clearias:: How to study Polity for Civil services exam

Indian Polity Notes Which You Shouldn’t Miss!

This post is a compilation of the most viewed notes on Indian Polity, which we feel you shouldn’t miss. Beginners may treat this link as an index/sitemap for Indian polity section. If you are looking for the full database of all of our articles on Indian Polity, browse our Indian Polity notes category.

Most Viewed Articles Under Indian Polity Section

• Historical background of Indian Constitution.
• Preamble of the Constitution.
• Union and its Territory.
• Citizenship.
• Fundamental Rights.
• Directive Principles of State Policy.
• Fundamental Duties.
• President.
• Vice-president.
• Prime Minister, CoM and Attorney General.
• Parliament.
• Supreme Court.
• Governor.
• Chief Minister and CoM.
• State Legislature.

How To Study Indian Polity?

The above mentioned order of posts follows the order of Constitution of India and hence we strongly suggest all aspirants to follow the same for easy comprehension. Apart from this, to clarify confusing concepts we have written many other posts. The must read ones include:

About Constitution

• Indian Constitution Parts and Articles.
• Must Know Articles of Indian Constitution.
• Schedules of Indian Constitution.
• Fundamental Rights vs Directive Principles: What If there is a conflict?

Executive

• President of India – Powers and Roles You Must Know.
• Role of Civil Services in a Democracy.
• Functions of an IAS Officer.

Legislature

• Sessions of Parliament: Adjournment, Prorogation, Dissolution etc.
• When Does a Bill Lapse in Indian Parliament?
• Types of Majorities Used in the Indian Parliament.
• Parliamentary Committees in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• Important Parliamentary Committees in Detail.
• Election to Rajya Sabha : The Procedure.

Judiciary

• Procedure Established by Law vs Due Process of Law.
• Capital Punishment, Mercy Pleas and the Supreme Court.

Also read:  Salient features of the Representation of Peoples Act

Center-State Relations

1. Inter State Council vs National Development Council.
2. NITI Aayog: The new ‘think-tank’ to replace Planning Commission.

Statutes

• Representation of People’s Act.
• Right To Information Act 2005.
• Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005.
• Indian Companies Act 2013.

What should you understand by the term Polity?

For ease of convenience it’s always mentioned as polity, but UPSC syllabus for Prelims elaborate this topics in a few more words, ie. “Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.” Undoubtedly, Constitution is the most important topic under Indian Polity. Apart from that new bills, laws, governance issues etc. should also be studied.

Books to Study Indian Polity

• Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations – M. Laxmikanth is a really useful book for all stages of examinations.
• Introduction to the Constitution of India by Durga Das Basu – A much more authoritative text on Indian polity. Good reference material for Supreme Court judgments, but beginners may find it tough.
• Our Parliament by Subhash Kashyap.
• India Year Book.
• Class 11 and 12 NCERT textbook of Political Science, especially, ‘Indian Constitution at work’.

Additional Books for IAS Mains

For polity, governance, social justice and foreign relations topics for mains, certain new books are available in the market. Links for them are given below:

1. IAS Mains General Studies Paper 2 (Arihant Manual – GS2).
2. Governance in India for CSE – Laxmikanth (Governance – GS2).
3. Pax Indica – Shashi Tharoor (Foreign Policy – GS2).
4. India and the World by Surendra Kumar (Foreign Policy – GS2).

Also read:  Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY)

Our approach and advice!

We are ClearIAS has prepared lot of free online resources to supplement your Indian polity preparation. If you want to get a comprehensive idea about Indian Constitution and its 395 articles, the best source is our post: Constitution of India: List of All Articles (1-395) and Parts (1-22). We have been adding lot of articles under our Indian Polity notes and notes for IAS Mains GS2 paper. We have tried to cover in detail, each article of Indian Constitution, explaining the non-constitutional or current affairs associated with each article. We hope this article series to help aspirants with a rigid frame work and clarity of thoughts for Prelims, Mains and Interview.