021 Mains, “Mention the global occurrence of volcanic eruptions in 2021 and their impact on regional environment. (Answer in 150 words)”.
Moreover, it has been observed that aspirants who supplement their descriptive answers with recent pointers score higher than others. Hence, it is imperative for Civil Services aspirants to develop a habit of reading up on current affairs on a daily basis. But one question that frequently arises in aspirants’ minds is-
“How to prepare for Current affairs for UPSC”?
It should be noted that, unlike other examinations, UPSC generally does not ask for fact-based current affairs. On the contrary, questions are more in-depth. For instance, mere knowledge of the complete name of a scheme and the related ministry might not suffice. You should also be well-versed in the offerings of the scheme, its probable impact, and budget allocation.
An aspirant needs to grasp the current events in the context of your syllabus. For instance, you cannot give the holistic picture of India’s neighbourhood without covering the recent happenings in Sri Lanka.
Why so much emphasis on Current Affairs?
There is an increasing trend in the UPSC exam to ask questions based on current events. For eg. these questions from civil services mains 2021:
Q11. Do you agree that the Indian economy has recently experienced V- shapes recovery? Give reasons in support of your answer. (Answer in 250 words)
Q17. Describe the major outcomes of the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). What are the commitments made by India in this conference? (Answer in 250 words)
Q7. Mention the global occurrence of volcanic eruptions in 2021 and their impact on regional environment. (Answer in 150 words) 10
While above examples are directly asked from current events, some indirect references can also be found in the exam paper. Similarly in essays too, the topics can be understood in recent context. For eg. The essay topic in 2018, "Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life” can be answered in context of Sec 377 judgement of supreme Court.
Role of current affairs in answer writing and essay:
Using Current examples also helps in value addition. For eg. explaining the reasons for inflation and not mentioning the Russia-Ukraine conflict for substantiating the arguments on political instability, will leave the examiner dissatisfied with the argument. This kind of answer writing enriches the content and impresses the examiner.
Some of the important areas in the current affairs portion from where questions are asked include central and state-sponsored schemes and policies, recent bills and acts passed in parliament, budget, economic survey report, international relations, science, and technology, etc.
Current events make the answer dynamic. By better contextualising the view point both in answer writing and essays. It shows that you can think in various dimensions at the same time and also shows your presence of mind.
After talking about the importance of current affairs, now we will be talking about “How to prepare current affairs for the exam?”
The first task of an aspirant should be to know the syllabus thoroughly, it helps in better contextualising the topics you are reading in newspapers or magazines.
Since, there is a lot to be read from the static portion also in the available time. An aspirant has to limit the sources for current affairs, as it is equally important to know what to eliminate from the sources.Here OnlyIAS team through its current affairs magazine will help in cherry picking the important events.
Analysing past year question papers to know the trend. For example this question from 2020 CS Mains,”“Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have a profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss.
Learn to read between the lines of any current happening, rather than just going for factual information. For instance, the current upsurge in inflation and the geopolitical factors behind it.
Making notes in hard copy or soft copy using online tools like evernote, dropbox, google docs, etc.
And last but not the least is to keep revising, without which it will be very difficult to keep in mind all the important information.
Following are some of the sources to study current affairs for UPSC civil services exam:
The Hindu or Indian Express
PIB website
Current affairs magazine by OnlyIAS
Yojana and Kurukshetra Magazine
Other government publications, like India Year Book and Economic Survey
Audio and Video resources: Sansad TV channel, All India Radio Spotlight discussion, etc.
Since it is a very tedious task to compile all the current events relevant for exams and at the same time segregation them subject wise. OnlyIAS team has started an initiative to support students in this journey by providing exam relevant current events along with full analysis and linking them to the static part.
Whether asked directly or indirectly, current affairs are the key to success in cracking the UPSC Civil Service exam. Our team of experts will take care of all the important events from India’s major dailies and websites like PIB, so that you have one less thing to worry about for your preparation.
Good luck!
