Why is optional the most critical element in your selection?
- Selecting the appropriate optional subject is significant in the UPSC CSE due to its greater potential for achieving higher marks compared to the General Studies (GS).
- What does the evidence say?
- Despite the General Studies (GS) carrying a weightage of 1000 marks, in the last 10 years, the scores of all India toppers typically range from 475 to 510 (on only one occasion) out of 1000, representing less than 50% of the total marks.
- Conversely, top scorers in optional subjects often achieve scores ranging from 330 to 370 out of 500, equating to more than 70% of the total marks.
- Therefore, the chances of scoring optionally are much greater compared to GS. Also, the effort-to-output ratio of optional is much greater than GS. No wonder why toppers say optional is maker or breaker.
When to start optional preparation?
- The answer to this question is tricky, as there is no correct answer as such. Therefore, I will provide the strategy most toppers usually adopt.
- Option 1: Students who prepare for one year so as to appear in the next year's exam. Now, these people don’t have much time. So, the majority of such students go for simultaneous preparation of GS and Optional.
- Option 2: students with 2 years to prepare for the exam have varied approaches.
- Some students (maximum) complete the optional paper preparation in the first year itself, so they will have ample time to revise and practice the subject and secure 300+ marks. After all, optional is the only area that ensures final selection.
- The remaining students prepare their optional in the second year after completing their GS papers.
- The best suggestion is to prepare the optional and the GS in one go and then dedicate the remaining time to mastering the subject. Answer writing skill development requires time and patience, and only good answers fetch good marks. Moreover, optional indeed is the only way to secure a good rank. If optional performance is suboptimal, then the chances of selection are very low.
Why choose Political Science (PSIR) optional?
Why you should choose our program
- Special and innovative features
- Innovative method of teaching:
- PSIR optional is reduced to a theoretical proposition by teachers in Delhi. However, our methodology and pedagogy are different. We use schematics, diagrams, and maps to make concepts easy and scientific so that even students with non-human backgrounds can understand the subject in the easiest manner.
- Art of making short notes:
- Every topper mentioned that they had prepared short notes. And it's true that no one can secure top ranks without short notes. No traditional institute or teacher discusses or tells students the art of making short notes.
- Live classroom-based answer writing session:
- Answer writing is one of the most critical skills in your exam. Therefore, we focus on regular live sessions to develop writing skills along with the classes.
- Mentorship Facility by Faculty:
- Mentorship facility is available directly with the faculty (not intermediate). Regular teacher-student interaction is a critical aspect of our pedagogy. Moreover, this facility will be available to each student after completing the syllabus.
- General Features:
- Course Duration:
- A course duration of approximately 5.5-6 months allows students enough time to learn and effectively cover the entire syllabus.
- Class Schedule:
- Classes are held for 2.5 hours, 6 days a week—approximately 350 hours of live classroom teaching.
- Doubt clearance:
- Regular live doubt sessions so that every student can understand each concept in a comprehensive as well as nuanced manner.
- Syllabus Coverage:
- Every topic will be covered in depth so that students can easily grasp the concepts and interlink one topic with the others.
- Regular test
- Test is the only way to understand the understanding of the concepts. Therefore, we rely on many mini and full-length tests.
- Comprehensive Study Materials:
- Comprehensive study materials comprise classroom handouts, booklets, and class notes containing lucid explanations and up-to-date information. The purpose is to eliminate the need to refer to many books.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD STUDY PLAN
Overall Structure of PSIR SYLLABUS
SYLLABUS OF PSIR
- Political Theory and Indian Politics:
- Political Theory: meaning and approaches.
- Theories of state: Liberal, Neo-liberal, Marxist, Pluralist, Post-colonial, and Feminist.
- Justice: Conceptions of justice with special reference to Rawl’s theory of justice and its communitarian critiques.
- Equality: Social, political, and economic; the relationship between equality and freedom; Affirmative action.
- Rights: Meaning and theories; different kinds of rights; Concept of Human Rights.
- Democracy: Classical and contemporary theories; different models of democracy—representative, participatory and deliberative.
- Concept of power: hegemony, ideology, and legitimacy.
- Political Ideologies: Liberalism, Socialism, Marxism, Fascism, Gandhism, and Feminism.
- Indian Political Thought: Dharmashastra, Arthashastra, and Buddhist Traditions; Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Sri Aurobindo, M. K. Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, N. Roy.
- Western Political Thought: Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, John Mill, Marx, Gramsci, Hannah Arendt.
- Indian Government and Politics
- Indian Government and Politics
- Political Strategies of India’s Freedom Struggle: Constitutionalism to mass Satyagraha, Noncooperation, Civil Disobedience; Militant and Revolutionary Movements, Peasant and Workers Movements.
- Perspectives on Indian National Movement; Liberal, Socialist, and Marxist; Radical Humanist and Dalit.
- Making of the Indian Constitution: Legacies of the British rule; different social and political perspectives.
- Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine.
- Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine.
- Principal Organs of the Union Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature, and SupremeCourt
- Principal Organs of the State Government: Envisaged role and actual working of the Executive, Legislature, and High Courts.
- Grassroots Democracy: Panchayati Raj and Municipal Government; Significance of 73rd and 74th Amendments; Grassroot movements.
- Statutory Institutions/Commissions: Election Commission, Comptroller and Auditor General, Finance Commission, Union Public Service Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, National Commission for Women; National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Minorities, National Backward Classes Commission.
- Salient Features of the Indian Constitution: The Preamble, Fundamental Rights and Duties, Directive Principles; Parliamentary System and Amendment Procedures; Judicial Review and Basic Structure doctrine.
- Federalism: Constitutional provisions; changing nature of center-state relations; integrationist tendencies and regional aspirations; inter-state disputes.
- Planning and Economic Development: Nehruvian and Gandhian perspectives; Role of planning and public sector; Green Revolution, land reforms and agrarian relations; liberalization and economic reforms.
- Caste, Religion, and Ethnicity in Indian Politics.
- Party System: National and regional political parties, ideological and social bases of parties; Patterns of coalition politics; Pressure groups, trends in electoral behavior; changing socio-economic profile of Legislators.
- Social Movement: Civil liberties and human rights movements; women’s movements; environmentalist movements.
SYLLABUS OF PSIR
[ PAPER-2 ]
- Comparative Politics and International Relations
- Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics:
- Comparative Politics: Nature and major approaches; Political economy and political sociology perspectives; Limitations of the comparative
- State in Comparative Perspective: Characteristics and changing nature of the State in capitalist and socialist economies, and advanced industrial and developing
- Politics of Representation and Participation: Political parties, pressure groups and social movements in advanced industrial and developing
- Globalisation: Responses from developed and developing
- Approaches to the Study of International Relations: Idealist, Realist, Marxist, Functionalist and Systems
- Key Concepts in International Relations: National interest, security and power; Balance of power and deterrence; Transitional actors and collective security; World capitalist economy
- Changing International Political Order:
- Rise of superpowers; Strategic and ideological Bipolarity, arms race and coldwar; Nuclear threat;
- Non-aligned movement
- Collapse of the Soviet Union; Unipolarity and American hegemony; Relevance of non-alignment in the contemporary
- Evolution of the International Economic System: From Bretton woods to WTO; Socialist economies and the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance); Third World demand for new international economic order; Globalisation of the world
- United Nations: Envisaged role and actual record; Specialized UN agencies— aims and functioning; the need for UN
- Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, AARC
- Contemporary Global Concerns: Democracy, human rights, environment, gender justice terrorism, nuclear proliferation
- India and the World
- Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants of foreign policy; the institutions of policy- making; continuity and
- India’s Contribution to the Non-Alignment Movement Different phases; current
- India and South Asia:
- Regional Co-operation: SAARC-past performance and future
- South Asia as a Free Trade
- India’s “Look East”
- Impediments to regional co-operation: River water disputes; illegal cross- border migration; Ethnic conflicts and insurgencies; Border
- India and the Global South: Relations with Africa and Latin America; Leadership role in the demand for NIEO and WTO
- India and the Global Centres of Power: USA, EU, Japan, China and
- India and the UN System: Role in UN Peace-keeping; Demand for Permanent Seat in the Security
- India and the Nuclear Question: Changing perceptions
- Recent developments in Indian Foreign Policy: India’s position on the recent crises in Afghanistan, Iraq, and West Asia, growing relations with US and Israel; Vision of a new world
Reference book
Books for Political Science Paper I
- An Introduction To Constitution- D.D. Basu
- An Introduction To Political Theory- O.P Gauba
- Fifty Major Political Thinkers- Ian Adams And R W Dyson
- A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx – Subrata Mukherjee And Sushila Ramaswamy
- An Oxford Companion To Politics In India – Niraja Gopal Jayal And Pratap Bhanu Mehta
- Foundations Of Indian Political Thought- V.R Mehta
- A New Look At Modern Indian History- B.L Grover And Alka Mehta
- India’s Struggle For Independence – Bipan Chandra
- Indian Government And Politics – B L Fadia
Books for Political Science Paper II
- India’s Foreign Policy – V P Dutt
- International Organisations- Spectrum Books Publication
- International Relations – V N Khanna
- Challenge And Strategy: Rethinking India’s Foreign Policy- Rajiv Sikri
- Does The Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy- David M. Malone
- Global Politics- Andrew Heywood