Essential IAS Books For UPSC Prelims

India Year Book

History Of Modern India – Bipan Chandra. (History)

India’s Struggle For Independence – Bipan Chandra. (History)

India’s Ancient Past – R.S. Sharma. (History)

History Of Medieval India – Satish Chandra. (History)

The Wonder That Was India – A.L. Bhasham. (Culture)

Indian Art and Culture – Nitin Singhania (Culture)

Geography of India – Majid Husain. (Geography)

Oxford School Atlas – Oxford. (Geography)

Certificate Physical and Human Geography – Goh Cheng Leong. (Geography)

Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations – M. Laxmikanth. (Polity)

Indian Economy – Ramesh Singh. (Economy)

Economic Survey. (Economy)

Science and Technology in India – TMH. (Science and Technology)

Environmental Studies: From Crisis to Cure – Rajagopalan. (Environment)

Environment for Civil Services Prelims and Mains – Khuller. (Environment)

India Year Book (Current Affairs)

Manorama Yearbook. (Current Affairs)

CSAT Paper – 2 Manual by TMH or CSAT-II – Arihant (CSAT – Paper 2)OR MANISH RANJAN

Analytical Reasoning – M. K. Pandey (CSAT – Paper 2: Analytical Reasoning)

Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning – R S Aggarwal (CSAT Paper 2: Reasoning)


Additional IAS Books for UPSC Mains -


Mastering Modern World History by Norman Lowe

Contemporary Essays by Ramesh Singh OR 151 ESSAYS For UPSC Mains (Essay Paper)

India After Gandhi – Ramchandra Guha (History – GS1)

Norman Lowe OR History of Modern World – Jain and Mathur (World History – GS1)

Social Problems In India – Ram Ahuja. (Indian Society – GS1)

IAS Mains General Studies Paper 2 (Arihant Manual – GS2)

Governance in India for CSE. (Governance – GS2)

Pax Indica – Shashi Tharoor. (Foreign Policy – GS2)

India and the World by Surendra Kumar. (Foreign Policy – GS2)

IAS Mains General Studies – GS3. (Arihant Manual – GS3)

India’s National Security: A Reader. (Internal Security – GS3)

Challenges to Internal Security of India. (Internal Security – GS3)

Lexicon for Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude. ( Ethics – GS4)

IAS Mains General Studies – Ethics. ( Arihant Manual – GS4)

PS: Many books for UPSC Civil Service Main Exam overlap with books recommended for Prelims, except the mentioned additional books for topics like Foreign Relations, Internal Security, Ethics etc.

IAS Books for Optional Subjects and Additional Reference (Click to Buy Online)

Books for Optional subjects in UPSC Mains.

Additional books for reference – Prelims and Mains.

IAS Books in Hindi: List of Useful Books For Hindi Medium Aspirants.

Latest IAS Books: Click To Buy New Releases For UPSC Preparation.

IAS Manuals and Previous Year Question Papers (Click to Buy Online)

General Studies For Civil Services Preliminary Examination – TMH. (GS Problem Solving)

UPSC Civil Services Prelims in 60 days – Rakesh Dwivedi. (Revision)

IAS Prelims 21 Years General Studies Topic-Wise Solved Papers – Disha.

IAS (Pre.) Solved Papers General Studies with CSAT Papers – Arihant.

IAS Mains Civil Services Main Examination: General Studies Chapter-wise Solved Papers.

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Roll-Out Solar Array, or ROSA

(1). ROSA is an advanced, flexible solar array that rolls out like a tape.

(2). The ROSA is very much flexible so that it can be adapted to different sizes including very large arrays.

(3). ROSA is expected to provide power for a variety of future spacecraft and satellites.

(4). ROSA is smaller and lighter than the traditional panels and has a centre wing build of a flexible material containing photovoltaic cells to convert light into electricity.

(5). ROSA with significantly less mass and volume can offer substantial cost savings and increase the power for satellites.

(6). Why in news? It is being tested on International Space Station.

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Important banking terms related to PNB issue

What is LoU?

✓ Letter of Undertaking is a bank guarantee and is issued for overseas import payments.

✓ A bank, while issuing LoUs for a client (here Nirav Modi), agrees to repay the principal and interest on the client's loan unconditionally.

✓ When an LoU is issued it involves an issuing bank, a receiving bank, an importer and a beneficiary entity overseas.

✓ PNB officials allegedly used their access to SWIFT messaging system (used for the overseas transaction) and verified guarantees given on LoUs without taking necessary sanctions.

✓ As a result, overseas branches of many Indian banks gave forex credit.

What is SWIFT
:no_e

✓ When an LoU is issued, the message of credit transfer is conveyed to overseas banks through the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system.

✓ This is a significant information as it gives the bank's consent and guarantees.

✓ To issue SWIFT, an official has to log in and fill up confidential information such as the account number and SWIFT code.

✓ It generally has three layers of security - a maker, a checker and a verifier within the core banking system before it is issued.:no_entry: What is CBS?

✓ CBS refers to Core Banking System where all branches are interconnected to ensure that the bank customers - regardless of their home branch - are able to operate their account and transact in any of the member branch located anywhere in the world.

✓ After the advent of this system, a customer is no more customer of a branch, but s/he becomes a customer of the bank.

✓ All the transactions are updated real-time. So, if you are wondering why the PNB couldn't detect the fraud earlier, it is because the PNB official did not rout the transactions through CBS, which would have given real-time data on transacted business.

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