How to study the Hindu or Indian express for UPSC
Newspaper reading is an important aspect of your IAS preparation and it is also true that you cannot spend your precious time reading only newspapers. If you are aware of the exam pattern, don’t spend much time reading it as compared to the freshers. In this setup, we will help candidates read ‘The Hindu’ newspaper better for the UPSC examination.
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Why reading The Hindu newspaper is important
There are a lot of newspapers that one can read for current affairs preparation but reading ‘The Hindu’ newspaper is so important for the UPSC examination. Well, the region is quite clear that the Hindu newspaper has high standards. This means that it gives priority to national concerns and usually avoids relevant pieces of information. It distinguishes well between news and opinion.
Some tips to read The Hindu newspaper for the UPSC exam
Understand the syllabus
Know the syllabus thoroughly because it will help you in choosing the right articles while leaving out the irrelevant ones and also save a lot of time.
Don’t pay attention to political news
Political news or remarks are not important from UPSC’s perspective. So don’t focus on local, political news but read social-economic news like educational issues, women’s issues, health issues and issues of policies affecting the major section of the society.
News of national and international importance
Candidates must read all news that is of either national or international importance. Read everything related to the constitution of India and the legislative and administrative process and political issues. Moreover, pay less attention to awards or sports sections although you can have a look at the headlines of the sports section.
Don’t learn the basic concepts
First of all, candidates should have an understanding of the concepts before reading the newspaper. Don’t try to learn the basic concept from the newspaper, it will only waste your time and confidence. High court and supreme court verdicts are very important from the UPSC exam point of view.
Editorial section
The editorial section is the most prominent section in the newspaper. Make sure you have a pen or pencil in your hand while reading this section and underline every important information hand to hand that you feel will be helpful.
If you are a fresher, you may not be able to extract relevant information from newspapers in the beginning but gradually once you are done with the basic concepts, your outlook towards the exam will change upside down. There will be a time when you will love the preparation process and enjoy it. So, it is crucial that you can extract maximum benefit from this.
How to read Indian express
Indian Express is one of the major sources for the current affairs section in the Civil Service exam. It not only helps in prelims but also in Mains answer writing. There is no need to read it end to end. It will help a lot to inculcate a multidimensional approach in the main exam.
Some important topics to focus on in this newspaper are governance, constitution constitutional amendment, government policies and schemes. High court and supreme court verdicts, International relations, diplomatic relations, multilateral forums National and international, Heritage current geographical phenomenon, new GI tags, issues related to women and society, social security, health and education etc.
Topics related to employment, world and Indian economy, budget, poverty, National and International security, environmental climate change and natural disasters.
Also, you must read selected articles in the explained section and case studies related to topics in the UPSC syllabus.
Avoid news on death, sports, awards, politics, cinema, crime, share market etc.
Don’t make notes on each topic. Although it may be difficult for beginners to identify all the relevant news for the UPSC exam, later you will be able to know what to read from ‘Indian express’.
Initially, newspaper reading can take 4 to 5 hours per day but gradually you will realize which news is important and which is not. Also, these efforts of yours will put you much ahead of other candidates in the General Studies paper.
Undoubtedly, newspapers are an important source of preparing current affairs and gaining knowledge on various other important National and international happenings. The IAS exam demands in-depth knowledge of current affairs, social-economic issues, government policy etc.
In recent years, we can see the weightage of current affairs has been increasing in all three stages of the UPSC examination namely, the Prelims examination, Mains examination and interview or personality test. So, newspaper reading is a must for all UPSC candidates. There are a lot of newspapers in the country like ‘The Hindu’, Indian express, and Hindustan Times but they all are not important from UPSC’s point of view. ‘The Hindu or Indian express both are very important for UPSC exam and are preferred by candidates but if you have not too much time to cover both the newspapers while preparing for IAS examination then it is good to follow one standard newspaper along with current affairs magazine provided by Youth Destination. Let us check the pros and cons of Indian Express and The Hindu to give you a clear idea of a more suitable newspaper for the UPSC exam.
The Hindu newspaper
The most recommended newspaper by UPSC faculty and senior candidates is ‘The Hindu’ because of its comprehensive coverage and high standards. No doubt The Hindu newspaper has become an important part of civil service preparation. Check the pros and cons of reading ‘The Hindu’ newspaper given below.
Pros
The Hindu newspaper is of a very high standard and covers the issues very comprehensively that you can directly use in the main examination.
The editorial section of the Hindu is quite read-worthy.
Furthermore, most IAS Coaching centers prepare current affairs based on ‘The Hindu newspaper so when candidates read The Hindu they can easily grasp and revise current affairs materials provided by the Institute.
Cons
The issues of South states are comprehensively covered in ‘The Hindu’ newspaper and they will not be very helpful for non-South candidates because questions in the interview will be based on their home state. The language of The Hindu newspaper is difficult to understand and complicated. If you are not well versed in English, it will be difficult to grasp the concepts in the English language.
Indian Express
In the recent past, The Indian Express newspaper has improved its standards. Therefore it also has become very useful for UPSC candidates in their preparation along with ‘The Hindu’.
The pros and cons of this newspaper are given below.
pros
Candidates who are not well versed in the English language can select the Indian Express newspaper for UPSC preparation. The language used in this newspaper is easy to understand and also covers the news comprehensively and in a simpler language.
Economics related issues are covered very comprehensively in this newspaper. The students from non-South Indian states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat will find it very helpful at the time of the interview because this newspaper covers the issue of these states.
Candidates belonging to the Southern States will find it less useful at the time of the interview.
So we can say both the newspapers are good and maintain good standards as far as the UPSC preparation is concerned. They are not only a good source of information but also good for making notes. So choose the newspaper as per your convenience but don’t waste time reading many newspapers. Follow one newspaper, make crispy notes and revise them multiple times.
Apart from newspapers, many magazines are also important from UPSC’s perspective. For example Yojana magazine, Kurukshetra magazine and Youth Destination current affairs magazine.
Yojana is a well-known magazine for prelims and mains of UPSC but its alone is not sufficient to cover current affairs for the UPSC exam. Follow it along with a current affair magazine. You can also watch a few programs on Rajya Sabha TV like the big picture, India’s world, state of the economy, policy watch etc.
