- Prologue
- Constant contributors=separate author page
- Platinum Category articles
- The Winners
- Gold Category Articles
- Silver Category articles
- Rejected
- Download Links
- 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
- At least one of your article was shortlisted in platinum category in any month. (it doesn’t matter whether it won prize or not)
- 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 |
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)
- They could have added some more angles/ issues/ fodder points AND/OR
- 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:
- Direct copy paste job from any news site or blog.
- Very Amateur and shallow writing.
- Content less than three pages
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- Notification for January 2014 competition will be released soon.
Hi Guys!! Can any one of you please recommend some good material for Indian Culture.
This topic is just not getting into my head, no matter how much effort i may put in
please send me soft copy of ‘glimpses of world history’………. if somebody have
B Babloo…… take a bow man great article !!!!!!!!!!!!
thank you very much sir jee and happy new year.i have been using this website(your blog) since last few months but became a great fan of you.i have one request for you that the materials which are being provided for download are often gets unfinished due to some unknown problems.please care for this problems.
WISH YOU A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR SIR..
AND THANKS A LOT FOR THE PRECIOUS THINGS THAT YOU SHARE WITH US.
@ Mrunal
I would like to suggest a points system for the authors, wherein platinum/gold/silver category entries win different points, and after winning ‘x’ number of points, one can have separate author page etc. It will make the process well arranged — gamification always helps :)
It seems mrunal is now Only interested in making money by improving ranking of his site. He now only post regarding IBPS, ACIO and other grade B exams.
Mrunal is now not focussing on UPSC as there is no update from him regarding paper analysis or anything else.
I had high respect for you Mrunal but you are now only focussed to make money through your site which was evident by the fact that you displayed Alexa rankings of your site to lure more candidates.
Anyways if moneymaking is what you want please inform UPSC aspirants regarding this so that we can switch to other good websites. Thanks.
Rahul Gandhi is better than You #If_u_Know_What_I_Mean ☺
@Ankit : Rahul Gandhi is better than You #If_u_Know_What_I_Mean ☺
its a cute article
Hi mrunal,
Can’t download the articles in google doc and can’t do anything with other link too. Pl help me. I m using iPad 2 to access Internet.
@all: if anybody can, pl let me know how to download in iPad.
Thanks in advance.
happy new year mrunal ji..
hi mrunal,
can you provide the links to the articles directly where you have mentioned their names in gold/platinum categories ? Or sorted as per platinum/gold categories on google drive or a tag mentioning the category so that we can first read the highest category articles
does anyone has any idea that how is crack ias notes for paper 3?
wish u very happy new year sir..
keep rocking..
many many happy new year mrunal sir you and your teams efforts r saluteble keep it up god bless u
Sir, I want to know how to prepare newspaper ka notes sir using software
Great article…