Upsc preliminary syllabus

Preliminary

Type: Objective type exam, the basis on which candidate is selected for mains exam

Difficulty level: Medium    Parts : 2

UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper I – (200 marks)

Time: Two hours

Important: Counted for the merit rank in the Prelims

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper II- (200 marks)

Time: Two hours ( qualifying in nature; needs 33% marks)

• Comprehension.
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
• Decision-making and problem-solving.
• General mental ability.
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)

Note 1 : Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

Note 2 : The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

 Note 3 : It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore, a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

For detailed notification follow www.upsc.gov.in 

UPSC GS snippet Banking

What is IMPS and MMID in banking? 

With mobiles becoming smarter, the ease of banking has been increased through various services like IMPS and MMID. 

The below are the full forms and what they mean

1. What is IMPS?
   Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is an instant interbank electronic fund transfer service through mobile phones. It is also being extended through other channels such as ATM, Internet Banking, etc.
2. What is MMID?
   Mobile Money Identification Number (MMID) is a seven digit number of which the first four digits are the unique identification number of the bank offering IMPS.

Source:https://www.onlinesbi.com/sbijava/imps_faq.html

What is Sovereign Wealth Fund?

What is Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Let me quote what Wikipedia says

“A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment fund investing in real and financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, or in alternative investments such as private equity fund or hedge funds.”

The SWF came into picture after the 2008 crash.

Importance of SWF

It holds significance as nations pension fund could be part of it. It could be investing in real estate.

(Above are few ones among the numerous ones which can be sensed easily by common man)

Why create Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Take a country with plenty of oil with projection that oil will dry up in 20 years from now. The country chooses to pool the profit/trade-surplus from the resource for the benefit of its citizens.  

Eg: Norway’s SWF is among the most famous sovereign fund which has grown now to be a massive fund.

India doesn't have trade surplus hence few economists feel the idea may not suit India. 

Risks and Criticism

The SWF could be used to get political or economic advantage. The way the SWF’s are used by many countries are unclear. Eg: If the SWF uses the pension fund in a ridiculous manner, then citizens would suffer badly.

 The above is a very ultrasimplified version on SWF, just to introduce the concept.


Update 2019:

India has become a favourite destination for SWFs. The SWFs (eg Canadian Pension Plan, QIP etc) from other countries are putting money in Indian firms. 

Arousal Theory of motivation - IAS psychology notes download

Hope you have read the earlier theory of motivation, the drive theory of motivation. If not go through it before continuing here. 

The Clark Hull's drive reduction theory described earlier is reduction of tension when a behaviour is completed. 
You feel hungry > drive to eat food> ate food> drive reduced (with time hunger/drive comes again, behavior repeated. 

The issues in describing certain behaviors like sexual motivation etc gave rise to the Arousal theory of motivation. The important factor of the theory is that arousal needs to be optimum for an activity. One of the very often shown picture is that of a smiling gentleman skydiving. What on the world motivates him to do it?. 

I remember the behavior of a college batch mate of mine, i call him genius ray as he can pass any exam after studying just 3 hours. The hard workers study endlessly and he completes the same task in exactly 2 to 4 hourrs. Once i asked, Dude why you wait till morning 7:00 to start reading for exam at 10:00. His answer was simple, its boring to read before. His level of arousal to read for an exam comes just few hours before the exam. 

source:www.verywell.com

Arousal theory of motivation: This theory suggests that human beings need an optimal level of arousal for a behavior.

An aspirant may read psychology at a different level of arousal and GS at another level of arousal. The behavior (to read a subject) various with the level of arousal in him/her. (Variation in arousal regarding activity). The ability to read depends on the level of arousal. In case, you didn’t have a meal or you had a tiring day, then the arousal level may be low. The time spend in reading may go in vain. You may sit with book but the reading might be slow. This is a situation where the arousal is low. Hence, you may need good rest or sleep to bring back arousal to optimum level so that you can read psychology and clear UPSC!(optimum level of arousal needed for an activity)

What I have put as arousal-performance relation is known by a cute name “Yerkes-Dodson law”. This law describes the arousal-behavior curve.  Eg: You have studied everything for psychology exam and tomorrow is psychology exam, the performance (motivation to write) vary with level of arousal. If you are too excited or too low (two sides of arousal – low and high), the performance might go down. This is why it’s often asked to take deep breath and take a break before exam. Too much last minute reference etc may push the arousal high and hamper, similarly too much coolness can also spoil the outcome.

To submit the law as is: Yerkes-Dodson law suggests that level of arousal beyond which performance begins to decline is a function of task difficulty.

The issue with the theory is describing and measuring the optimal arousal. The arousal of a person may be different from another. How to measure? How to find the optimal arousal for a particular activity?

The arousal theory considers the individual differences in motivation, differences in motivation with respect to activity. It also can explain the difference in motivation during various times of a day.

In all the theories of motivation, think of situation where it can be applied. An original example cited by you would be of much use than a copy paste from a book. Also keep in mind it will be often asked along with Clark Hull's drive reduction theory. Don't be bogged down by these hard names - Clark Hull or Yerkes Dodson, keep your arousal optimum. 

Best-

Psychology notes: Motivation theories - drive theory

Psychology uses a number of theories to explain a concept or term. Same is for “motivation”

Why do you write civil service again and again? What motivates Leander Paes or Dhoni  to practice  before each match? What motivated a rich man’s son to shed his weight?

The theories as single or mostly as a bundle can be used to explain motivation. The earliest of the theories is Drive Theory. In common parlance motivation is often called as drive too. What drives you to do it? Is common way of asking What motivated you?.

source: www.pinterest.com

The drive theory is used to explain behaviors like drinking water or eating food. The basic biological needs pushes a person to do a behavior to reduce the need.

Biological need - > drive - > bahaviour -> reduces drive - > need satisfied  (for that time to re-occur later).

The drive is closely related to homeostasis. The drive leads to behavior for human body to reach homeostasis. Homeostasis is a concept in physiology which tells that body functions maintain the cells or body in normal range. Once the homeostasis is disturbed ( hunger/thirst) the body balance changes. This creates a drive for the human being to act in manner to maintain this homeostasis.

The theory which was initially used to explain eating or drinking was later extended to other behavioral patterns. But the extent to which it can explain all types of motivation is questionable.

Eg: Person may read erotic material to increase sexual excitement even though sexual activity may not be anticipated. Here the behavior increase drive.

This and many other behavior shows that drive theory is insufficient to explain “motivation”.

.. to be continued!

Keywords: biological need, homeostasis

Definition

Motivation: Internal processes that activate, guide and maintain behaviour over time (source: Robert A Baron) 

How much does an IAS officer earn initially as salary?

The IAS officer joins as a probationer. He is in PB3 15600-39100 + GP 5400.

He salary would be around 40,500=(pay15600 +GP5400 +18900+600).

During probation: Of this around 10,000 would be mess bill. A percentage would be retained to be paid by state later.

 In short: He would get around 20,000 in hand.If the probationer

A number of questions in quora and in wiki's which clearly explain this. There are many aspirants who does a guesstimation of salary. Just calculate the Pay+Gradepay+allowance+DA) and its the salary of any job.

Read more

Real 4G vs 4G vs LTE

What is 4G? Difference “real 4G”and “4G”?

The ITU (International telecom unions) had mentioned certain specifications for 4G. The connections that meet these requirements are known as “real 4G”. There are lot of companies which advertise as 4G, which may not meet these requirements but are known as 4G.

Read about the 4G specifications (Click here)

How to find if the connection is “real 4G”or 4G?

Running speed test and comparing with the specifications. It can be noted that the disclaimer of most companies would have fine prints that cover the legal hassles  if some one complaints that he/she isn’t getting “real 4G”.

What is 3.9 G?

The improvements in 3G, which are better but doesn’t meet the 4G requirements, are known as 3.9 G.

What is LTE?

LTE stands for long term evolution. It didn’t meet the original requirements of 4G, but since it was a significant improvement over the 3G, it is regarded as 4G.