mrunal [strategy] how to prepare current affairs from newspapers in less than one hour for upsc ias...

7/19/2015 Mrunal [Strategy] How to prepare Current Affairs from Newspapers in Less than one hour for UPSC IAS IPS CSAT Exam Mrunal

http://mrunal.org/2012/06/currentaffairsias.html/print/ 1/9

Mrunal http://mrunal.org

[Strategy] How to prepare Current Affairs from Newspapers inLess than one hour for UPSC IAS IPS CSAT Exam

Posted BySupport StaffOn 06/06/2012 @ 3:00 pm In Tips | 411 Comments

This article is in response to many panic mails that I receive, “help! It takes more than 4 hours justto read The Hindu.”

1. Why is it important to read the newspaper?2. Can’t I just use Chronicle, Civil Service Times or Pratiyogita Darpan?3. What are profilebased interview questions?

Locationbased questionsAcademic background based questions.HobbyFirefighting

4. Which newspapers should I read5. Should I read more than one newspaper?6. What are the important items in a newspaper?

Administration/ PolityNational NewsInternational NewsEconomyFrontPageColumns / EditorialsWhat to prepare from Columns/ Editorials?Sports / music / lifestyle/ Bollywood

7. How to read the newspaper in less than 1 hour?The beginningThe frontpage and second pageThird, fourth and fifth pageThe 6 to 9 Page011 (Columns and Editorials)Page 1213 (International)Page 14 (TV, Astrology, Cartoon strips)Page 1516 (Business and economy)Page 1720 (Bollywood, Lifestyle, Sports)

8. The Review

Whether you are preparing for UPSC, GPSC, KPSC, MPPSC, MPSC, UPPSC, IBPS, CAT or any



other exam that involves interview and heavy competition, you have to read newspapers.Why is it important to read the newspaper?

Because in the government job exams, at all three stages (preliminary, Mains and interview) .They ask questions related to current affairs.To write a decent essay, you need facts and viewpoints. For this you need “Fodder”, andnewspapers are best sources for the fodder material.

Can’t I just use Chronicle, Civil Service Times or Pratiyogita Darpan?

Such magazines only serve as “supplement” and not as “substitute” of the newspapers.Why? Because the magazines have the page limit, they cannot give justice to every singletopic, even if they wish to. (and because on every second page, they’ve to put bigadvertisement of coaching classes, to cover the cost.)Same goes for the readymade blogs/ websites dealing with currentaffairs, they’re onlysupplements but not the substitutes of a newspaper.Secondly, such magazines or websites for competitive exams do not help you in the profilebased interview questions or roleplaying questions.

What are profilebased interview questions?

In the UPSC IAS, IPS or CAT/IIM, Bank or any other job interviews, they ask you questionsbased on your profile.Your profile is made up of: Your Location + Academic Background + hobbies and Extracurricular activities.

Locationbased questions

Socio, political, administrative and economic problems of your city, district and state.And (Sometimes) the roleplaying questions about how will you tackle them, if you’re aninspector, tehsildaar, Collector, DSP, Secretary, etc.

Academic background based questions.

For example, if you are an MBBS or Pharmacist, the current affairs relate toTB/HIV/Malaria/Delhi Superbug related research, etc.If you’re a B.A (English): What’s the latest trend in English literature? What was thecontroversy in the Jaipur literature festival? And so on.

Hobby

Tennis, Cricket, Chess, Computer: then you are supposed to know the current affairs relatedto that field.

Firefighting

Most of the people, whether UPSC, State PSC aspirants or MBA aspirants: they don’t



prepare for profilebased questions or current affairs until the 11th hour. (i.e. When theinterview or groupdiscussion (GD) is barely 2030 days away).Then They start google searching for GK related to their profile.In such a short time, you cannot cover all satisfactorily. Therefore, daily reading ofnewspaper is essential.

Which newspapers should I read

Even if you’re going to write your Mains exam in Hindi/ Gujarati/ Tamil / Telugu medium,still you should refer to English newspapers because the local newspapers only serve the“masala” news of politics, cricket and Bollywood.

Should I read more than one newspaper?

It depends on your time and energy, otherwise one newspaper is enough.You might have seen some coaching “Sirs” advising that you mustread Hindu andEconomic Times (ET). I think, this is an overkill. You don’t have to become a share marketexpert. If there is some really good columnist in ET (for example, example Bibek Debroy),then following him is excellent, but you don’t have to go through two or three “Whole”newspaper per day.

What are the important items in a newspaper?

First go through the old question papers of UPSC (at least last three years), that should give you arough idea on what questions are asked directly or indirectly from newspaper. And then read thenewspaper keeping that in mind.

Administration/ Polity

1. Press conference of government, where they announce various policies, administrativereforms etc. (I’m talking about the press conference of union and State government, not thepress conference of Congress and BJP.)

2. Various bills, minutes of Cabinet meetings.3. The big fullpage advertisements given by ruling party, about their achievements. (This

usually comes before the election and on the birth anniversary of Nehru Gandhi Family). It isimportant because, they list out the various developmental schemes and provisions in it. Mostimportant part is “who runs the scheme?” for example NREGA thing for under thejurisdiction of rural development Ministry (and not under Labour Ministry)

4. Election related items: what will the initiatives taken by the election commission? Anyproblems or controversies.

5. You have to prepare these for both Union as well as your own state Government. (Your stateGovernment schemes and Administrative reforms for the “profile Based Questions”)

What is not important?

1. Press conferences of political parties and civil society.



2. No need to do Ph.D on every scam. All you have to do is brief highlight of what was thescam, how was it committed, what is the presence status in investigation or court and how toprevent it in future. You don’t have to go in minute details like on 23rd October 2007, MrXYZ the accountant of storedept in Commonwealth games misreported a 50 rupees ball forRs.5000. Learn to skip the garbage sentences while you are reading a news item.

3. Same goes for elections: The XYZ byelections were conducted on 23th October 2004 inwhich Mrs. XYZ wife of ABC belong with JYZ Political party defeated

National News

Maoists kidnap a collector = name of the collector is not important. But now experts andpoliticians say we need a comprehensive hostagecrisis guideline after this incidence=important.Railway accidents, how many killed =not important. Reason for the rail accident andsuggestions to prevent future accidents = important.SP says BSP took 50 crores or vice versa = not important.How many killed in floods, landslides or tsunamis on which date= not important. But thereason behind those geographical phenomenons = important.ISRO sends an artificial satellite = important. How much does it weigh? = not important.When and How many men did leopards kill in Maharashtra = not important. Why is leopardkilling men in Maharashtra= important. What is Government doing to stop the leopard? =important.

International News

1. Bilateral visits of prime ministers and presidents. What treaties or trade pacts did they sign?2. What is going on in UN, IMF, World Bank?3. Elections in the big nations : USA, Russia, China, France, UK.4. Political or military coup (usually in South America and Africa.)5. Any major event: the democratic uprising in Middle East, Israel palestine, US vs China /

Russia missile defence, NATOAfghanistan and so on.6. Meetings of organisations such as ASEAN, G20 etc , and particularly what India did in such

conferences and meetings.7. Climate change, environment related news.8. Science and Tech related items for example CERN, China’s space program, missle tests by

N.Korea, Iran’s nuke program and so on.

What is not important?

1. Lady Gaga or Justine Timberlake’s world tours.2. How many people are killed in a car bomb blast in Pakistan or Afghanistan?3. XYZ researchers found out that eating tomato daily helps preventing tooth ache = not

important.4. Anything “smalltime”, that does not affect future of the World. For example sexscandles of

Italian PM or marital wooes of Sarkozy.



More on How to prepare India and World topic for General Studies (Mains) Paper II, is explainedin a separate article. Click Me to read it.

Economy

1. Press conference or press note by Government, SEBI, RBI, Planning Commission etc.2. ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM etc. (they usually complaint or suggest about Government

policies that affect the business houses.)3. Columns and Editorials related to Economy.4. IIP, GDP, WPI, CPI etc. Not the “numbers” but the reasons behind that number and the

future because of that number.5. International: ASEAN, World Bank, EU etc.6. Those preparing for Bank exams, should also note down the names of Chaimen of various

companies and banks.

What is not important in Economy

1. Daily Ups and downs of sharemarket.2. “Numbers”. Because Economy is not about number but the meaning, history and future

related to that number.a. For example, if IIP was 0.13 on Jan2012. That itself is not important. Whether it was

0.13 or 0.128? that is not important.b. Important Questions are : is this IIP good or bad? And why is it good or bad? What’ll

be its impact on future of Indian economy and Government / RBI policies?

FrontPage

1. There is a narrow column on the left hand side of the front page, most of the time, theyearbook related information, government schemes etc. appear here.

2. The main news item on the frontpage: it is usually “notveryimportant”. Reason most of thetime it is the political news. For example, “Bihar Mahadalit Land Racket.” If you are acandidate from Bihar, you should read it, for the others, it is not worth it.

Columns / Editorials

Question: What is a column / Editorial?

These are big paragraphs like articles in the centre pages of a newspaper.Generally each article has photo of the author and usually the author gives a 20 years’ oldphoto when he/she was in college. If you ever happen to see them in actual TV Debate, itturns out they’re quite older than what they look in the newspapers.Editorial is written by the editor himself. For example Shekhar Gupta for IndianExpress onSaturday. While Columns are written by experts (including selfproclaimed experts) on aparticular topic of politics, economy, international events.

http://mrunal.org/2012/06/studyplan-india-and-world.html



What to prepare from Columns/ Editorials?

Usually columns are made up of 78 paragraphs. But not every sentence and line isimportant; there are just 34 gemstones in it, which you can use in your mains / essay /interview answers. So just note them down.

Some people use highlighters to mark important lines and then file those newspapercuttings. So do whichever method suits you (noting down or filing the cuttings).

But Not every column is worth your time and energy. For example in Indianexpress, there isone guy writes about Nepal’s political turomil every week. But in Nepal, the Prime ministersare changed every week and this guy happens to give ball by ball commentery of everything.It’s not worth the “Costbenefit” ratio. So skip him.Similarly there is one Yogindar Alagh in Indianexpress, who pretends to write on ruralDevelopment but just “I did this and that when I was a minister”=Not important.Maintain the balance: some column writers have a habit of being totally cynical and antiGovernment. For example Tavleen Singh of Indianexpress, while I do admire her for having the guts to openly write against Sonia, Mohan and Rahul, but in your answers, You must notadmire or criticize a particular individual (minister / politician) in the mains / interview. Anddon’t prepare a line that is “too leftist” or “too rightists.”And if you criticise the Government, then you should also offer the reform suggestions.

Sports / music / lifestyle/ Bollywood

Lifestyle = painting, pottery, music, fashion events etc. most of which cannot be afforded bymiddle class people.The last 34 pages of English newspaper are devoted to this. if your “hobby” is tennis orchess, then you must follow the related sportnews.For others, I say just skip it. Anything historic about Sports will get published in thecompetitive magazines and or the free blogs/ currentaffairs related websites anyways. Sodaily following these sportspages = not worth the time and energy.Bollywood and cricket related news = not important in any case. Unless something related toadministration or polity for example should BCCI be brought under RTI? And the copyrightact vs Bollywood.

How to read the newspaper in less than 1 hour?

Needs certain tools.

1. A studydesk or Table2. A Red colored 0.7mm ballpoint pen and or a red sketch pen.3. Loose papers, folders, notebooks 4. And last but not the least a newspaper.

The beginningKeep the red pen handy.I’m taking Gujarat Edition of Indian express as reference; just follow the same procedure for your

Advertisement

http://www.flipkart.com/pens-office-supplies?affid=mrunalrugm



City /State’s edition of Indianexpress/ Hindu.The frontpage and second pageCircle down on important lines from the news (which news, that is already explained above).Third, fourth and fifth pageIs usually Gujarat / Ahmedabad news for example

20 people died in car accident in rajkotxyz girl eloped with a neighbourA cop was found taking bribesStonepelting and rioting in XYZ part of Ahmedabad after a cricket match.Keshubhai Patel said XYZ against Narendra Modi.Sanjay Joshi’s men have put posters against Modi in Ahmedabad.

^none of above, is important.

Then what is important?

Navjivan Trust of A’bad says no to Gujarati version of “Let’s kill Gandhi” written by TusharGandhi.Gujarat Maritime Board and pollution board gives clearance to shipbreaking of ExxonValdez, but NGO lobby says it contains dangerous chemicals. (Names are not important, butthe important part is the big “environmental issue vs. livelihood of shipbreakers in Alang”Gujarat State Government launches “Girl Child education” and “School enrollment drive”.Ahmedabad Municipal corp will give Rs.250/ to all Government school students who livemore than 3 kms from the school, apart from the midday meal, Bicycle distribution andVidhyalaxmi scheme.

We are done with 5 pagesThe 6 to 9 Page

These are devoted to “national news”Only concentrate on important exam oriented news. Underline the important lines using yourred pen.

Page 1011 (Columns and Editorials)

Highlight the gemstones and move on.

Page 1213 (International)

Highlight the important news lines and move on.

Page 14 (TV, Astrology, Cartoon strips)

Highlight the important news lines for example the timing of Balika Vadhu. Haha justkidding, skip this page.



Page 1516 (Business and economy)

Most important. Scan through every item, including small box news. Highlight thegemstones, if there are any important diagrams, cut and file them.

Page 1720 (Bollywood, Lifestyle, Sports)

Skip it.

We are done highlighting the important newslines. Now it is time for review.The Review

Go through those red lines and either write them in the relevant notebook / cut and file it.Your can either keep five separate fullscape notebooks. OR you can write these in loosepapers and then file it in five separate folders.The advantage of loose papers = you can add more pages between, when the follow up newscomes. For example in case of QFIs. Same is not possible in a notebook.

Folder /Notebook Sorting

Administration All the polity, administration, Development related items should be eitherwritten or pasted here.

Economics Same exercise

Your profileOne file or notebook, make three subparts in it. First part write or paste thestate/city related news. Second part about your academic backgroundThird part news related to hobbies.

S&T All the sciencetech, environment, climate change related stuff.

International Same exercise

^ you don’t have to write the entire sentences highlighted in redpen but just the keywords orphrases that’d help you recall the entire issue.In the beginning, this’d be timeconsuming mental torturing exercise.But with time, you’ll develop the expertize of weeding out the unimportant news and note downthe gemstones.

I’ve seen Maestros who write the summary note of entire The Hindu newspaper on just oneside of an A4 sized paper, without missing even a single important item. They don’t readevery line of a newspaper, their eyes are trained to scan through the lines and handautomatically highlights the keywords. It’s an art and can be mastered only by practice Dailywriting habit also improves your handwriting speed, which is again important for the Mainsexam.Like a professional athlete This must be your daily regime as long as you’re a contender. Justbecause prelims are over or just because mains are over, doesn’t mean you stop



this. You’ve to do this on daily basis.IF you’re unable to get Hindu in your city, you can read it using feedly browser addon: Clickme to learn the trick

Article printed from Mrunal: http://mrunal.org

URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2012/06/currentaffairsias.html

Copyright © 2014 Mrunal. All rights reserved.

http://mrunal.org/2013/05/tech-shifting-from-google-reader-to-feedly-how-to-keep-track-hindu-other-sites-important-for-upsc.html

mrunal [strategy] how to prepare current affairs from newspapers in less than one hour for upsc ias...

Documents