GS 2 strategy and sources

 GS 2 Strategy :

GS2 paper has three broad components: polity, governance and international relations. The sources and answer writing has been accordingly explained.

1.  Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
2.  Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
3. Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
4. Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
5. Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
6. Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
7. Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
8. Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
9.  Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies

Sources: For all of the above topics, the sources were: 

• Laxmikant, 
• Constitution of India pdf  (from law ministry website), 
• PRS Monthly pdfs , 
• Self notes from various online govt sources, for eg: for election commission related material, we actually read FAQs and made notes from Election commission of India website; RP Act was entirely covered from ECI website; 
• for pressure group, read sociology class XII NCERT as well;
• Local government from ARC report and India@75
•  please read Class XI polity NCERTs to clear your basics as some questions have been asked directly from there, 
• relevant current affairs were covered from the Hindu. We had made self notes which were cross checked with vision IAS monthly magazine..

Approach : Your basic approach should be to cover each and every topic of the syllabus and make two - three page short notes keeping in mind the things you'll include in your answers. Therefore, include the relevant constitutional provisions, relevant acts, important judgements and on-going cases while analyzing the issues. In recommendations, try to include recommendations by standard commissions like Sarkaria and Punchhi, law commission reports, Supreme court guidelines, a proposed bill or act concerning the same.

For instance, you can see how I had made notes on the LG issue of Delhi and Puducherry in the provided link.

Answer writing: For polity answers, try to include the points mentioned above. If you have political science optional, you might be tempted to write the names of political thinkers but don't do that. Answer these questions from General perspectives. 

Governance part:

• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
• These basically mean all the schemes, policies, different bodies, acts etc made for different sectors like health, education, poverty etc. These have been dealt with in subsequent topics.

• Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
• Sources: polity NCERTs, IGNOU pdf and vision supplementary for NGOs and development industry; SHGs from one Kurukshetra magazine of 2013 on SHGs and ARC report
• Answer writing and approach : please use examples and case studies in these answers. Prepare one - two example for different types of NGOs, charities, SHGs etc and try to use them in your answers
•  Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
• Sources: 
• Schemes can be prepared from daily current affairs, PIB and Economic Survey. Vision mains 365 can be useful too. 
• For laws , institutions and bodies for vulnerable section, you can refer to ARC of conflict resolution which addresses the issues with these bodies (NHRC, NCSC , NCST etc) very nicely. Rest of the part can be covered with Laxmikant polity, Ministry of women and child development and ministry of social justice which mention the relevant acts and policies very clearly. 
• Please see Niti Ayog Action agenda and India@75 also for these sections
• Approach and answer writing: see in sections below
• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
• Sources: Niti Ayog Action Agenda, India@75, Economic Survey. Do the corresponding schemes from PIB.
• Approach : All of these topics like vulnerable sections, social sectors , poverty and hunger are also very important from the essay point of view. Therefore while preparing them, its advisable to keep this in mind and adopt a common format which includes important quotes, statistics , relevant reports and indices (which you must have prepared for prelims), issues related to same, govt schemes and policies, where the schemes have failed and what needs to be done. 
• Answer writing: see in the section below
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
• Sources: Economics NCERT of class XI (Economic Development one), Niti Ayog both the documents,
• Approach: see different defining criteria of poverty (Rangarajan, Tendulkar, World bank etc), steps taken by govt to address the same (policies, schemes, executive measures), lacunae in govt measures and success stories as well, steps which need to be taken, models which can be adopted.
• Answer writing: for all of the above three topics, include statistics , reports or a glaring fact in your introduction to highlight the seriousness of the issue. For eg: starting answer on education with Pratham's Asar report might be a good idea. 
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• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• Role of civil services in a democracy.
• Sources: ARC reports (best source for this), can use vision supplementary material where you don't find any other source, Economic survey, Niti Ayog reports (both of them), current affairs from the Hindu (cross-checked with vision or any std current affairs compilation)
• Approach and answer writing : As the syllabus itself mentions, use successful models, lots of examples in your answers , govt schemes and steps for the same.

International Relations

• India and its neighborhood- relations.
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.
• Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

Sources: Follow news from the Hindu and read vision IAS or any std coaching's IR material to cross check. 

Approach : You can see our notes in the link provided. Your aim should be to prepare all international relations current affairs in the same way. Focus on the lines of the syllabus to make your notes.

Answer Writing: Try to use maps in your answers and cover as many dimensions as possible like strategic, economic, defence , cultural etc aspects of any international partnership..

GS2 was a tough nut to crack for me and I had always tried to make an effort towards improving my score in every successive attempt. I've told everything here. I don't have all my notes and trust me even if I had, they would not be useful to you. We all have different styles and different way of looking at things and I'm sure most of you would do it better than I had done.

Will be happy to take your doubts here. All the best :)

Link for sample notes: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JWVYPY47dH5LYzZaTNXlBZfMiCuMVCaI?usp=sharing