GS 2 strategy

GS 2 strategy

Broadly, this paper covers polity, governance and IR. The syllabus is technical, and the questions asked in mains are also conceptual requiring pin pointed answers.

Topic 1 : Core static polity consisting of historical underpinnings, comparing constitutions etc.

Sources

1.Polity by laxmikant sir.

Has to be re read keeping in mind the syllabus and pyqs.

2. M Puri sir ke handouts( obtained from the market, this is strictly not an endorsement) These can be used for value addition as discussed

X factors here include

1. Articles from our constitution. Important one should be at your fingertips.

2. Relevant honble supreme court and high court judgements. Prepare a list and map it to syllabus. I have already shared mine on the channel. (helped me solve couple of case laws based questions this year)

3. Quoting of scholars, experts etc like NN palkhivala, Justice bhagwati etc. These can be found in Laxmikant sir ki book itself.

Topic 2 : Governance

This part is contemporary, lacks a single source but very scoring as the questions are straightforward.

Sources

1. Referred to Mpuri sir ke handouts

2. Toppers notes which included

Shubham kumar sir, Apala Mishra mam, Mehak Jain mam and Mandar patki sir.

Here, it is important to see the pyqs asked to limit your sources and understand the essence.

X factors here includes

1. Contemporary examples, best practices reports by niti ayog

2. Arc reports on e governance, citizen charters etc

3. Diagram, flowchart which are included in my notes.

Topic 3 : International relations

This is the best part. Well-defined syllabus, predictable questions. The catch here is that you have the problem of too many : we tend to know lot hence end up writing irrelevant stuff.

For instance, if the question is asking the impact of trade imbalance on Indo-china relationship, we need to answer this particular aspect rather than writing everything about India - china relations.

Sources : for this part, I relied upon toppers notes of Mehak jain mam, shubham bhaisre sir etc. Also, contemporary affairs from 364 magazine of last 2 years

X factors include

1. Maps in IR only if relevant. Please do not draw a map in IR question needlessly just because coaching evaluators told you so. You already have content for IR.

2. Quoting scholars, books like C rajamohan, Pax indica, Shyam sharan etc.

3. Punchlines used by honble PM in speeches etc. For example, vasudhaiv kutumbakam for this year. (these all are included in my notes).

Overall, Paper-2 is challenging and requires conceptual clarity to answer things. But if you know the themes or focus areas, it can be scoring :)