Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environ | Preeti, AIR 130 - UPSC CSE 2022

Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment

1 When I was preparing for my third attempt, I identified all themes from PYQ and various test series and wrote answers to all of them.
2 It was based on Shankar IAS book, Santosh Sir (Level Up IAS) notes and Rushikesh Dudhat Sir’s notes (whose smile and enthusiasm I dearly miss)
3 I made diagrams, maps, and had prepared introductions and conclusions.
4 Introductions can have definition/ standard examples while in conclusions I made use of international conventions, national legislations.

Disaster and disaster management.

1 Scoring and predictable section, stick to syllabus keywords and PYQs.
2 Additionally, diagrams for all disasters can be made, mainly about vulnerability distribution.
3 I additionally did a lot of value addition from newspapers and international conventions and summed it in one page. The beauty is they can be used across all answers.You will find it on first page of my notes. For eg:
• UNDP’s recommendation for Post Disaster Needs Assessment
• WHO’s recommendation for psycho-social support through 3 L approach
• Diagram of Sendai-Paris-SDG
• Japanese Model of Earthquake management
4 I used Santosh Sir’s notes (Level Up IAS)—as base material and made my own notes out of it.

Internal Security

1 Focus on keywords and PYQ.
2 Almost every other year there are repeated themes, for eg, cyber security.
3 Your value additions must be prepared for all topics, but especially these.
4 There SHOULD be maps or diagrams in most questions.
5 Make use of current examples to make your answer stand out.

A general note:


1 GS 3 has become a great challenge in the past few years and the declining average marks also reflect the same.
2 There are also additional challenges:
• Subjects like Eco and Environment are studied technically for Prelims. Most people do not have separate notes for Mains, often there is a constraint of time for the same. In that scenario, the answers written are dry, technical and factual.
• For eg: in the GDP question asked in CSE 2021, most people would have written few analytical points and concluded the answer, in a generic fashion. How do you make your answer stand out then?
• My suggestion is link it to the broader debates you are privy to when reading newspapers and general prep. For eg, in the GDP question, I concluded with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee’s Idea of “Looking beyond GDP, and the need for developing new parameters of assessing development.”
• The other challenge, is disproportionate emphasis on Economy. If you see the breakdown of PYQs, you will notice there are generally 4 questions from eco, 2 10 marker and 2 15 marker. Some are current based and some from predictable topics like Infrastructure/ Growth/ LPG reforms etc. So if you approach it a little strategically, you will manage your time accordingly. Please focus on DM, IS, Agri. They will reward you.
3 Now coming to the problem of absolutely mindboggling bouncer questions in the final paper. Here’s a simple answer—It’s a challenge for everybody. All you have to do is keep your calm, your pen running, common sense sharp and fill up pages. Create the semblance of knowledge for the examiner to give you that 2-3 marks that s/he might not give to a candidate who chose to leave the question all together or write in just half it’s space.
4 Your order of answering for all GS 1,2,3 must be Question 1-3 first—then Question 11-20, then Question 4-10. In GS3, especially make a quick mental note of the bouncer questions and try and attempting them last, in case they do not fall in the bracket of Question 4-10.
5 Finally, finish your paper. You’ll sail through.