1. Prologue
  2. No. of entries received
  3. Goodwill Contributions
  4. Top-12
  5. 3-Winners
  6. Top-25
  7. Top-44
  8. Other Notable Entries
  9. Rejected entries
  10. 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 ā€˜self-studyā€™ 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

  1. He/she said I don’t want any books, just contributing for the benefit of other aspirants. OR
  2. He/she had submitted article long time before the competition was held.

List of such articles:

  1. Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement by Aruna
  2. Current News compilation by Tripti
  3. (i) Environment Impact Assessment (ii) Human Resources by Nikhil Sonawane
  4. Investment Models for GS 3 by Rakesh Singh Rajput
  5. Quantitative Easing by the US Federal Reserve by Anant Mittal
  6. Street vendors bill by Aditya
  7. Urbanization notes by Sumit Kumar
  8. Watershed Development by Prasad MV
  9. Cyber Security from CERT compiled by Rahul Koppati
  10. Wetland and its conservation; India Sri Lanka; NCPCR-issue over selection of chairperson by Dipak Patel.

Top-12

If I had sufficient books, Iā€™d have given them to all 12 of the following candidates. Theyā€™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 authorsā€™ names. Serial number doesnā€™t mean ā€˜rankā€™ because it near impossible to compare two good articles written on two different topics :)

  1. A Sunil Kumar
 Naxal problem and solutions. He provided structured coverage the origin of Naxal/Maoism/LWE movement, its present status and solutions.
  1. Ankur Gupta
 Effects of Globalization on Indian Society.Ā  He touched every aspect horizontally and Provides ready to use points if the essay related to Globalization is asked in Mains.
  1. Bharat Chaudhary
 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.
  1. Karthik.R
 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
  1. Manoj Hegde
 White label ATMs and Islamic Banking. He made a layman friendly note on these two topics. Should serve well for even IBPS MCQs
  1. Nisha Vats
 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.
  1. P.Bharath Kumar
 Crisis Management from 2nd ARC- He summarized that lengthy report in 15 pages.
  1. Priyanka Chauhan
 INCLUSIVE GROWTH and related points from 12th FYP. Should provide decent fodder points for GS3
  1. R.Aditya
 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.
  1. Rahul Kumar
 Transfer Pricing and safe harbor rules. He explained them in a layman friendly language.
  1. Ringthing Hongchui
 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.
  1. Sikander Khan
 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)ā€¦ā€¦the three winners areā€¦ā€¦(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 ā€˜political reformsā€™. Karthik.R

Iā€™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.

  1. Arjun Bopanna
 HIGHER EDUCATION IN INDIA for GS Paper II. He gave a comprehensive coverage on Higher education related bills, bodies and issues.
  1. Arun Chettiar
 SYRIA Surrender Your Chemical Weapons. He summarized the ongoing Syria chemical weapon crisis and India’s stand on it.
  1. Arun Chettiar
 Intellectual Property Rights(IP), Biopiracy and Breast Cancer. A nice compilation from TheHindu, Should help for GS3.
  1. Dharmendra
 Irrigation. He gave quick points for each of Tank irrigation, Canal irrigation, Well and tube-well irrigation: their advantages and disadvantages
  1. Divya V Prabhu
 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.
  1. Dr. Devender Mittal
 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.
  1. Gurleen
 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.
  1. Jayesh Nikam
 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.
  1. Marudavanan.S
 UNSC and Permanent seat for India. He discussed why India should get it and what points can be raised to oppose our entry.
  1. Mohith S Yadav
 Current Affairs Compilation: May, June, July and Till September 25 from Hindu, Pib.nic.in.
  1. Swagata Tarafdar
 Economics of Animal rearing: challenges and remedies
  1. Vignesh Raja P
 PIB Revision Notes. Mainly centered around health and sci-tech related topics.
  1. Vinay Kumar Thammi
 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’.

  1. Aditya Prasad
 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.
  1. Akshay Ranjan Pathak
 Disaster Management. Provided neat tables and points.
  1. Anam Singla
 G20 SUMMIT. He listed the points about 2013 summit’s outcomes.
  1. Bipin Chandra Upadhyay
 RBI, functions, various banks and terms for getting new license. He gave the summery points for these topics
  1. Karan Rajpal
 DAMODARAN REPORT on Regulatory Environment for doing Business in India. He summarized the major recommendations.
  1. Kaushik T.G.
 India Sri Lanka-13th Amendment
  1. Lloyd Dā€™souza
 Corporate Social responsibility. He gave pros-cons-suggestions for this provision under Companies Act
  1. Manoj Ram Rajaram
 social innovation, and inclusive growth
  1. Nikhil Sharma
 Rupee depreciation. He summarized the causes and impacts of the weakened rupee. Nikhil Sharma
  1. Prateek Loonkar
 Manufacturing Revolution – Need of the Hour.
  1. Sandeep Kumar Omre
 Quantitative easing and its effect on World Economy. He summarized it in a layman friendly language.
  1. Shrey Khanna
 Anti-Superstition Ordinance.
  1. Sumeet Wagh
 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.
  1. Suthan S.P
 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.
  1. S. Venkateswara Prasad
 Agriculture – Some challenges in modern India. He provides overview of the obstacles faced by farmers.
  1. Sweety Gupta
 GMO, Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill and some allied topics. Should help for GS3
  1. Varnim Goyal
 Investment models. He gave brief overview of various models, their examples and limitations
  1. Vibhor Bacchan
 Irrigation projects, schemes.
  1. VVN Pavan Kumar
 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 Indiaā€™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 INDIAā€™S FOREIGN POLICY TOWARDS WEST ASIA

Rejected entries

  1. Some directly copy pasted entire articles from other sites/blogs with zero value addition of their own.
  2. Some didnā€™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)
  3. Where majority portion of the article was mere copy paste job from Wikipedia.

Iā€™ve rejected such entries, didnā€™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 ā€œfileā€=>Download (ctrl+S) then itā€™ll allow you to download the zip file)
google docs folder for writing competition
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 everyoneā€™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.