GS I is very advantageous to the candidates with background of geography as good

theoretical understanding of physical geography of world and india can help you
directly or indirectly to answer at least 25 questions.Those who are not from g
eography background,focus on the following topics
-platetectonics:concept and tectonic events such as mountain building,earthquake
s,volcanic activity
-concept of geomagnetism and seafloor spreading ,seismic waves and internal stru
cture of the earth
-structure and composition of atmosphere ,heat budget
-temperate and tropical cyclones:characteristics and differences
-el nino ,la nina and monsoon and jetstreams(three types such as tropical easter
ly,subtropical westerly and polar frontal jet streams)
-precipitation:especially types
-bottom topography of ocean basins:a generalized view
-ocean currents
-patterns of salinity and temperature of oceans
-coral reefs and coral bleaching
-physical setting of India,drainage pattern of himalayan and peninsular rivers,n
ortheast monsoon,western disturbance
-genesis and distribution of soils,soil horizons and profile
-Major biomes and characteristics
-Biodiversity:terrestrial and marine,levels of biodiversity:genetic,species and
ecosystems and respective significance and threats to biodiversity,CBD,Biodivers
ity and traditional knowledge,conflict between CBD and TRIPS,National Biodiversi
ty Act's provisions,threatened,vulnerable and endangered species,differences bet
ween National Park,Sanctuary,Bio Reserve,Biogeographic zones,wetlands in india a
nd Ramsar provisions
-all pollutants of air,water and land:their sources,hazardous elements and sourc
es ,conceptual understanding of soil degradation and desertification,major treat
ies and summits on environment.
-Climate change:natural factors versus anthropogenic factors,latest stays of UNN
FCC and all aspects related to four contentious issues:Mitigation,Adaptation,Fin
ance and Technology transfer.Green technologies and associated issues like cost-
effectiveness and awareness etc.CDM and Carbon trading,various issues related to
carbon sequestering .Search widely on internet.
-Biotechnology:GM organism and associated issues like genetic contamination,loss
of biodiversity,allergy,emergence of super pest etc,stem cell and latest breakt
hrough,importance of bioinformatics,gene therapy,DNA fingerprinting etc.
-Carbon nanotube,nanotech in medicine,agriculture and electronics:just have an o
verall idea
-Indian space program me and three stage nuclear programme:just read INDIA year
book
-for government dev programs and inclusive issues ,compile from various govt sit
es including pub and INDIA year book.
-a very important area is conceptual understanding of monetary policy of RBI and
related concepts like repo,reveres repo,bank rate,CRR etc;fiscal policy and rel
ated concepts like fiscal deficit,revenue deficit,primary deficit,twin deficits,
finance and related issues like FII,FDI,participatory notes and controversies,ru
pee appreciation and depreciation and their implications and causative factors,c
urrent account and capital account convertibility etc.(Read NCERT public income
accounting and search specific concepts and issues on net)
-Be acquainted with all issues of financial inclusion like ,MFI regulation,micro
insurance etc.
-Poverty: various criteria by different committees.Poverty and SHG etc.
-History:give most importance to freedom movement and read only one standard boo
k like bipan chandra.
-current events questions are very few.You can manage it well.
-For polity,read either Laxmikant or DD Basu.My suggestion would be to read DD B
asu.Local governance:read ARC reports.
-Rights issue:focus on various human rights treaties and provisions,rights based
acts and provisions
In GS -I you can answer many questions by making very intelligent guess based on
your overall understanding.As the factual questions are extinct now,try to have
conceptual understanding of every issue and idea.If you can't answer more than
50 questions comfortably,try to take some risks by making BLIND guess too!You wi
ll not get whisky if you don't take risk!!