PM clears reform of civil service exams

Clearing the decks for the Union Public Service Commission to move forward, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday put his seal of approval on overhauling the civil service examinations with immediate effect.Singh - who approved the new format in his capacity as the minister in-charge of the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT)  - is learnt to have cleared the proposal to double the weightage for General Studies papers in the Civil Service (Mains) Examination.

There has, however, been no official word on the changes. "The decision has been made... We will be notifying the changes in a day or two," PK Misra, secretary, DoPT, told HT.

Civil Service aspirants have been on tenterhooks for the last few weeks after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) slipped its February 2, 2013 deadline to kick-off the examination process.

The UPSC - that maintains an iron curtain over its functioning - only put out a brief notice, informing aspirants that the exam would not be notified on February 2 "due to some unforeseen circumstances". UPSC officials refused to take calls to clarify reasons for the delay.

"Someone in the UPSC should have had the courtesy to inform lakhs of candidates that some changes were proposed," an aspirant from the Jawaharlal Nehru University said.

source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/PM-clears-reform-of-civil-service-exams/Article1-1017971.aspx

Civil Service Exam Preparation tips by Srujan Nakidi IRS

Indian Telugu Civil Servants Association

Competitive exams guidance

by

Srujan Nakidi IRS

Civil Service Exam Preparation

Civil service Exam preparation is an opportunity to know our surroundings and country in a better way and enhance our knowledge holistically. Even if we don't get into services, we will be an "informed citizen" and can help positively in building our society. We should keep this in mind while preparing and start moulding our personality such that it suits the kind of work we'd do once we get into service. We should try to develop grasping, active thinking, comprehension and decision making skills. Our preparation for civils also helps in cracking other exams like state services, bank jobs, etc.

Tips for overall preparation:

1. Study the complete pattern of exam – from prelims to interview. Go through employment news notification.
2. As General Studies (GS) is common for all, start knowing it more and more. Once you are comfortable with GS, go through optional subjects' syllabus and choose the one-
a. which is most interesting to you. [In case of unsuccessful attempt you may have to read the same again and again]
b. Which can be covered in comprehensive manner.
c. Which can cover some of the GS syllabus.
d. For which guidance/material is available.
e. Based on your strength and weakness [eg. If you like literature and can write reasonably fast, you can take telugu literature]
f. Based on senior's advice, previous rankers scores etc.

3. Now you are get set to go… Plan well, so that you are "reasonably well" prepared at each stage of exam. Plan for complete process- Prima facie consider that you are going to clear every stage of exam and schedule accordingly. Even if you fail at particular stage, it's better to stick to that schedule and undergo the process [eg. try giving mains exam in your room on same day or next day of exam].
For prelims -
Give more stress on neglected areas like General Science esp. Biology, S&T, Environment, economy etc.  Other important areas are geography, economy, polity and freedom struggle.
For mains -
     a. It's better to answer more Q's than to answer some Qs perfectly.
     b. Focus more on optionals while preparing. Syllabus paper and current relevance should guide our preparation.
c. Prepare well for international affairs, S&T.

For interview-
    a. Know everything of your summary sheet: Your place of birth, schooling, dist., state, subjects you've studied, work experience, hobbies, prizes etc.
    b. Show concern for country and people.
    c. Understand surroundings well and appreciate them.
    d. Have some designs for improvement of country, to provide better services etc.
    d. Understand India well - esp. North East and J&K related issues.

Remember –
0 Half-hearted efforts will take us nowhere.
1 Confidence and Hard work matters not our intelligence.
2 Don't try to be perfect in all, which is not practical.
3 Don't try to skip something because you are familiar with it.
4 Don't lose confidence. Self-doubt is our enemy.
5 Go through syllabus and previous question papers. This should set boundary for our preparation.
6. Finally, life is much bigger than exam. We can make our preparation and life fruitful and enjoyable if we realize this. Never be disappointed for not being able to crack the exam. There are many ways of achieving our life goals - be it being happy in our life, serving society, social prestige, or any other. Civil service may provide short cut for these but there are always many routes.

All the best…..

Expected Changes in Civil Service Exam 2013

 

The format of the Civil Services Examination, arguably the most competitive test in the country that selects IAS, IPS and allied officers, is set for a makeover.

 

Each year, around 4 lakh aspirants apply for the exam for about 1,050 available posts. Government is set to reduce the weightage given to optional subjects by half - from 1200 out of 2300 marks to 600. At the same time, weightage for general studies will be increased to 1200 marks from the current 600.

 

PM Manmohan Singh is expected to clear the revamped version this week, enabling the Union Public Service Commission to notify the examination that has already been delayed by three weeks.

 

The extreme variations in scores between optional subjects have been a subject for debate for a long time.

For instance, there are optional subjects such as public administration and political science in which candidates expect to score much higher than ones who take, say civil engineering or mathematics. As a result, candidates end up opting for subjects on the basis of perceptions of scores rather than what they graduated in. The UPSC hopes to reduce this distortion.

The reduced weightage of optionals will be given to General Studies - which is common for all candidates - to provide a level playing field for them. The government had in 2011 similarly revamped the preliminary examination when it had made general studies the focus of the qualifying examination rather than subject knowledge.

The UPSC has a three-tier selection process to select civil servants.

The first is the preliminary exam, an objective-type exam which serves as a screening test.

Those who clear this are entitled to appear for the subjective-type main examination.

About one-fifth of those who take the main examination get called for a personality test

source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/For-a-level-playing-field-PM-set-to-clear-UPSC-makeover-this-week/Article1-1017461.aspx

Guidance for ALL Competitive exams

Indian Telugu Civil Servants Association

Competitive exams guidance

by

Srujan Nakidi IRS

 

SKILLS REQUIRED  FOR COMPETITIVE EXAMS AND HOW TO DEVELOP THEM:

 

General Studies:  [Rely mostly on NCERT/Telugu Academy/Telugu medium 6th-10th & +2 books]

o   Economy,

o   General Science ( Human Biology, Physics, Chemistry),

o    Polity,

o    Modern History,

o    Geography (Physical, Economical-crops, industries etc).

o   Current affairs – The Hindu, Eenadu, Udyoga sopanam, Yojana, K Nageshwar rao articles, Radio news, DD News.

 

Ø  Note : many people think questions in exams are mostly factual (general knowledge - capital cities, date/years etc. ), but in reality 70-80% are conceptual (general studies eg. relation between bank interest rates and inflation etc.)

 

General English:

o   Grammar,[Wren and Martin or Raymond Murphy]

o   Essays [Rajendra Pal and Premlata Suri grammer book]

o   Keep Oxford Pocket Dictionary with you always.

o   Word power made easy by Norman Lewis

o   Reading stories, News Paper

o   News and current affairs in All India Radio (AIR), DD-News

 

Mathamatics:

o   Simple equations, Percentage, Average, ratio, speed and distance, time and work, puzzles etc.

o   Read Medaduku meta, Medaduku padunu – both by Mahidara Nalini Mohan

o   RS Agarwal Quantitative aptitude, Shakuntala devi puzzle books

 

Logical Reasoning:

o   RS Agarwal Modern Approach to Logical reasoning

o   Old question papers

 

Some suggestions :

1                    Prioritise what you read – identify what is important for exam; 20:80 principle i.e. 20% most important topics will fetch you 80% marks in exam.

2                    Practice answers writing.

3                    Read Notification and Syllabus-Cover entire syllabus

4                    Preliminary Ground work:

                                            i.            Collection of Books[spend some time in library or book shops to pick up good books]

                                          ii.            Selection of Coaching Centre that suits you

5                    Fix your boundaries through syllabus and previous actual question papers- not model papers.

6                    Prepare time table covering entire syllabus. Synchronise/tune with coaching classes.

7                    Write synopsis and revise 2-3 times. 

 

8                    Take control of Preparation:

                                            i.            Self-evaluation in preparation

 

                                          ii.            Preparation for changing situations or to accommodate multiple exams: eg. Bank, Groups and Mains

9                    Health Grounds:

                                            i.            Balanced diet, regular exercise – walk daily

                                          ii.            Duration of Minimum sleeping-Rest

                                        iii.            Good and satisfying hard work

10                Books:

                                            i.            Guidance [eg. How to crack civil services, Raj Bapna's mind power books, how to read books]

                                          ii.            Telugu Academy – NCERT ( Basics will remain same)

11                Current affairs:

                                            i.            News, news analysis and current affairs in All India Radio (AIR), DD-News

                                          ii.            Yojan, kurukhetra

                                        iii.            Guidance provided in newspapers- Eenadu-Chaduvu, K Nageshwar rao articles in Eenadu, Sakshi-Bhavitha etc.

 

12                General Knowledge and General Studies:

                                            i.            General Knowledge is basic and general information and generally in the shape of bits / objective type (State capitals, Vitamins etc)

                                          ii.            General Studies is concept based, analytical and application.

 

Few tips for memory :

a.       Read properly, slowly until you get clarity. Don't over read i.e. don't read everything you come across, but be choosy. Try to understand. This leads to interest in subject, concentration and memory.

b.      Apply subject in day to day life. Eg. Vitamins – which is good for eyes etc?

c.       Reciting (kallu musukoni mananam chesukovatam), writing short notes and revising it help a lot. Read-Recite-Write-Revise.[3RW]

d.      Mnemonics (eg. SMART – simple, moral, accountable, responsive, transparent  for good governance)

 

See below websites for jobs

               http://srujannakidi.blogspot.in/

http://www.apspsc.gov.in/

http://www.upsc.gov.in/

http://ssc.nic.in/SSC.html or http://ssc-cr.org      [staff selection commission]

http://www.freejobalert.com/

www.ibps.in/   [bank]

              www.rbi.org.in/

Death penalty statistics, country by country

The latest capital punishment statistics are out. Find out who uses the death penalty today.

 

Despite fewer countries executing prisoners than ever before, the death penalty is still alive and well around the world.

 

The latest statistics show that China executes thousands, said Amnesty International in its report on the death penalty worldwide. Amnesty does not provide a precise figure of executions in China as Beijing keeps such figures secret.

 

China, together with Iran, North Korea, Yemen and the US (the only G7 country to still execute people) carried out the most executions last year. Excluding China, the report says:

 

"At least 676 executions were known to have been carried out worldwide in 2011, an increase on the 2010 figure of at least 527 executions worldwide. The increase is largely due to a significant increase in judicial killings in Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia"

 

Meanwhile, 139 countries have the death penalty - a record number. Which means the number of countries executing prisoners is at a record low (see above).

 

Setting China aside, Amnesty said at least 676 executions were carried out last year(2011). Half of those took place in Iran (276). North Korea executed 30, Yemen 29 and the US 43. The minimum number of executions was down from at least 714 in 2009.

 

Methods of execution included beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and various kinds of shooting (by firing squad, and at close range to the heart or the head). No stonings were recorded in 2011, but public executions were known to have been carried out in Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.

 

Data summary

Death penalty around the world . Download this data
Country	Exe- cutions, 2010	Death sent- ences 2010	Exe-cutions, 2011	Death sent- ences 2011	TOTAL EXE- CUTED, 2007-2011	TOTAL SENT- ENCED TO DEATH, 2007-2011
SOURCE: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/mar/29/death-penalty-countries-world#data
AFGHANISTAN		100	2		34	364
ALGERIA		130		51	0	752
BAHAMAS		5			0	8
BAHRAIN	1	1		5	2	8
BANGLADESH	9	32	5	49	28	423
BARBADOS		1			0	1
BELARUS	2	3	2	2	9	12
BENIN		1			0	6
BOTSWANA	1			1	4	7
BRUNEI DARUSSALAM		0		3	0	3
BURKINA FASO		1			0	8
BURUNDI					0	1
CAMEROON		0			0	0
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC		14			0	14
CHAD		1			0	13
CHINA	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s	000s
CONGO (Democratic Republic)		0			0	74
EGYPT	4	185	1	123	12	704
EQUATORIAL GUINEA	4	4			7	4
ETHIOPIA		5			1	55
GAMBIA		13		13	0	31
GHANA		17		4	0	31
GUATEMALA		1			0	1
GUINEA				16	0	19
GUYANA		1		3	0	7
INDIA		105		110	0	435
INDONESIA		7		6	11	35
IRAN	252	0	360	156	1663	156
IRAQ	1	279	68	291	256	1420
JAMAICA		4			0	7
JAPAN	2	14		10	33	108
JORDAN		9		15	0	67
KENYA		5		11	0	16
KOREA (NORTH)	60	0	30		105	0
KOREA (SOUTH)		4			0	13
KUWAIT		3		17	1	31
LAOS		4			0	6
LEBANON		12		8	0	24
LIBERIA		11		1	0	15
LIBYA	18	0			39	0
MADAGASCAR		2			0	14
MALAWI		2		2	0	4
MALAYSIA	1	114		108	2	324
MALDIVES		1			0	1
MALI		14		2	0	41
MAURITANIA		16		8	0	33
MONGOLIA					1	45
MOROCCO		4		5	0	27
MYANMAR		2		33	0	37
NIGER					0	1
NIGERIA		151		72	0	341
OMAN					4	7
PAKISTAN		365		313	171	1497
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY	5	11	3	5	8	33
PAPUA NEW GUINEA				5	0	8
QATAR				3	0	6
SAINT KITTS & NEVIS					1	1
SAINT VINCENT AND & THE GRENADINES					0	1
SAINT LUCIA				1	0	1
SAUDI ARABIA	27	34	82	9	423	54
SIERRA LEONE		1		2	0	7
SINGAPORE		8		5	4	26
SOMALIA	8	8	10	37	23	57
SRI LANKA		0			0	120
SUDAN	6	10	7	13	30	166
SUDAN (SOUTH)			5	1	5	1
SYRIA	17	10			33	34
TAIWAN	4	9	5	16	9	45
TANZANIA		5			0	5
THAILAND		7		40	2	56
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO		0		2	0	12
TUNISIA		22			0	27
UGANDA		5		5	0	134
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES		28	1	31	2	64
UNITED STATES	46	110	43	78	220	504
VIETNAM		34	5	23	58	258
YEMEN	53	27	41	29	152	109
ZAMBIA		35		48	0	91
ZIMBABWE		8		1	0	17
TOTALS (exc China & others)	521	2015	670	1792	5541	17951

Mega Blood Donation camp @ Hyderabad

Dear All,

ITCSA in association with Prajahitha Social Service Organization ( www.prajahitha.org ) and NTR charitable trust, has successfully organized a mega blood donation camp and collected more than 400 units of blood for Bomb blast victims. Please find the photos..

 

Note : ITCSA is not associated with any Coaching Centre and we don't recommend any specific Coaching centre. ITCSA conducts free seminars in various venues/institutes for providing proper guidance to the Civil service aspirants..