‘Social issues’ is an important topic for the UPSC civil services exam. It is covered in General Studies Paper 1, although it has implications in all the four GS papers and even in the essay paper at times.
Social issues/Indian Society is covered under the following headings in the GS paper I UPSC syllabus:
- Salient aspects of Diversity of India and Indian Society
- Role of women and women’s organization
- Population and associated issues
- Poverty and developmental issues
- Urbanisation – problems and remedies
- Social empowerment
- Communalism, regionalism, and secularism
Get more information about Social Issues in India along with its major classifications at the linked article.
Social issues are also covered in GS paper II especially in governmental schemes related to various sectors, welfare schemes, health, education, human resources, poverty, hunger, etc. All IAS Exam aspirants must carefully go through the social issues important from the UPSC perspective.
| Test how prepared you are for the upcoming IAS Exam with the UPSC Previous Year Question Papers!! Also, refer to the following links for exam preparation: |
Social Issues Topics for UPSC Exam
At the outset, you should know that the topics under social issues are not technical but rather general. You can easily read about these topics in various articles and editorials in the newspapers. Instead of cramming figures, you should aspire to understand the crux of the problems facing society at every level. You must develop a holistic view of issues and for this, reading a variety of editorials and opinions matter. You should also be able to make your judgements about issues but make sure they are UPSC-friendly (not too extreme). Your views should be balanced and convey the pros and cons of every angle.
Aspects you should focus on:
The diversity of Indian society is something that baffles foreigners and also native Indians many times. You should ideally be able to picture the real India encompassing every citizen from different regions, speaking different languages, professing a multitude of faiths, enjoying diverse cuisines, and soaking up the growth story and the delightful confusion that makes up India today in their own specific ways.
You should next focus on the problems faced by Indian society. Every problem whether political, economic, security-related, or cultural can be linked to social issues. Indian society faces a hoard of problems and you should read about them in a very objective fashion.
Some of the problems that the UPSC seems to like:
- Poverty
- Population
- Development
- Urbanisation/migration
- Globalization
- Regionalism
- Communalism
- Social backwardness
- Women’s issues
- Education
The study material for social issues:
- Social Problems in India – Ram Ahuja
- UPSC: Civil Services Main – Indian Society (A General Overview) – B. Ramaswamy
- NCERT Sociology NCERT Class XI – Understanding Society
- NCERT Sociology NCERT Class XII – Indian Society, Social Change, and Development in India.
- Magazines like Yojana and Kurukshetra
- Newspapers
Visit the Best Books on Indian Society page to get the list of books for UPSC preparation of social issues.
Also, See | How to Approach Post-Independence Indian History for UPSC?
Visit BYJU’S Website for strategy and articles on free IAS prep and all the latest on the UPSC IAS exam.
Comments