IASbaba's Think Learn and Perform 2017
Hello Friends,
The cricket season in India was clinical in its win against Australia. If you are a cricket follower, you must be a fan of the legend in contemporary Indian cricket. Yes! We are talking about Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He has the ability to change the course of a game on his own and he has proven that on several occasions. But what makes him so special?
Is it the extraordinary power that he can generate in his shots or is it his running between the wickets? Is it his acumen as a captain or is it his uncanny ability to destroy the stumps even before the batsman can blink his eyes? In fact, out of the many attributes that make him so special, the one that stands out is his ability to adapt. He reads the game, formulates a plan in his mind, executes it to perfection and if needed changes the gear accordingly. You have seen him destroy the opponents by hitting huge sixes but you have also watched him crafting the shaky innings with only tail-enders to support him. He knows when to slog when to defend and when to take calculated risks. That is the secret of his success.
With the Mains examination hardly three weeks from now, you have to read the game. You must know your priorities now and have a plan for the rest of this month. These final days are just like the slog overs where you have to switch gears and make every attempt possible to increase your score. What options do you have to achieve that? Should you start reading new concepts and the uncovered parts of the syllabus? No that’s not a good option. Just like a new batsman can’t start hitting the ball from the word go, you can’t be confident with respect to your preparation of relatively new topics. Rather your focus should be to consolidate your preparation. You must narrow your focus on what is really important. This is not the time to be over aspirational. If India is reeling at 180 for the loss of seven wickets after 45 overs, the target Dhoni has in mind is 220 and not 300. If you think, you can revise everything that you have covered till now and add value to that and thereby do wonders on 28th onwards, it is simply not possible. Be realistic. Do what you can and you should.
There is no denying that current affairs form a major chunk of questions in Mains. In fact, static and current are two ends of the same continuum. If you have understood the concept of fundamental rights, then you must be able to understand and analyse the ‘right to privacy’ underscored by the SC in its latest judgement. You also need to visualise that issues like triple talaq and nikah halala can be positioned somewhere around Article 44 of the Constitution. This two-way relationship between static and current often blurs their differences if any.
Therefore, at this stage, your focus should be on current affairs and in doing so you must extend and visualise the current developments in the broader context of concepts given in the syllabus.
For example, triple talaq can’t only be seen in the context of India’s personal law jurisprudence but is also an issue that has repercussions for the women in India. You should be in a position to develop perspectives required in all the papers. From the above example, it is clear that triple talaq can be asked in paper I (under women issues) as well as in paper II (under polity and constitution). You should have the depth and breadth to treat the same topic with different colours depending upon the demands of the question.
In order to help you in doing that, we will post 5 questions from current affairs on a regular basis including weekends (since not much time is left) just like our TLP online initiative. We are determined to cover 100 most important issues for Mains, 2017. You can’t afford to miss it.
Note- This will start from today!
So, all the best and happy writing.
IASbaba
