Safin Hasan The Youngest IPS of India

UPSC Books List – Suggested by Safin Hasan

1) History 

• Old NCERT (std 6 to.12) for Modern India
• ‎Yellow Book of Vajiram for Modern History (Highly Recommended)
• ‎For Art and Culture part- NIOS (our cultural heritage )
• World History : NCERT std 9 n 10 by Arjun Dev

2) Geography

• NCERTs from standard 6 to 12.
• ‎Mapping of all places in current affairs
• ‎Mapping of rivers, mountains, platues, plains, vegetations, minerals and industries
• ‎Lecture series on Youtube channel – Mrunal Patel (Highly recommended)

3) Ecology and Environment

• Handout published by Vision IAS
• ‎Shankar IAS (Be selective)
• ‎Current Affairs
• ‎Internet

4) Indian Polity and Governance 

• Constitution of India (M.Laxmikanth) [I personally don’t prefer it as it’s not useful for Mains)
• ‎Yellow Books of Vajiram (Highly Recommended)
• ‎Introduction to Indian Constitution (D.D.Basu) [Only if you are comfortable with the Language ]
• ‎Current Affairs
• ‎PIB website
• ‎PRS website

5) International Relations

• Monthly Current Affair Magazine

6) Indian Economy

• Yellow book of Vajiram on Indian Economy (Highly Recommended)
• ‎Gist of Economic Survey for prelims (By Vision IAS)
• ‎Budget speech and Gist (Vision IAS)
• ‎Lecture Series by Mrunal Patel (Highly recommended)
• ‎website – arthpedia 

                      – vikaspedia

7) Science and Tech

• NCERT (6 to 10) [only of you don’t have Science Background]
• ‎Current Affairs
• ‎YouTube for understanding concepts behind current affairs e.g. Nobel Prize
• ‎Program on RSTV – Science Monitor (Hindi / English)

8) Ethics, Aptitude and Integrity

• Try understanding each topic written in syllabus from internet. Write down one general and one personal experience on that. And keep revising it.
• ‎ Try to associate current happenings with topics in syllabus.

9) Current Affairs

• Read one newspaper a day till Mains. (The Hindu / Indian Express)
• ‎Monthly magazine (Vision IAS or Vajiram)

   … Vision IAS is more useful for prelims whereas Vajiram is more subjective and hence very useful for Mains. You can read Vision before 1 month of prelims and that would suffice.

• Debates on RSTV and some expert lectures on various events on YouTube

10) Social Issues

• NCERT of 11 and 12 (Only on Indian Society)
• YouTube lectures on given topics by Mahapatra Sir (Cec UGC channel)

11) Security Issues

• Security Scan (A program by RSTV on YouTube)
• Current Affairs 

✓ Revision is the key.

✓ Go through the questions asked in previous papers of Prelims and Mains before you start any topic.

✓ Try to minimize your efforts and maximize the outcome.

✓ There is nothing like one fixed source. It’s always about convenient source. Try to stick to it and revise it.

✓ Preparation should be holistic. There is nothing like separate Preparation for Prelims and separate for Mains.

✓ Best wishes.