Advice to Aspirants: Indian Polity & Governance | Indian Polity for UPSC CSE PDF Download

"First of all, I would say that IAS requires the right strategy. A blind un-calculated effort will not give you proportionate results" - Akshat Jain, AIR 2 UPSC IAS 2018

Our team has mentored thousands of students in the last 3-years, including Anudeep Durishetty, AIR 1 UPSC CSE 2017 and one thing that was common among all the toppers is the strategy that they had to prepare for the exam. So, keeping that in mind, we wish to provide you with relevant information as a UPSC Aspirant, helping you to devise your strategy, which would save tonnes of your time and ensure that you get great marks in the exam.

Weightage of Polity in UPSC Exam

Polity & Governance as a module in General Studies has at least 20 - 25% weightage is given in prelims and 40% weightage in GS PAPER 2 in mains examination. You need to prepare this topic properly as such weightage gives a good chance for your selection in the exam.

EduRev tip: Time management is important during the preparation and it is advisable to stick to minimal resources as far as possible.

Purpose of this EduRev document is to make you understand how to read Polity as a subject for both Preliminary and Mains phases of UPSC civil services examination. By the end of this EduRev document, you will have clarity on how to tackle General Studies Polity & Governance. We at EduRev believe in 3R – Read, Revise and Repeat and strongly recommend this strategy should be used all along during your preparation.

How and where to start?

Before starting the Polity module, it is mandatory that you should go through the Syllabus. We suggest you get familiar with the syllabus as having syllabus at your fingertips is itself 20% of the preparation done. You can check out the syllabus here:

UPSC Syllabus for Indian Polity Prelims and Mains 

UPSC Syllabus for Indian Political Science Optional

Once you are familiar with the syllabus. We suggest you go through the previous year’s questions  and topics of which questions were asked. Understanding the language and topics covered in the exam and how the questions were framed will give you a heads up about what you will be going to deal with in the examination. You can access previous year questions with detailed solutions: 

Previous Year Questions of Indian Polity 

How is Polity as a subject?

• Polity is an important topic at all the three stages of the exam, be it Prelims, Mains or Interview. The significance of the subject is carried forward, even when you get into the service. It forms an important part of the administration. The topics under Polity range from –
• Everything about the Constitution, individual’s rights, duties and responsibilities to structure, power, functions and responsibilities of various institutions of administration. It also discusses various policies of the Government, rights-based issues of the vulnerable groups.
• So, one has to be abreast with the local happenings in and around you. A sense of awareness is created in the mind of the common man – about one’s rights, duties, responsibilities and helping him/her to make an informed decision. It also helps in holding the Government accountable for failing to serve its people.
• This is what makes Polity interesting and enjoyable. Henceforth, we recommend Polity to be read, not only as a civil service aspirant but every Indian !!

Which books to read and How to read them?

Please read the books in the chronological order as mentioned below to have a proper path

• Indian Constitution: Before starting anything, you are required to go through the Indian constitution article by article to understand the structure of it. Know about how many parts are they divided into? How many articles are there? What are the fundamental rights? How is the President and Prime Minister appointed? This will give you an idea about what you are going to read later on. You can read the Indian Constitution by clicking the link: Constitution of India
• NCERT 11th Standard (Indian Constitution at work): Once you have read the constitution, you should read this textbook as this textbook explains the story about it and how it was created. This book is, for one thing, reading only. You can access this EduRev course to read NCERTs Must Read (Old & New) NCERTs for IAS Preparation.
• Indian Polity by Laxmikanth: This book is the most important for Indian Polity. You have to read it thoroughly as every time you read it you will find new information and new dimensions. This book almost covers most of the syllabus for both preliminary and mains examination. This book only provides information which is static in nature. To make your preparation easier, we at EduRev have worked to create a course that offers Laxmikanth (Summary & Tests). 
• Current Affairs: The major portion of the dynamic part of the Polity & Governance is covered in newspapers and monthly magazines. You can either read THE HINDU or THE INDIAN EXPRESS as per your language convenience. You will be able to correlate things with static and dynamic only when they are good with the static syllabus. So, it is mandatory that you read that first. You need to know important supreme court judgements with respect to polity which are available on the internet. For a quick overview, you can access: Daily Hindu Analysis: Current Affairs
• For additional information, you can refer to DD BASU and SUBHASH KASHYAP books.

Important: You can access NCERT Gist section & 50+ MCQ tests in the Indian Polity for UPSC (Civil Services) Prelims for a quick revision. 

Here are a few questions from the recent UPSC Prelims exam to help you understand the types of questions that are being asked during the exam:

We've covered common doubts of UPSC aspirants in this EduRev document: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Indian Polity