New Delhi, Oct. 18: The government has decided to do away with the optional paper in the civil services preliminary examination from next year and instead replace it with two compulsory papers. The changes to the exam paper have been brought in after 30 years.
The compulsory papers will cover subjects like Indian polity, governance and communication skills. Till now, the prelims gave a candidate the option of choosing a subject from 23 options besides a separate general knowledge test common for all.
With the UPSC changing the syllabus and pattern, the preliminary examination will now have two papers — Paper I and Paper II — with 200 marks.
Each paper will be of two hours’ duration, an official release said.
Subjects in Paper I include current events of national and international importance, history of India and the Indian national movement, Indian and world geography — physical, social, economic geography of India and the world.
Indian Polity and governance will involve the Constitution, political system, panchayati raj, public policy, rights issues etc. Economic and social development has sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, social sector initiatives etc.
General issues on environmental ecology, bio-diversity and climate change, which do not require subject specialisation, will also be included in Paper I.
Paper II will have subjects like general science, 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 10 level). Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc — Class 10 level) and English language comprehension skills (Class 10 level) will also be included in Paper II.