SYLLABUS AND STRATEGY FOR HISTORY AS OPTIONAL

Syllabus for UPSC civil services is very huge and can only be summed up in 1.5 year ideally. Syllabus is like a path at which one can walk to achieve the success. At any point of preparation syllabus should not be ignored, other-wise this exam is also considered to be UNFAITHFUL PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.

Syllabus for any kind of optional can be obtained from official UPSC website.

In this article we will discuss upon the syllabus and strategy for history as optional

Duration of time: approx. 6 months or so.

Syllabus Includes:

 WORLD HISTORY:

Candidates recommend to follow OLD NCERTS, Norman Lowe .

In , OLD NCERTS chapters 6 to 13 are really important and aspirants need to focus only on these as this particular section is a graduation in itself!

Norman Lowe is a great book to read but one drawback is that it starts from 1^st World War. For topics like civilisation , liberalisation , privatisation etc. aspirants need to follow the NCERTs.

The book, ‘History of the World: From the Late Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century’ is an informative book based on contemporary history which documents various events that have shaped the global world in recent times. Written in a powerful and easy to understand language, this book is a good read for anyone who is interested in modern History and its implications. 

This book is actually a summary of OLD NCERTS written in lucid language for candidates.

2)MODERN HISTORY:

1) NCERTS CLASS 8^th to 12^th (ONLINE AVAILABLE ON (www.ncert.nic.in/) GO FOR NEWER NCERTS

2)TAMIL NADU EDITION CLASS 12^th (if someone is interested otherwise not recommended)

3)RAJIV AHIR:

A brief history of Modern India by SPECTRUM PUBLICATION is generally followed by candidates but this book is also not going to be sufficient to control the monster exam as it lacks few topics  which can only be covered by BIPIN CHANDRA’s book India’s struggle for Independece.

From Rajiv Ahir:

IMPORTANT CHAPTERS FOR BOTH PRELIMS AND MAINS

REVOLT OF 1857(CH-1)

RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL REFORMS( CH-2)

THE STRUGGLE BEGINS 1858-1905(CH-3)

NATIONAL MOVEMENT 1905 – 1918 (CH-4)

NATIONAL MOVEMENT 1919 – 1939 (CH-5)

NATIONAL MOVEMENT TOWARDS FREEDOM AND PARTITION 1939-1947 (CH-6)

LOT OF APPENDIX : CONGRESS SECTIONS,PERSONALITIES , GOVERNOR GENERAL etc.

MORE FOR MAINS

ADMINISTRATIVE CHANGES AFTER 1857(CH-7)

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF BRITISH RULE( CH-8)

DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN PRESS( CH-9)

DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION( CH-10)

BRIEF NOTES ON SOME ASPECTS OF BRITISH RULE(CH-11)

THE INDIAN STATES ( CH -12)

THE SPECIAL STATUS OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR( CH-13)

THE PEASANTS MOVEMENT(CH-14)

THE MOVEMENT OF WORKING CLASS ( CH -15)

THE EVOLUTION OF NATIONALIST FOREIFN POLICY(CH-16)

3)CULTURE

·         Culture is very complex and really huge cannot be tackled by using single resources.IAS topper Nitin Singhania notes are followed , his notes become book after he published them.

·         CCRT -CENTRE FOR CULTURAL RESOURCES AND TRAINNING(ccrtindia.gov.in/)

·         IAS topper Gaurav Agarwal notes are compilation of culture and performing arts (really helpful) https://www.evernote.com/pub/crazyphoton/culture

4)POST INDEPENDENCE INDIA

·         Base material: NCERT class11 and 12 Political science and sociology textbooks. But alone they’re not sufficient to handle 100-200 words question.

• Recommended book: India since Independence by Bipan Chandra. Reason? all questions in Mains-2013 could be solved from it.

·         NOT RECOMMENDED:India after Gandhi Ram Chandra Guha Reason? Boring , big fat book,longer time to read

5)MEDIEVAL INDIA:

·         NCERT CLASS 7^TH (NEWER) Our Pasts-ll

·         NCERT CLASS 11^TH  MEDIEVAL INDIA ( OLD)- Satish Chandra

·         Tamil Nadu Edition 11^th

6)ANCIENT INDIA

·         NCERT CLASS 11^TH  Ancient India by RS SHARMA

·         NCERT CLASS 12^TH   The themes in Indian History

·         Tamil Nadu class 11^th

APART FROM THESE ASPIRANTS NEED TO DIG OUT FOR CURRENT AFFAIRS IN NEWSPAPER LIKE THE HINDU AND THE INDIAN EXPRESS.