Transcript
Current Affairs : Can You Swim Against The Current! Current Portions Will Remain Important In Revised UPSC Pattern Topics of current relevance have a special significance for manyexaminations across the world and exams that deal with the recruitmentfor administrative posts give highest priority to this area. One needs tounderstand the placental links between administration and currentperspective to internalize the importance of ecology for success of anyadministrative structure.Administration is a vaguely defined term that (in layman terms) includesgovt. action in totality. Govt. itself is undergoing so many changes off latethat the versatility in arenas in which govt. operates through direct andindirect means require the most versatile talent to effectively anddecisively operate the administrative machinery.Aim of this article will be to analyze the significance of current portionsand concurrent aspects. In this aspect answers will be searched forquestions like- Are the traditional areas of GS that include polity, history,economy losing ground to more dynamic areas like science andtechnology, current happenings around us?Questions asked in both preliminary and mains have changed beyondrecognition and questions are asked very rarely from the areas that canbe considered Static as far as content updation is required. In such ascenario can it be said that magazines/newspapers and other sources likeNet, TV or radio alone can sail one through the GS paper and one neednot to sit for hours to command mastery over the traditional areas.Such fallacious interpretations miss a vital fact that there is always anelement of continuity between the past, present and future in everydomain and a holistic treatment of any issue will require the same.The fine point that syllabus by itself raises (and which is also one of aimof this article also) is that both traditional areas and emerging areas areequally important.For example in paper 2 GS – topic 1 mentions that Indian constitution willcover the following sections ã historical underpinnings TA ã evolution CR ã features TA ã amendments CR ã significant provisions TA ã basic structure CR *TA – Traditional Areas*CR- Current Relevance Syllabus itself answers the question raised above that both TA and CR willremain entangled for a successful preparation. Limiting Breadth and Depth of Your Efforts Another important dimension to issues of current relevance is- Understanding the importance of current relevance will also help inprioritizing the syllabic content and directing your energy towards mostrewarding topics. (Remember the universal advice by almost all successful candidates that “It is not important how much you are studying rather what you are studying is more important .” )For example the topics mentioned like Salient features of world‟s Physical Geography, Contribution of moral thinkers and philosophers from Indiaand world are limitless topics as far as breadth of topics is concerned.Similarly, many topics like Philosophical basis of governance and probity,role of civil services in democracy, human values – lessons from the livesand teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators, concept of ethics, attitude and aptitude etc. are limitless as far as the depth of topicsis concerned.In such a scenario, one who is aware of happenings in surroundings cansmartly chose the areas that need to be focused. For example becausethere was a recent issue in South China Sea over the sovereignty, oneshould not forget to see the important geographic features of areaconcerned. But overstretching the above criterion will again lead toproblem of plenty, because invariably every region of world must bewitnessing some important event at one time or another. In such ascenario, issues that have direct repercussions on interest of India mustbe focused, rather than important issues of general nature. For examplein row over South China sea, vital interest of India were at stake becauseit is a major trade route and OVL had interest in oil exploration in samearea. Change Is Not The LAST WORD One important caution point we would like to raise at this juncture is – Has the syllabus delineated the boundaries of syllabus and students canhave some relief from the uncertainty of range of questions?Well, one might be tempted to answer in affirmative but, this is half truth.Uncertainty of questions in last couple of years has resulted mainly because of shift in focus to questions of current relevance rather thanquestions from traditional areas.This focus will be further accentuated in coming years becauseuncertainty in administration itself has increased and today only dynamic,enthusiastic and positive minded administrator can meet the challengessuccessfully. If one understand and appreciate the uncertainty of job thenhe/she will find the range of questions very much justified and logical.Syllabus has delineated the boundaries in certain areas and mentionedareas should act only as light house to guide your preparation. Mentionedsyllabus is not the last word because in many areas very wide ranging terminology has been utilized and deadly word „etc.‟ has been used quite frequently. Change Will Work As A Guidance Another major change in new prescribed syllabus is delineation of areasthat have relevance for guiding the preparation. For example, earliersyllabus of mains mentioned under heading Constitution of India andIndian Polity: This part will include questions on the Constitution of India as well as allconstitutional, legal, administrative and other issues emerging from thepolitico-administrative system prevalent in the country. Whereas, the new syllabus will help the students in understandingdemands of examination. For example in case of GS paper 2 it ismentioned that syllabus will include issues and challenges pertaining tothe federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levelsand challenges therein. Such clarity is also present in other portions of polity syllabus.Issues of federalism and devolution of powers to lowest level of governance is a continuing theme and its importance has been shown bymentioning this part of syllabus under a separate heading. Salientfeatures of RPA Act have been included in syllabus in light of recentoutbursts of demands for corruption free environment and electionsmalpractices are considered the mother of corruption.Separation of power has been put under severe stress in recent yearswhere instances of Judicial Activism and overreaching judiciary has forcedeven the CJI to advise against the same. How Jat and Gujjar agitationheld the state govts ransom and splurge of violent protest across lengthand breadth of country demands that the study of dispute redressalmechanisms and institutions must be an integral part of an administrativeexam. Emergence of Governance paradigm to replace the Government model inPublic Administration makes it mandatory to study the role andimportance of NGOs, SHGs and other stakeholders in developmentprocesses and development industry for any aspiring administrator.Topic 'e-governance models, successes' has a large overlap with currentaffairs. At same time, link of this change/advancement with aspects of governance, transparency and accountability can be studied within themould of traditional models.Topics under foreign relations which cover issues like status of presentrelations, effect of different groupings, agreements, policies, politics andmandate & structure of important international institutions are almostsynonymous with areas of current affairs.Inclusive growth has been the explicit theme of both 11th and 12th five-year plans and is projected as one of the cross cutting agenda in all govt.interventions. If one notices carefully than it can be found that othertopics included in the GS paper 3 have a strong link with the agenda of inclusivity.For example interventions in agriculture transport and marketing, e-technology for farmers, animal rearing, food processing, land reforms etc.are aimed at correcting the imbalance in Indian growth story, which hasbypassed the majority of Indians more so in aftermath of NEP of early1990's.S & T developments, achievements of Indians in the field, indigenizationand developing of technology, awareness in the fields of IT, Space,Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relatingto intellectual property rights are areas from where questions will beasked about recent developments.Syllabic content related to Internal security includes the latestdevelopments in the field like role of media and social networking sites ininternal security challenges (example of misuse of these sites forspreading rumors and posing new challenges in instance of panicoutmigration of people of North East from Banglore and other SouthIndian Cities and how law enforcement agencies found it difficult to dealwith such a fluid problem) and basics of cyber security (e.g. spate of cyber attacks and increased vulnerability in present context, wheredigitization has become a norm in many strategically important areas). At the same time Topic Internal security also includes traditionalareas like ã role of external state and non-state actors
