How to Prepare Current Affairs for Civil Services Exam ?

MASTERING CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR CIVIL SERVICES EXAM

How to Prepare Current Affairs for Civil Services Exam?

Current affairs to the civil services exam is what the backbone is to the human body. Just as without a backbone, our body shall not get the support to stand erect, without current affairs, civil services preparation shall come crumbling on the ground.

If there is one thing that defines civil services exam, it is current affairs. And if there is one thing that needs top priority, it is again, current affairs.

To state a simple fact, current affairs accounts for almost sixty percent of the GS syllabus. If we take an extended view, the current affairs count even in optional papers such as Political Science, Sociology, Public Administration Geography etc.

The second paper of these optional are applied aspects of the subject with special bearing for India. And unless one knows the current developments related to the topics of these optional papers, it will be impossible to write an effective, relevant answer.

Thus, one can safely say that current affairs is an all-pervasive phenomenon in civil services exam and no one can get away from this reality. Sadly, few understand the importance of current affairs in this exam.

Even those who are aware of its importance are at a loss to understand as to how to handle it. It results in poor preparation, poor marks, and frustration among the aspirants. Therefore, a true understanding of the value and significance of current affairs is the key to success in the civil services exam.

This article briefly summarises current affairs in all its aspects to navigate the path of preparation for the aspirants who lack direction and purpose while attempting to cover current affairs part.

Why current affairs in civil services exam?

As we all know, civil services exam is a process to select generalists and not specialists in various administrative jobs. It follows from this that a candidate must demonstrate a good knowledge of the issues and events that have social, economic, political and administrative implications. For a career in civil services, knowledge of issues of current relevance is important to make informed decisions.

Macaulay, who introduced the merit-based civil services under the Charter Act 1853, said :" Knowledge is transferrable" By this what he meant was that if a candidate has a wide knowledge of diverse subjects, it will translate into his capacity to govern better. In other words, a civil servant, with a wide knowledge base is better equipped to discharge his duties in order to meet the broader administrative goals as also to act in the larger public interest. Thus, the goal of wider knowledge as advocated by Macaulay can be achieved by a good comprehension of current affairs which is made up of a very wide, diverse range of topics reported in newspapers, journals, websites and electronic media.

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