GS Mains Books for IAS

                                                                                                                                       The General Studies mains paper will never be the same again. Till 2006 the GS paper followed a definite pattern: 90 marks history, 30 marks geography, 90 marks polity and so on. In fact it was so predictable that with even a decent amount of preparation candidates managed to score 310+ easily. But things have changed since 2006. Now the GS mains paper is dynamic, unpredictable and even confusing. To tackle this requires a fresh approach to your mains preparation and the books you read. Obviously you still have to refer to the standard GS mains books but apart from those there are some new books that have been recently published to help you in your mains preparation. This post details all the required gs mains books as well as the new ones along with some helpful tips to read the books for GS mains. Dive right in.

GS Mains Books for Indian History

India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra

This book is a legend among IAS aspirants. A must read book for prelims as well as mains, Bipin Chandra along with other renowned Historians takes us from the Uprising of 1857 right till the dawn of Independence in 1947. The book covers all the important topics like Gandhi’s role and contribution, major movements, peasants and farmers movements, Congress party and Muslim League etc.
Numerous questions are regularly asked in the Mains GS paper on the above topics and IAS aspirants would do well to go through this all important GS mains book for tackling the Indian History part of the GS paper.

How to Read India’s Struggle for Independence:

First go through the entire book once. After that pick and focus on the topics that are of more significance from the IAS Mains point of view. How to find out the important topics? Simple. First go through the past few years GS mains section wise papers. Section wise is important to identify all questions asked from a particular section, say Indian History. In the second stage try to identify a pattern relating to the questions asked from a particular topics in that section.
For instance within Indian History the often asked questions relate to Gandhi’s role and contribution, the three movements like Civil Disobedience, Non-Cooperation and Quit India movement.  After you’ve identified such topics you can focus more on them from this important book for gs mains history.

Modern Indian History by B.L Grover

This book is a nice complement to Bipin Chandra’s book. In fact to cover the entire modern Indian history part of the GS paper you should read both these books. Modern Indian History starts off from the decline of Mughal rule after Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 and continues right till the post Independence period.
The good part about this book from the Mains point of view is that it quite factual and contains important information in a bullet points form. All the movements are thoroughly covered with their causes and implications. In fact whatever is missing in India’s Struggle is covered in Modern Indian History. To repeat once more both these History books should be read for GS mains.

GS Mains Book for Indian Polity

Our Constitution by Subhash Kashyap

Our Constitution is the best book for Indian polity mains as well as prelims. The book is regularly updated, very easy to read and understand and explains all important Articles of the Indian constitution with authority. Subhash Kashyap was a member for the National Commission to Review the Working of Constitution set up in 2000 and lists its suggestions as well which are also useful as questions relating to it have been asked before in the GS and Pub Ad papers.
Students attempting the IAS mains should definitely refer Our Constitution to pick up 40-60 marks in the GS paper.
Apart from reading Our Constitution for conventional questions like Appointment and Removal of Judges, Right to Life, Presidential Powers etc you should also keep track of the latest developments highlighted in leading newspapers like The Hindu.
These topics include Judges Impeachment, Supreme Court Collegium, Judicial Activism, Lokpal Bill, Civil Society etc.

Economy Books for IAS Mains

Indian Economy by Dutta and Sundharam

To understand the fundamentals of Indian economy read Datt and Sundharam’s renowned book, now in its 63th edition! This important book for GS economy covers all the aspects of Indian economy from land reforms, currency system, food security, stock market to international trade, agriculture, employment and more.
Answers to many questions can be directly found in this book.

Tips to read Indian Economy:

Although the book seems quite bulky and even intimidating, you don’t have to read the entire book from start to finish. The book contains the different versions of many economic programmes. Don’t read all the versions. Just develop an understanding about the salient features of the program in its latest form, the pros and cons of it, implementation and effects. For instance, MNREGA.
Secondly, skip those sections that you feel are irrelevant or less relevant from the Mains perspective and focus on the more important sections. This way you won’t need to read more than 40 percent of Indian Economy.

Economic Survey

Just like polity, Economy too requires keeping up with the latest trends and developments. At least two questions in every Mains GS paper relate to the current economic happenings. This makes Economic Survey released by the Finance Ministry before each Budget session one of the indispensable GS Mains Books.
In fact in the 2009 GS paper questions such as there were directly asked from the Economic Survey:

How far has impact of the global meltdown been
reflected in the Economic Survey 2008-09? Identify some
of the core areas given priority to neutralize the adverse
effects of the global downturn.

And remember getting this answer right could fetch you as many as 30 marks! The Economic Survey is divided into two parts. The first part is about the state of the economy, the developments in various sub-parts of the economy, international trade and its impact on India. The second part of Economic Survey contains very useful tables and statistics about every possible aspect of Indian economy.
As mentioned in my post on Books for CSAT these tables are very useful for Prelims as well. You can even download the Economic Survey. But I would suggest you get a physical book to read at your convenience, make notes, and refer it at will.

Geography Books for GS Mains Paper

Till recently reading just the NCERT text books of Class XI and XII was enough to cover the geography syllabus of GS paper. Not so now. In the revised GS syllabus the focus is on environment, ecology, spatial and urban geography apart from the conventional topics like climate, soils, rivers etc.
While the conventional topics can be covered from NCERT text books, the other topics that are just as or even more important cannot be. To prepare such topics I recommend Majid Hussain’s Geography of India published by TMH. Majid Hussain is a renowned coach for Geography and runs his own institute in Delhi for IAS aspirants.
Geography of India covers the conventional as well as the newer and off beat topics as well. The book is well illustrated with maps, diagrams, and tables to make learning easier for students. In fact if you wish to refer just one book in place of multiple NCERT text books and other books read Geography of India.

Current Affairs Books for IAS Mains

Questions related to current events need to be handled tactfully as your answer needs to be to the point, analytical, as well as unique. The best resources for current affairs are The Hindu newspaper and good magazines like Frontline, Civil Services Chronicle and Yojana.
These magazines and newspapers should be followed regularly to keep track of the developments of national significance like the debate on Lokpal Bill, Civil Society, Corruption and so.
In case you need additional books for GS mains current affairs go through General Awareness & Current Affairs Digest by Laxmikanth published by TMH. General Awareness covers all topics like sports, culture, news, personalities, culture etc. A good book to find all the current developments listed in one place.

GS Mains Books for Science and Technology

Science and Technology is of prime importance for any country’s progress. No wonder UPSC has been asking more and more Science and Tech related questions in the IAS mains GS paper. At the very minimum you can expect 40 marks questions from this topic and on the higher end even 120 marks. Such is the variation and importance of Science and Technology.
To tackle this all important section I recommend Science and Technology Manual by TMH. It’s comprehensive, it’s easy to grasp, it’s relevant. The Science and Technology manual covers all science and tech topics like nuclear energy, conventional energy, science institutions, telecommunication, medical science etc.
Apart from this book I suggest you keep yourself updated about latest developments through newspapers and magazines mentioned above especially about works of recently awarded Nobel scientists.

Books to Tackle Statistics in GS Paper

Some IAS aspirants, in fact many, fear statistics for different reasons. Some have never studied statistics past their high school, some didn’t bother to practice statistics before the paper, while the large majority fail to reach the last question of GS paper 2 which deals with statistics.
While there is no solution other than increasing your writing and thinking speed to tackle the last problem, I can suggest a remedy for the first two.
To get an understanding about basic Statistical concepts you can refer to Class X NCERT text book. However this is insufficient for tackling questions of a more complex nature that are asked in GS paper 2. For such questions as well as the basic ones go through Spectrum’s Statistical Analysis.
Long considered as a reliable book for statistics by IAS aspirants, Statistical Analysis contains many practice questions and tutorials to solve statistics based questions. But the key is to practice questions contained in the book as well as previous years statistics based questions to tackle the last part of paper 2. Doing this you can score 40 easy marks and thereby gain an edge over your competition.