- Prologue
- No. of entries received
- Goodwill Contributions
- Top-12
- 3-Winners
- Top-25
- Top-44
- Other Notable Entries
- Rejected entries
- Download ZIP file
Prologue
- A writing competition was held in September. (Last date to submit was 25th September 2013)
- All good entries combined in a zip file- Download link at the bottom.
- Prize was 3 books for the winners. But books were merely an excuse, the primary objective of this competition was to get exam oriented revision friendly notes for the benefit of entire community.
- Because UPSC has included many new topics the Mains syllabus but no standard reference books are available. One has to go through news report, government PDFs and googling by himself.
- But If each of the ~15,000 candidates of Mains keep digging same topics individually- While all the pro-arguments for ‘self-study’ aside-this is a waste of countless hours of youth life, internet bandwidth, electricity and eyesights (that are damaged from looking at computer screen for long hours).
- of course market is flooded with truckload of coaching material, but nothing beats the quality of a revision note prepared by a serious aspirant.
- Hence, I consider this competition a success because the high quality entries received- collectively they should save atleast a few days of research-digging-googline for the given topics.
No. of entries received
Subject | No. of entries |
Agro | 6 |
Current affairs compilation | 3 |
Economy | 17 |
Essay/Generic | 28 |
Ethics | 4 |
Geography, Environment, Biodiversity | 9 |
History | 3 |
Internal security | 10 |
IR/Diplomacy | 17 |
Polity | 11 |
Sci-Tech | 5 |
Yearbook, FYP related | 10 |
Total legit entries | 123 |
Rejected for Bogus quality/Plagiarism | 15 |
Goodwill Contributions
Following entries are included in the zip file but not considered for prize because
- He/she said I don’t want any books, just contributing for the benefit of other aspirants. OR
- He/she had submitted article long time before the competition was held.
List of such articles:
- Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement by Aruna
- Current News compilation by Tripti
- (i) Environment Impact Assessment (ii) Human Resources by Nikhil Sonawane
- Investment Models for GS 3 by Rakesh Singh Rajput
- Quantitative Easing by the US Federal Reserve by Anant Mittal
- Street vendors bill by Aditya
- Urbanization notes by Sumit Kumar
- Watershed Development by Prasad MV
- Cyber Security from CERT compiled by Rahul Koppati
- Wetland and its conservation; India Sri Lanka; NCPCR-issue over selection of chairperson by Dipak Patel.
Top-12
If I had sufficient books, I’d have given them to all 12 of the following candidates. They’re all worthy of the prize because their write-ups are good enough to save hours of reading-research-googling of those topics. These are direct, To the Point, Exam oriented neatly written articles.
According to alphabetical order of authors’ names. Serial number doesn’t mean ‘rank’ because it near impossible to compare two good articles written on two different topics :)
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Naxal problem and solutions. He provided structured coverage the origin of Naxal/Maoism/LWE movement, its present status and solutions. |
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Effects of Globalization on Indian Society. He touched every aspect horizontally and Provides ready to use points if the essay related to Globalization is asked in Mains. |
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Important bills: food security, land acquisition, PFRDA, and real-estate: salient features, merits and demerits. Neat compilation, comes handy for quick revision-easy to read and remember. |
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REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE ACT, 1951. He covered both salient feature and current issues related to this act, with coverage from Hindu. Should serve well, for an otherwise hard to find topic of GS2 |
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White label ATMs and Islamic Banking. He made a layman friendly note on these two topics. Should serve well for even IBPS MCQs |
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Resources distribution India and World. She tabulated the scattered information of metallic minerals found in India and abroad, from NCERT, NIOS and various books of World Geography. |
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Crisis Management from 2nd ARC- He summarized that lengthy report in 15 pages. |
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INCLUSIVE GROWTH and related points from 12th FYP. Should provide decent fodder points for GS3 |
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INDIA Afghanistan. He made a pretty comprehensive and neat revision note. Provides holistic perspective and vital info. Should serve well for both mains and interview. |
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Transfer Pricing and safe harbor rules. He explained them in a layman friendly language. |
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Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways. Provided important points, distribution for them. If you continue updating this with newspaper articles, particularly economy section, then it’ll become a killer revision note. |
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Contribution of Thinkers from India and World. He provided 100 words notes for Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Voltaire, Rousseau, Ram Mohan Roy, Periyar, Vivekanand, Gandhi and Ambedkar. If you continue updating this file with more thinkers and more data, it becomes a killer revision note for GS4. |
3-Winners
- It was extremely difficult to decide the winners among these 12, because each one had written on different topics- and it is illogical to compare articles on two separate subjects,
- but since I have only 3 books to give, I had to pick three winners.
- After much headache and deliberation (with help of jury)……the three winners are……(but know that others were also awesome in their own styles.)
Prize | Topic | Author |
1st | Naxal problem and solutions. He provided structured coverage from origin of this movement, its present status, challenges and solutions. Should serve well for Essay, Mains, Interview and any Group discussions. | A Sunil Kumar |
2nd | Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways. Provided important points, schemes, project. If you continue updating this file from newspaper articles, particularly economy section, then it’ll become a killer revision note. | Ringthing Hongchui |
3rd | REPRESENTATION OF PEOPLE ACT, 1951. He covered both salient feature and current issues related to this act, with coverage from Hindu for GS2. Should serve well, if you continue updating this with all the new developments happening- for a larger issue of ‘political reforms’. | Karthik.R |
I’ll contact them one more time to confirm their postal address and then gift books will be dispatched.
Top-25
Following aspirants also submitted remarkable entries. Exam-oriented revision friendly notes. My respects and appreciations.
Names in alphabetical order. Serial number doesn’t mean ‘rank’ because it near impossible to compare two good articles written on two different topics.
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HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA for GS Paper II. He gave a comprehensive coverage on Higher education related bills, bodies and issues. |
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SYRIA Surrender Your Chemical Weapons. He summarized the ongoing Syria chemical weapon crisis and India’s stand on it. |
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Intellectual Property Rights(IP), Biopiracy and Breast Cancer. A nice compilation from TheHindu, Should help for GS3. |
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Irrigation. He gave quick points for each of Tank irrigation, Canal irrigation, Well and tube-well irrigation: their advantages and disadvantages |
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NSEL CRISIS. She neatly summarized the crisis, and allied topics e.g. Share vs Commodity market. Should serve well for even for the IBPS MCQ and interviews. |
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Linkages between development and spread of extremism. He briefly mentioned how various government polices (or the lack of it) creating the breeding ground for extremism and suggested the solution. If you continue updating this with current affairs- becomes killer revision note for mains + interview. |
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Contribution of Thinkers from India and World. Gave the list of thinkers and allied points. Again Gurleen + Sikandar Khan +your own digging=killer revision note for GS4. |
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Role of media and social networking sites in internal security. This is a newly added topic of GS3. He listed various cases in which Media was misused to stirrup internal trouble and how it can be used to fight naxals. Continue updating this file with current affairs- should serve well for both Mains + interview. |
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UNSC and Permanent seat for India. He discussed why India should get it and what points can be raised to oppose our entry. |
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Current Affairs Compilation: May, June, July and Till September 25 from Hindu, Pib.nic.in. |
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Economics of Animal rearing: challenges and remedies |
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PIB Revision Notes. Mainly centered around health and sci-tech related topics. |
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE. He gave the list of framework, definition, issues, and recent initiatives. should help in GS4 |
Top-44
Another set of good writers. Names in alphabetical order. Serial number doesn’t mean ‘rank’.
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Groups and Agreement for IR. He made a neat table of 19 groups and agreements. You should continue updating this file with more regional groups and agreements=killer revision note for GS3. |
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Disaster Management. Provided neat tables and points. |
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G20 SUMMIT. He listed the points about 2013 summit’s outcomes. |
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RBI, functions, various banks and terms for getting new license. He gave the summery points for these topics |
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DAMODARAN REPORT on Regulatory Environment for doing Business in India. He summarized the major recommendations. |
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India Sri Lanka-13th Amendment |
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Corporate Social responsibility. He gave pros-cons-suggestions for this provision under Companies Act |
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social innovation, and inclusive growth |
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Rupee depreciation. He summarized the causes and impacts of the weakened rupee. Nikhil Sharma |
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Manufacturing Revolution – Need of the Hour. |
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Quantitative easing and its effect on World Economy. He summarized it in a layman friendly language. |
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Anti-Superstition Ordinance. |
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Internal security-State non-state actor. New topic in GS3 syllabus. He discussed how state/non-state actors hurting India from three angles: Nepal-Bangla, Pak and China. |
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Will India go back to 1991 situation? Suggest some measure to rescue the economy from its current state of economic turmoil. He provided points for this issue. |
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Agriculture – Some challenges in modern India. He provides overview of the obstacles faced by farmers. |
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GMO, Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill and some allied topics. Should help for GS3 |
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Investment models. He gave brief overview of various models, their examples and limitations |
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Irrigation projects, schemes. |
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Globalization and its effects on Indian society. He provided the negative and positive aspects. |
Other Notable Entries
These are good reads, they provide decent fodder points hence for the exam, I appreciate your gesture of sharing knowledge with the community.
Names in alphabetical order. Serial number doesn’t mean ‘rank’.
Abhijit Roy | Digital invasion of Privacy |
Abhijit Roy | Are we Developing or Dependent Economy |
ABINAYA SAKTHIVEL | WOMEN SAFETY IN INDA AND THE CRIMINAL LAW (AMENDMENT) ACT 2013 |
AGAM JAIN | GMO friend or Foe |
AJIT KUMAR NAYAK | should juveniles be treated as adults in the criminal justice system |
Akhand Sitra | Public Administration Keywords |
Anjali | REDRAWING THE POLICE ADMINISTRATION |
Anusha.M | Multilevel planning |
ANWAR ALI | A hole in Pain : POPULATION |
Arjun Bopanna | Public Healthcare related issues |
Ashok kumar panda | India and Central Asia current scenario |
B BABLOO | GM CROP-features technology-Babloo |
Bharath Kamaraj R | policies and politics of other countries on India’s interests-some recent news topics |
Bharath Vaishnov | Tourism Keywords |
CHITRALEKHA | PDS |
Continue Dreaming | Inclusive Democracy |
Dabhi Jayendrakumar Bharatkumar | Corruption in India |
Dashrath Laxman Hembade | Need for federal foreign policy |
Ishan Pendam | Political Philosophies & their effect on society |
Jawed Iqubal | Indian Constitution in Nutshell. |
Jaymin Patel | Food security |
K.R.Chandra mouli | French Revolution |
Kunal Raj | Higher education:challanges and government intervention |
Mansoor Ahmad | Juvenile Justice |
MOIRANGTHEM REAGAN SINGH | Air pollution |
Naina Thomas | Juvenile Justice Act Controversy |
Nikhil Sonawane | Human resource development & National Skill Development Mission |
Nikita Sudhakar Tungare | Food security bill pros and cons |
Nikita Sudhakar Tungare | Food security |
Niti Srivastava | 1991 again |
P.Sankara prasad Reddy | E-governance |
Pankaj Kumar Singh | Reasons for Hindu-Muslim Riots in India |
PATEL SHWETA HARSHADBHAI | Global food security and Climate change |
PAYAL AGARWAL | GAY MARRIAGE AND ITS POSSIBILITIES IN INDIA |
Prashant Dayal | Environmental Pollution |
Praveen Katiyar | Extremism and government schemes to tackle it. |
PRAVIN KAUSHAL | Fighting Corruption |
Prithvirajsinh Zala | Naxalism a basic overview |
PUNEETA SHERWAL | Women Empowerment |
Rahul Kejriwal | Linguistic diversity conservation |
Rajesh | Liberalization and Globalization in Third World Countries |
RAJIV SHAW | Women Empowerment and India |
Rishi Varma | Indian Parliament, declining standards and required reforms |
ROHIN KOTWAL | Child labour |
Roopa Sharma | biodiversity |
Sachin Gupta | Is American Imperialism crossing its limits? |
Sandeep Yamsani | What to write in an Answer |
Satyendra Singh | Indo-Russia relations |
Shaik Shabana | Internal security challenges |
Shreegopal Totala | Food security |
Shrey Khanna | Syria and Chemical Weapons |
Sujeet Patil | CSR rule |
Sujeet Suresh Patil | economic reforms of 1991 |
Tarun Kumar Sharma | Indian tribes and their development |
V. Bharathiraja | NEW EMERGING WOMEN POWER, THE GROUND REALITIES |
VIKRAM SINGH | CONTRADICTION IN INDIA’S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS WEST ASIA |
Rejected entries
- Some directly copy pasted entire articles from other sites/blogs with zero value addition of their own.
- Some didn’t even write one and half page- and even that was highschool type amateur coverage. (rule required 3 pages minimum-exam oriented, revision friendly article)
- Where majority portion of the article was mere copy paste job from Wikipedia.
I’ve rejected such entries, didn’t include them in the zip file.
Download ZIP file
Contains all good articles
Server #1: Google docs (if you want to download the Zip file)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0DPgaYAtDgmQUNCLXgtYzR6VUU/edit?usp=sharing
(on above link, click on “file”=>Download (ctrl+S) then it’ll allow you to download the zip file)
Server #2: My own (if you want to download the zip file)
https://files.secureserver.net/0sQhJCGsj77XvZ
This competition was organized mainly to get exam oriented revision friendly notes so that way everyone’s time is saved from having to dig the same topics from books and internet. So, again thank you all for participating. And if anyone feels hurt for not getting his/her due recognition/ranking despite the contribution, then my sincerest apologies.
The notification for next competition will be released soon.
Sir , this is really a great help. Thank you so much!
hi evry1..i have a doubt plss clarify..i keep seeing ” foreign investment will finance CAD(curnt account deficit)”…foreign investments are categorized under capital account..in such case how it can finance current account deficit?? and what is the implicit meaning of “financing CAD through FDI”?? CAD is just a number..how it is financed??
thank you mrunal sir….all the readers are deeply indebted to you for this initiative…all d best for your future endeavours..
Respects all the way !!!!
extremely helpful …………. thanks to all the contributors. may you all shine in this mains.
dear mrunal can you explain what this “refrences” in the bottom of each notes represent.
do we need to consult them after the notes or it means the notes are drived from it.
To all readers,
Please do not download and allow it to sleep in your hard disk, which you forget after a period of time so it ultimately goes in vain. I have gone through many articles and still moving across many articles. I am sure if any individual tries to research and collect all on his own it will take him a month or more. One who carefully goes across the articles will save tremendous time. Great work by Mrunal and other contributors. Now the blog has got real meaning for the .org suffix. Hey Mrunal, why don’t you start a Facebook group in similar manner so that it encourages discussions too?
excellent work by all the people contributing, It’s really great selfless service. Thanks very much
thank you
@Sujeet Suresh Patil
Bro, like your article: Economic Reforms of 1991 in India
How to participate in this writing competetion ? Plz can any body help me .I have prepared some notes on Good Governance,Role of NGO’s,SHG’s,various groups and associations in Development Industry.Effects of globalization on Indian Society. I want to share to the community of civil service aspirants
hi,,,
COULD ANYBODY HELP ME OUT.. I AM UNABLE TO DOWNLOAD MY CAPF HALL TICKET..
WHILE DOWNLOADING I AM GETTING THE MESSAGE THAT “U HAVE NOT FILLED PART-2 REGISTRATION, YOU ARE NOT ELIGIBLE TO WRITE THIS EXAM” BUT I CONFIRMED MY NAME IS NOT THEIR IN FICTITIOUS LIST AND 200rs HAD BEEN DEDUCTED FROM BANK ACCOUNT,WHICH IS NOT CREDITED TO MY ACCOUNT IF MY CAPF APPLN FORM IS NOT ACCEPTED..I ALREADY MADE A CALL TO UPSC AND SENT A FAX ABOUT MY ALL DETAIL AND BANK TRANSACTION.BUT I DINT GET SINGLE RESPONSE FROM THEM..
THIS IS MY LAST ATTEMPT…..PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME OUT FROM THIS CRAP……..WAITING FOR VALUABLE REPLY FROM ANYONE…..EXAM IS ON 20TH OCT 2013..HARDLY 16 DAYS ARE LEFT…
you should go upsc immediately.
CONTND..
3.SIR,PLEASE WRITE AN ELABORATIVE ARTICLE ON THE 42ND AMENDMENT,1976 OF THE CONSTITUTION AND WHAT WERE THE CHANGES BROUGHT BY IT WERE NULLIFIED IN THE 43RD AND 44TH AMENDMENT,1978?
4.ALSO PLEASE CLARIFY(IF IM NOT WRONG),THAT THE 42ND AMENDMENT SAYS THAT THE PARLIAMENT IS SUPREME AND A CONSTITUIONAL AMNENDMENT CANT BE CHALLENGED IN ANY COURT OF THE COUNTRY,DOES THIS ACT STILL HOLDS GOOD TODAY OR NOT?
5.IT ALSO SAYS THAT,AFTER THE ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT VERDICT,THAT THE PM CANT BE DISQUALIFIED BY ANY COURT OF THE COUNTRY?
I WILL BE REALLY THAKFUL IF SIR AND MY DEAR FRIENDS WILL HELP ME IN FINDING THE ANSWERS OF ABOVE QUESTIONS.
THANKS
regarding your 4. point, I think it doesn’t hold true today as it was nullified by Minereava Mills Case. though not sure
Sir..
You & ur website is implementing SEVOTTAM model truly. :)
Thankyou so much Sir ji.
After reading all these entries, I really need to brush up my writing skills as whenever I start writing on any topic, I have all the required facts and figures but writing or presenting them in the most coherent and lucid manner, sometimes, becomes a bit difficult and tedious task. This list would definitely help people like me. Thanks a lot.
This is a marvelous effort sir. There can really be no replacement for notes of a serious aspirant. Thank you very much for this initiative
thanks a ton. your efforts to kick the coaching factories in their back is highly appreciated. can’t tell you how much crappe one has to read in a current affair magazine. really good to the point material. hpoe to contribute in future..
also, mrunal hope your website becomes a platform for demand for more transparency in this exam..
thnk u :) sir ji
NSEL crisis article is really good.
it was not clear to me what actually led to crisis,but after reading this,i got the concept.. :)
hats off 2 u MRUNAL sir.. wonderfull collection… Thanks for ur work…
Thanks Mrunal for this innovating competition. Your endeavours have always been very helpful.
Having a resource like you is a great asset, especially for working professionals like me.
Many thanks to all the competition contributors as well, for making a wide range of fodder available for people like me who are unable to do much research due to time constraints.
All the best for your preparations!!
Hi Mrunal !!
can you please post article on ‘ right to hearing act’…?
very very very highly extra ordinary work ,i have completed my classes for GS but from your support we have learned in a complete way. thank you a lot .
High mrunal sir
Im satyajit plztell me sir how the study for new cse main I also preapare from 2 year tell me how right the answer of question liks bring out . Critically examine examine and comment etc sir we r also read ur article plz replay sir
Dir ipsc can take pali lit. Again
sir upsc can take pali lit. Again
Sir is competition ko weekly karo plz