1. Prologue
  2. Constant contributors=separate author page
  3. Platinum Category articles
  4. The Winners
  5. Gold Category Articles
  6. Silver Category articles
  7. Rejected
  8. Download Links
  9. Epilogue

Prologue

First, Happy New Year to all.

  • My best wishes that 2014 brings you all the success in competitive exams that you ever wanted. But for that wish to come true- you’ve to stick to the standard reference books and newspapers, maintain your own notes, practice aptitude + answer writing, revise often and avoid company of crybabies and pessimistic people.
  • Coming to the task hand: this is the first post on Mrunal.org for the year 2014. Contains a great cache of articles covering wide range of topics for prelims, mains, and interview – some of this relevant even to the upcoming interviews of IIMs, IBPS and ACIO.
  • For those who’re new to this site: Every month, a writing competition is held, top winners are given book prizes as award, and all the good entries are released in a zip file so others can use it for their own preparation.
  • Collectively, this leads to saving of electricity, bandwidth and manhours worth lakhs of rupees (had everyone tried to gather same material on their own).
  • + the writer himself gets maximum grip over the topic, if the same thing is asked in exam, he is likely to perform the best + he earns good karma + can even win books.

Constant contributors=separate author page

In past, some writers have constantly contributed high quality articles, yet did not win any prize. But their good work deserves recognition. So, their reward will be a separate page that lists their name, bio, photo and contributions:

For example: Mrunal.org/authors/Manikandan

Requirements to get such separate author-page

  1. At least one of your article was shortlisted in platinum category in any month. (it doesn’t matter whether it won prize or not)
  2. Apart from that article, atleast 9 of your articles have been in the Gold and/or Platinum category. (Meaning total ten high quality articles.)

Don’t worry if you haven’t contributed that much, because competition will run even for upcoming months. Once you cross that limit, contact me with your bio and photo, and the page will be created.

Ya, but what’s the use of having such author-page?

  • For any Job/PG/MBA interviews, you can mention “writing/blogging/content-writer” as your hobby/extra-curricular and give that web-link to your author page, as proof.  (e.g.Mrunal.org/authors/Manikandan)
  • It adds weight because Mrunal.org stands among Top-2000 websites for India. Of course, Anyone can open a blog and claim ‘writing’ as hobby- but it doesn’t impress the interview panel much, unless the site has a good Alexa rank and large number of subscribers.
  • Same reason for the minimum requirement of ten articles (Else it doesn’t add much weight either.)

To put this rank in perspective:

site Alexa Web Ranking as of 1st Jan 2014 for India
Facebook 3
Aajtak 32
TheHindu 89
Indianexpress 95
Staff Selection (SSC) 591
UPSC 989
Narendramodi.in 1024
pib.nic.in 1895
Mrunal.org 1939
prsindia.org 12,832

In the worst case: you can atleast use the author-page to impress your buddies/girlfriend.

Anyways, coming to the result for December 2013 article writing competition.

Platinum Category articles

(In alphabetical order of writers.)

Indo China relations from the beginning till now. Aditya has continued with usual comprehensive coverage and analysis of bilateral issues with neighbors. This time with China. Aditya Ravichandran
Multilateral Export Control Regimes: NSG, MTCR, Australia group, Wassenaar. the basics covered for GS3. Continue updating this note as per new developments and should come handy for Mains-2014. Ashish Sheoran
Current Compilation-IR, Sci-tech, Polity and Administration related topics.  Really neat compilation, way better than those so called competitive exam magazines that sell for 80-120 rupees. B Babloo
Iran’s Nuclear Programme detailed from the beginning till the recent deal and its implications. Should come handy for the upcoming interviews. Bishwarup Bhattacharjee
Reforms: Election, Police, Judicial. Plenty of fodder points to cite in essay and interview. Deep
Critically Endangered Species in India. Should come handy for UPSC’s newfound love for this type of MCQs. Even contains photos of the birds and animals=easy to memorize. You should continue updating this table, will become a killer note for CSAT-2014. Divya.V. Prabhu
Economy Basic Notes prepared from NCERT+NIOS. Should help for the theory based MCQs. GV Simha
Sec66A vs Art19: Recent controversies related to Social media and freedom of speech. Plenty of angles covered. Indrajeet Singh
BASEL III norms and Indian banks- challenges and the way ahead. (goodwill entry, hence not considered for prize.) Karthik Reddy
Ministries and Departments of the Government for GS2. All beautifully summarized within 33 pages. Continue updating this according to new developments from pib.nic.in and it’ll become a killer revision note. Manikandan A
Patent Laws, Issues, IPA, TRIPS, Novartis. Given a comprehensive coverage from the beginning till the latest Novartis controversy and allied topics. Marudavanan
Pressure groups and formal informal associations and their role in the Polity for GS2. To the point revision note prepared. Should save you a lot of time in gathering the material. But good will entry hence not considered for prize. He has also provided Pushpender Singh
Environment Protection in India- made a list of all laws and policies with salient features. continue updating this with new developmetsn=again killer note for prelims and mains. Rajath G Krishnan
Police Reforms, the need for. Sufficient material to handle Essay, Interview, Group discussion on this matter. In past competitions, Shrey has written on comparing Constitutions, right issues of domestic servant and other topics related to polity –administration. Shrey Khanna
2nd ARC Summary Report#1: RTI right to information act Shrey Rawat
2nd ARC Summary Report#2: Unlocking Human Capital Shrey Rawat
Science Tech Revision Notes- truckload of two markers. Sudhir gunnu
Look east policy and India’s partners, relations with ASEAN countries and allied topics Sushant Kumar Sinha
Optional_Psychology 2013 Mains Paper Analysis and source of answers. Should come handy to the new players. She had appeared in this year’s Mains and has also provided the essay she wrote in the exam, as a separate entry. Swagata Tarafdar
India Bangladesh Enclaves, Amendment 119- Meaning, Issues, mock questions, neatly covered within four pages. Apart from this, he has also provided his strategy for English literature optional as a separate entry. Kumar Ujjwal

The Winners

Very hard to pick. All the writers awesome in their own capacity but since there are only five books to give so winners have to be picked. The decision made according to the majority of Jury votes.

And the winners are…

Police Reforms, the need for. Shrey Khanna
Critically Endangered Species in India for CSAT MCQs Divya.V. Prabhu
Iran’s Nuclear Programme detailed. Bishwarup Bhattacharjee
Current Compilation-IR, Sci-tech, Polity and Administration related topics. B Babloo
Sec66A vs Art19. Indrajeet Singh

Hearty Congratulations. I’ll contact them one more time to confirm their addresses, then prize books will be dispatched.

And others need not loose the hope, competition will continue for next months + you can always win the separate author page for constant contribution.

Gold Category Articles

In alphabetical order of writers.

Sec. 377 Controversy, NAZ foundation, arguments for against Homosexuality Abinaya Sakthivel
Indo China- New cold war Anjesh Bharatiya
International Terrorism- types, causes, impact and how to tackle. Ankit Uniyal
Non-Alignment Movement. Relevance after cold war. Ankit Uniyal
FRBM Act Ankur Sachan
Astronomy-Sphere of Influence, Mars Mission, Orbit Anmol Singh
Geography – Biomes Arun Chettiar
Aptitude-fast multiplication, ratio, proportion, probability Arun Chettiar
Industrial policy & Disinvestment. features, advantages and criticism. Ashok Charan
Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill Ashutosh Katiyar
Mid Day Meal- features, objectives, loopholes. Akshaypatra Ashutosh Katiyar
National Early Childhood Care and Education Policy (ECCE) 2012- objectives, issues, challenges Ashutosh Katiyar
America’s Energy Independence. B BABLOO
Indo China relations- border dispute, Tibet, Afghanistan and South Asian countries Chitralekha
India-Africa-Historic ties and recent developments Damini Singh
Resource mobilization for GS3. Planning, challenges, issues Dharmendra R
IBPS-IT Computer basics for Bank Exams Gali Vinod Simha
IBPS-Marketing Concepts Gali Vinod Simha
Optional_English Literature Optional Strategy Kumar Ujjwal
TNPSC-Pattern, Preparation N. Mahanitya
Indian Citizenship- theory points for MCQs (Good will entry) Namit
Iran is important in geopolitical balance(goodwill entry) Neha Shrivastava
PIB Winter Session compilation(goodwill entry) Neha Shrivastava
Non-Conventional energy resources. Nisha Vats
ADIZ Nitin Dahiya
civil services reforms- recommendations of various Committees Pramod Rao Errabelli
Devolution of Powers: Panchayati Raj, PESA, RGPSA(goodwill entry) Pushpender Singh
federal structure, Issues and challenges pertaining to (Goodwill entry) Pushpender singh
ADIZ- advantages, issues, Indian ADIZ and Chinese ADIZ Pushpender Singh
LPG reforms and their impact on Economy, Public Administration, education, culture Rajesh Garkoti
(motivational) Time management Ramanjeet Gupta
British Annexation- gave a ready revision note for various wars/battles S.Jaya Vasantha Kumaran
Comparison study of various Constitutions. Japan, Canada, UK, USA, Germany, Aus. Shovit Chowdhury
PIB compilation June July Siva Ramakrishnan
Public private partnership (PPP): Definition, benefits, pre requisites and demerits Soni Rachel Oommen
Environment and Biodiversity Sunil palve
Status of Women in India for GS1. Women’s movement, role in freedom struggle, Gender equity, empowerment and allied issues Sunil Reddy
SciTech Panacea for growth (Essay from 2013) Swagata Tarafdar
Consumer Rights-Awareness Syed Salim Malik
PDS-features, issues, analysis Vikram Singh

Silver Category articles

These articles could have been in Gold/platinum/even prize winners, but I/jury felt that:

(Without meaning even an ounce of disrespect to any individual)

  1. They could have added some more angles/ issues/ fodder points AND/OR
  2. They could have compressed/structured/simplified the article a little bit more.

But that doesn’t take away the fact these articles are really good and useful for the MCQs/Descriptive/interviews. So my respects and salutations for their effort and their spirit of sharing.

Names in alphabetical order:

9th WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE Aditya Prasad
Cauvery water Dispute. Agam Jain
Evolution of religion Aiman Reyaz
Ethics in governance Amit Saini
India Vietnam Japan Kuwait some recent news Anam Singla
Bugets-Basics & Terminologies Ankur Sachan
Internal Security_Issues And Concerns Ankur Sachan
Naxalism Development And Discontent Ankur Sachan
Rural Unrest-An Otcome of Unmet Dues Ankur Sachan
Marathas(Peshwas) and Modern Indian History Arun Chettiar
Diplomatic immunity Aruna
prevention of communal violence Atul Kumar
Be The Change That You Want To See In Others Atul Tayal
INDIA IN 2050 Chirag S. Kugasiya
Agrarian Structure & Land reforms till date Debalina Biswas
Capitalism vs Socialism Dr. Pavan Kumar Turlapati
Future market George Sinha
Constitutionally Important Supreme Court Judgments Kunjal Shah
India needs reforms again Munish Meena
Article 370 issues. (Good will entry) Naina Agarwal
Judicial Activism (goodwill entry) Neha Shrivastava
Coal Based Methane Rahul Khairnar
Education impacts all facets of national development Rajesh Kumar Adepu
Social Issues in India S.Ajai
ADIZ Shahid T Komath
Indian Ocean Rim summit highlights Shahid T Komath
Diplomatic Immunity-Vienna convention Nishant

Rejected

Some entries have been rejected, when I or Jury members felt that:

  1. Direct copy paste job from any news site or blog.
  2. Very Amateur and shallow writing.
  3. Content less than three pages
  4. Effort not visible. Merely lifted passage from here and there without making it laymen friendly, revision friendly.

However if you think you didn’t belong these category and yet your article is not in above list, then probably I made some error while making the excel spreadsheets of author vs. subject. In that case, plz contact me via email and I’ll update the list.

Download Links

If you just download the articles but “thik hai baad mein dekhenge“ (I’ll read them later)=useless waste of bandwidth. These are all MS word files, you should maintain your own notes out of them by trimming and continuously updating the files as per your own requirements.  Don’t just let them gather space in your harddisk, extract maximum benefit out of it.

Server #1: Zip file (15MB)

https://files.secureserver.net/0s4xYm264EWb5f

Server #2: To view docs online

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0DPgaYAtDgmcGVpYkxSZGU5cjA/edit?usp=sharing

For the zip files of past competitions (September, October, November), visit Mrunal.org/write2win

Epilogue

  1. Thanks everyone for participating and sharing. And if anyone feels hurt for not getting his/her due recognition/ranking despite the contribution, then my sincerest apologies. 
  2. Irrespective of the platinum/gold/silver categorization, I thank and applaud you all, for your gesture of sharing knowledge with the community and look forward for more of your articles in future.
  3. Notification for January 2014 competition will be released soon.