Strategy
for Economics
Why
Economics?
My Background in Economics and
the interest in the subject was the most obvious reason for
Economics as my first optional. I am B.A Economics(Hons) from St.Xavier’s
College ,Ranchi (Jharkhand) and MSc.Economic History from London School Of
Economics and Political Science,London,UK.
The Comprehensive list of the
books that I followed was
For both
my optionals ,I emphasized on making my concepts very clear and re-read the
textbooks.I read all the books enumerated below-different books cater to
different portions of the syllabus so I have enumerated all of them…
For Paper 1
Microeconomics
|
Ahuja
and Koutsyansis
|
Macroeconomics
|
Ahuja
Mankiw |
International
Economics
|
Salvatore
basically
and for some random parts M.C Vaish |
Public
finance
|
Lekhi
Dalton H.L Bhatia |
Money
and banking-
|
S.B
Gupta
Ahuja
RBI
website
For Growth
and Development ,I followed Mishra and Puri .There is another book by
Lekhi (this book covers the syllabus so it is bit handy)/Debraj
Ray-Development Economics .I extensively used Internet for some new
developments in same.
|
Paper 2
Indian
Economy from
|
Dutt
& Sundaram
Mishra & Puri Uma kapila
Extensive
study of the Economic Survey
Union
Budget
EPW
(Economy and Political Weekly)
|
Any one
business newspaper like ET/FE etc
|
The
Economist
Economic times
|
In this
attempt which was my second attempt I just followed the basic textbooks that
are taught in most of the Indian Universities but in general I also kept myself
updated with new textbooks and relevant study materials available on Internet
of some renowed Universities around the world.
I took
study materials from Brilliant Tutorials in my first attempt and RAU’s IAS Academy
,Delhi for my second attempt.This helped me to systematize my preparation
according to the syllabus.
Answer
Writing-In Paper
1 , I just ensured that my concepts were clear.Here I would like to admit i
felt I had done relatively well in paper 1 but landed up with just 133 marks so
maybe I faltered in some way. Hence for Paper 1 , I would recommend to
also go through the strategy for the same followed by Neeraj Kumar
Singh(AIR-11) . In Paper 2- I tried to substantiate my answers with adequate
data’s and if possible tried to relate the said question to some recent
instance /current affairs issue like this year there was a question on MNREGA
rural wage hike and agriculture sector(issue on similar lines were in the news
recently) .
Economics
is my passion so I never considered this as just a subject per se. I enjoyed my
economics preparation and religiously followed the day to day developments in
world Economy/Indian Economy through Internet /newspapers and News channels.
Strategy for Anthropology
Why Anthropology
My interest in the
subject was the most important reason for selecting Anthropology as an
optional.I would request all the aspirants to choose optional based on interest
as at the end of the day ,its “YOU” who has to sit with those books for long
hours and in course of time have to start “living “ that optional as
well.Availability of study materials and a background in biology also helped me
in choosing Anthropology as my second optional.
The comprehensive list of
Anthropology books that I followed was
Topics
Books
Physical Anthropology
P.Nath/B.M Das
Social Anthropology
Ember and Ember
Makhan
Jha
N.K Vaid
D.N
Majumdar & T.N Madan
Indian Anthropology
Nadeem Hasnain
V.S Sahay and
Pradeep K SIngh
Anthropological thought
Upadhyay and Gaya Pandey
Extensive use of the internet
for keeping myself updated about any new development in the field of
anthropology.
I also took study materials from Brilliant
Tutorials(in my first attempt) and Vaid IAS academy,Delhi for this
attempt.These materials helped me to systematise my study according to the
syllabus.
Answer writing in Anthropology- For
paper 1 ,I ensured that my concepts were very clear and i was able to express
and substantiate the theories with adequate presentations and eg's ...Use of
diagrams wherever feasible also helped me.
For Paper 2-I tried to substantiate many answers of
mine with current developments and since i belong to Jharkhand ,i have seen
many of the questions asked as "LIVE examples so could add-on there as
well..
I tried to re-read the textbooks as i wanted to
make my concepts clear and over a period of time i started enjoying the subject
very much.There were several questions this year like the one on impact of
industrialization on tribals or Impact of Hindu religion on tribals -in such
questions i tried to substantiate my answers with some live eg's (like i have
always appreciated the fact that tribal population in jharkhand celebrate
'Sarhul" as well as holi/diwali with equal fervor so there has been
beautiful enmeshing of customs and traditions )or relate them with some current
issues.Over a period of time if you actually start "living " your
optional, it no longer remains a mere study or exam's part. Hope this
helps.
