What are the important topics to read from a newspaper in two hours?

As we have already discussed the importance of reading the newspapers for the preparation of UPSC. Importance of newspapers is also increasing now a days as most of the paper is made out of correct news. In this article we would discuss how to finish in newspaper in less time and get the best out of it for the purpose of UPSC. While discussing how to finish the newspaper in short time preferably it should finish in 2 hours including the notes, first thing to decide is which newspaper to follow. The Hindu has been the lifeline of UPSC aspirants for a long time. It still is the most used and probably most relevant newspaper for the UPSC preparation. However Indian express is also a very good newspaper especially if your optional is Public administration and it is also very useful for the polity section for mains.

As we have been saying religiously in all our articles to please go through the syllabus. We begin the strategy to finish the newspaper in short time with same thing. Lot many things can be striked immediately which are not important for UPSC only by knowing the syllabus. Similarly especial attention will be given to things which are mentioned in the syllabus.

Mainly five pages in the newspaper should be focused by any candidate preparing for UPSC. These are:

• Front page
• National News page
• Economy news page
• International news page and
• The Editorials

GS Foundation Course (PT+ MAINS) for IAS EXAM

सामान्य अध्ययन (GS) फ़ाउनडेशन कोर्स (Foundation Course) PT + Mains, HINDI Medium

Now the next question is what to read in those pages. First let us discuss what not to read in those pages. Political news about political parties, elections and political news which does not have any constitutional and administrative significance can be left totally. News like National executive meet of BJP, Change of guard in Congress etc. have no importance to this exam. Similarly news like problems in film Udta Punjab is not important, what becomes important is the Role and Functions of CBFC. Candidate needs to only look into the administrative aspect of the issues and not the politics involved in it.

Now after looking into what not to read let's look into what should be focused upon. Great focus should be given to any news or editorial discussing about any scheme or program, any geographical problem, discussing any policy initiative by RBI etc. Below mentioned are the topics which should be given special attention;

• Any news related to electoral reforms, Judicial reform or Political reform
• News discussing India’s social and economic indicators like GDP, Inflation, Poverty etc.
• Any geographical problems like flood, Draught, Monsoon etc.
• Similarly if there is a problem between states like water sharing etc.
• Carefully read about analysis of government policies like JAM, Digital India, Make in India, Skill India, IPR policy etc.
• In International news read about important international news which have great importance for India. This page is important for the prelims purpose for question which relate to places of recent importance.
• Material in International page is generally less but it becomes very important if it has great significance like Brexit or India’s entry into NSG etc.
• In Business page avoid the news related to companies. UPSC only has macro-economy in syllabus so only read about macro indicators like Inflation, Job growth, Demographic dividends.
• Please also read the news related to any governmental or constitutional body like CAG, CIC, SEBI, IMF, EU etc.
• Every Thursday Science and Tech news comes which should be read with special focus especially for prelims.
• You can totally leave sports page, If something very big is not happening like Olympics etc.

These are all the important section which are important for UPSC preparation. We believe that this should be the method of reading the newspapers. When anyone starts reading The Hindu it takes more time so need not to be totally worry about it. Time taken to read newspaper gradually reduces. If you will follow the above instructions time taken to read the newspaper would reduce to 1hour 45 minutes and finally 15 minutes should be given for preparing the notes. Preparing notes is the most important exercise related to newspaper, because if notes are not prepared at the time of revision you have to do the same exercise again. So we request you to prepare the notes it is the most well-spend time related to newspapers.

GS Foundation Course (PT+ MAINS) for IAS EXAM

सामान्य अध्ययन (GS) फ़ाउनडेशन कोर्स (Foundation Course) PT + Mains, HINDI Medium

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