Vaibhav cracked Mains in the first attempt but only barely! With very few marks in GS, he joined Civilsdaily’s Mentorship Program for 2020 for his second attempt and the results were clear – he secured 25th rank in UPSC 2020. Vaibhav is an IT BHU graduate, school cricket captain, 7th ranker in All India Science Olympiad, a former employee at Samsung R&D and current Rank Holder for UPSC 2020.

We, at Civilsdaily IAS family, are equally thrilled and overjoyed. We wish Vaibhav Rawat, all the very best. This turn around which he has experienced in his life, may he reflect upon the society.

Guys, you can connect with our mentors to get advice on the mentorship experience and how it can help to improve your results in UPSC preparation.

Now Free Tikdam Sessions on our Space

Dear Aspirants,

This Spotlight is a part of our Mission Nikaalo Prelims-2022

JOIN THE SPECIAL SESSIONS ON OUR OFFICIAL SPACE

Morning 12:00 PM  – Prelims Spotlight Session

Evening 06:30  PM  – MCQs Session

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Evening 09:00 PM – TIKDAM: Art of Elimination Session.

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Prelims Spotlight: Budget and Economic Survey

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14th Apr 2022

The Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs has presented the Economic Survey 2021-22 in Parliament.

[1] State of the Economy

• Economic growth: Indian economy estimated to grow by 9.2 percent in real terms in 2021-22 (as per first advanced estimates) subsequent to a contraction of 7.3 percent in 2020-21. 
• GDP growth: GDP projected to grow by 8- 8.5 percent in real terms in 2022-23.  
• Agriculture and allied sectors: In line with the longer term trend, the area sown in the Kharif cycle of 2021-22 was again higher than in the previous year. In contrast to the steady performance of the primary sector, the industrial sector went through a big swing by first contracting by 7 per cent in 2020-21 and then expanding by 11.8 per cent in this financial year.

[2] Fiscal Developments

• Revenue receipts: These have gone up by 67.2 percent (YoY) as against an expected growth of 9.6 percent in the 2021-22 Budget Estimates.
• Gross Tax Revenue: It registered a growth of over 50 percent during April to November, 2021 in YoY terms. 
• Borrowings: With the enhanced borrowings on account of COVID-19, the Central Government debt has gone up from 49.1 percent of GDP in 2019-20 to 59.3 percent of GDP in 2020-21.

[3] External Sectors

• India’s merchandise exports and imports rebounded strongly and surpassed pre-COVID levels during the current financial year.
• Net capital flows: These were higher at US$ 65.6 billion in the first half of 2021-22, on account of continued inflow of foreign investment, revival in net external commercial borrowings, higher banking capital and additional special drawing rights (SDR) allocation.
• India’s external debt: It rose to US $ 593.1 billion at end-September 2021, from US $ 556.8 billion a year earlier, reflecting additional SDR allocation by IMF, coupled with higher commercial borrowings.
• Foreign Exchange Reserves: It touched US $ 633.6 billion in Dec 2021 making India the fourth largest forex reserves holder in the world after China, Japan and Switzerland.

[4] Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation

• Repo was maintained: The liquidity in the system remained in surplus. Repo rate was maintained at 4 per cent in 2021-22.
• GSAP: RBI undertook various measures such as G-Sec Acquisition Programme and Special Long-Term Repo Operations to provide further liquidity.
• NPAs declined: The Gross Non-Performing Advances ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) declined from 11.2 per cent at the end of 2017-18 to 6.9 per cent at the end of September, 2021.

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[5] Prices and Inflation

• Control over food inflation: The decline in retail inflation was led by easing of food inflation. Proactive measures were taken to contain the price rise in pulses and edible oils.
• Supply constraints eased: Effective supply-side management kept prices of most essential commodities under control during the year.
• Fuel price reduction: Reduction in central excise and subsequent cuts in Value Added Tax by most States helped ease petrol and diesel prices.

[6] Sustainable Development and Climate Change

• Sustainable development: India’s overall score on the NITI Aayog SDG India Index and Dashboard improved to 66 in 2020-21 from 60 in 2019-20 and 57 in 2018-19.
• Rise in forest cover: India has the tenth largest forest area in the world. In 2020, India ranked third globally in increasing its forest area during 2010 to 2020. In 2020, the forests covered 24% of India’s total geographical, accounting for 2% of the world’s total forest area.
• Plastic waste management (PWM): In August 2021, the PWM Amendment Rules, 2021, was notified which is aimed at phasing out single use plastic by 2022.
• Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic: Draft rules for plastic packaging was notified.
• Pledge on Net-Zero Emissions: The PM participated at COP-26 in Glasgow. He announced ambitious targets to achieve net-zero by 2070.

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[7] Agriculture and Food Management

• • Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy: It is being used to promote crop diversification.
  • Allied sector growth: Allied sectors including animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries are steadily emerging to be high growth sectors and major drivers of overall growth in agriculture sector.
  • Food security:  Government has further extended the coverage of food security network through schemes like PM Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY).
  • Income Support: Timely release of PM-KISAN Funds.

[8] Industry and Infrastructure:

• Index of Industrial Production (IIP): It grew at 17.4 percent (YoY) during April-November 2021 as compared to -15.3 percent in April-November 2020.
• Extent of road construction per day: This has increased substantially in 2020-21 to 36.5 Kms per day from 28 Kms per day in 2019-20 – a rise of 30.4 percent.
• Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme: It gave a major boost to infrastructure-both physical as well as digital.
• In contrast to the steady performance of the primary sector, the industrial sector went through a big swing by first contracting by 7 per cent in 2020-21 and then expanding by 11.8 per cent in this financial year.

[9] Services Sector

• Growth despite pandemic: Overall service Sector GVA is expected to grow by 8.2 percent in 2021-22.
• Opening up of space sector to private players: Major government reform.
• India becomes start-up hub: India has become 3^rd largest start-up ecosystem in the world after US and China.
• Unicorns in India: 44 Indian start-ups have achieved unicorn status in 2021 taking overall tally of unicorns to 83, most of which are in services sector.

[10] Social Infrastructure and Employment

• Universal vaccination: 157.94 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered (as on 16^th January 2022).
• Employment recovery: As per the quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PFLS) data up to March 2021, employment in urban sector affected by pandemic has recovered almost to the pre-pandemic level.
• Expenditure on social services (health, education and others): This expenditure by Centre and States as a proportion of GDP increased from 6.2 % in 2014-15 to 8.6% in 2021-22.
• National Family Health Survey-5:

1. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) came down to 2 in 2019-21 from 2.2 in 2015-16
2. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate and institutional births have improved in 2019-21 over year 2015-16
3. Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): Under this, 83 districts have become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ districts.
4. Continuance of MGNREGS: Increased allotment of funds to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) to provide buffer for unorganized labour in rural areas during the pandemic.

[11] Investment: Gross Fixed Capital Formation

• Statistically it measures the value of acquisitions of new or existing fixed assets by the business sector, governments and “pure” households (excluding their unincorporated enterprises) less disposals of fixed assets. GFCF is a component of the expenditure on gross domestic product (GDP), and thus shows something about how much of the new value added in the economy is invested rather than consumed. GFCF is called “gross” because the measure does not make any adjustments to deduct the consumption of fixed capital (depreciation of fixed assets) from the investment figures.
• Investment, as measured by Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) is expected to see strong growth of 15 per cent in 2021-22 and achieve full recovery of pre-pandemic level. Government’s policy thrust on quickening virtuous cycles of growth via capex and infrastructure spending has increased capital formation in the economy, lifting the investment to GDP ratio to about 29.6 per cent in 2021-22, the highest in seven years.
  BARBELL STRATEGY, SAFETY NETS & AGILE RESPONSE:
• “Barbell Strategy”: It combined a bouquet of safety-nets to cushion the impact on vulnerable sections of society/business, with a flexible policy response based on a Bayesian updating of information. This is a common strategy used in financial markets to deal with extreme uncertainty.
• The Agile approach is a well-established intellectual framework that is increasingly used in fields like project management and technology development. In an uncertain environment, the Agile framework responds by assessing outcomes in short iterations and constantly adjusting incrementally.
• The Waterfall approach entails a detailed, initial assessment of the problem followed by a rigid up-front plan for implementation. This methodology works on the premise that all requirements can be understood at the beginning and therefore pre-commits to a certain path of action. This is the thinking reflected in five-year economic plans, and rigid urban master-plans.

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P Srija, AIR 20, UPSC 2020, in conversation with Birendra sir shared her mindset and thought process that helped her crack IAS exam. Srija also gave valuable advice to aspirants for prelims as well as mains.

Srija, is an MBBS graduate and secured rank 20 in her first attempt in UPSC 2020 examination. In this series, she has talked about how a hardwork and a true mentor can change the journey of the aspirants.

After got to know from Anudeep Durishetty Rank 1 in 2017, it is clearly mentioned that she started preparing current affairs from Samachar Manthan where there is a discussion and written test every week on the various important issues. Not only the test series but also Sukanya Mam who is among the core mentor in Civilsdaily has helped her to evolve with the art of answer writing and motivated her at every stage of the preperation.

In Civilsdaily, we have a team of such dedicated mentors helping aspirants at every stage of the preparation to understand their weaknesses and approach to overcome them.

Book your slot for UPSC Mock interviews (paneled by ex UPSC members) and get a dedicated mentor, on-call DAF analysis, DAF-based personalized questionnaire, and Situational questionnaire (FREE)

You are bound to get such bouncers of questions from UPSC panelists in the interview. Tackling them is both a matter of skill and practice. Should you attempt to answer such questions or respectfully accept your ignorance? Discuss 1-1 with our CD panelists and mentors.

Moreover, we will prepare a personalized DAF-based questionnaire to keep you prepared for such questions.

As a part of Transcend Interview Guidance Program for UPSC 2021 we’ve also prepared and compiled a high-quality comprehensive questionnaire.

Upcoming Mock interview and session

This week’s mock interview dates have been fixed.

• Mock interview this week 14th April onwards – (Book your slot)   
• Time: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.  
• Mode: Online/Offline 

Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interview?

Interview slots will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Panelists for Mock Interviews: 

1. Shri Shankar Aggarwal, IAS (retd.), former Secretary
2. Dr. Noor Mohammad, IAS (retd.), former EC
3. Dr. P.K. Agrawal, IAS (Retd.), former Ch. Secy
4. Shri T. N. Thakur, IAAS (retd.), former Dy CAG
5. Shri V. P. Singh, IRPS
6. Mrs.Aditi Gupta, Corporate Leadership Specialist
7. Prof. U.M. Amin, Jamia Milia University
8. Mr. S. D. Singh, IFoS (Retd.)
9. Mr. Kunal Aggarwal, IRS
10. Mr. Debraj Das, IPS

Tentative: Shri Harsh V. Pant (Observer Research Foundation), Shri SN Tripathi, IAS (Director IIPA), Shri Yogesh Narain (Retd. Defence Secretary), Shri Dipankar Gupta (Indian Sociologist), and others.

Transcend Interview Guidance 2021: Program inclusion

1. Mock interview and detailed analysis + feedback
2. Most important issues coverage – current and structural
3. DAF 2 curation
4. Personalized mentorship
5. DAF analysis and one-on-one sessions with mentors
6. DAF based personalized questionnaire
7. Situational and Roleplay questionnaire

Do You Know That Civilsdaily Has a 75% Success Rate In UPSC Interview?

Since its inception, UPSC-CSE has had toppers from various academic and socio-economic backgrounds who have cracked the exam with flying colours. It’s clear that one doesn’t have to go to Delhi or a coaching centre to crack UPSC-CSE.

If education, geographical and economic background doesn’t matter, then what does? Attitude, or precisely consistency. If you are persistent and adamant to clear UPSC- CSE and have given more than two attempts till now, then you must replace that with consistency. Because, being persistent might lead you to the door, but it’s consistency that unlocks it.

In last month’s Samanvaya 1-on-1 counselling sessions, our expert Civilsdaily mentors reached out to aspirants to address their concerns regarding UPSC-CSE preparation. These are the responses they often heard from them —

How do I start preparing after a gap of 3-4 months?

It’s easy for me to maintain consistency in GS Preparation but not Revision

I study daily, but can only remain focused for 2-3 hours. How do I improve?

My long working hours don’t allow me to study daily.

Why am I losing interest in completing a subject? It’ s easier to read a new subject everyday.

This week, we have decided to answer all these questions and take additional questions in our personalised & motivational counselling session.

Key-Takeaways from This Week’s Samanvaya, Free 1-on-1 Counselling Session?

This prompted us to reach out to one of our students who is currently an IPS officer, Rishabh Sharma. He cleared the exam in 2020 with AIR 454. After his first attempt, Rishabh had enrolled in Smash Mains program under Sajal sir and also attended our free interview program. Cracking the mighty UPSC-CSE the second time, Rishabh explains what consistency means to him —

UPSC doesn’t just test your intellect. It tests your patience, mental strength, your emotions, the very character of yours . As far as the journey of CSE is concerned you might know when to start, but you never know when the journey will come to an end. So be consistent and enjoy the journey.

Every topper follows a plan, a method or strategy that makes it easier for them to study on a daily basis and complete the traget modules of the day. In this free live counselling session, we will explain the many ways you can do to avoid faltering on your preparation.

1. The difference between a consistent study pattern v/s an inconsistent one. How UPSC-CSE becomes easier over time with consistency?

2. Social media distraction. How to avoid spending long hours on social media? 

3. Number of ideal breaks everyday. Why is it necessary to reward yourself with a short break from time to time?

4. Best way to plan your timetable in advance? Why daily timetable should not be rigid but yearly timetable should be well defined? 

5. How to remain consistent when you are not opting for coaching? 

6. What are the practical methods to maintain regularity in studies. Tips to sustain the fire and passion for studies.

7. Why using Public Libraries is a way to remain consistent in UPSC-CSE preparation? 

8. What are the 4 factors that determine if you can remain consistent for a year? If not, then why should you work on them first before starting UPSC-CSE preparation?

Get Motivated to Maintain Overall Consistency for UPSC

It’s understandable we are humans and not programmable robots who can maintain the same level of interest everyday. However, maintaining an overall consistency throughout our preparation is neccessary to clear this competitive and vast exam. 

Our philosophy behind MENTORSHIP is to get you out of this Snooze cycle. This ensures that you are the BEST VERSION of yourself in this journey. If you are under the impression that mentorship is weekly calls you attend, then you are mistaken, my friend. Trust us, your mentor will be your ‘FRIEND, PHILOSOPHER AND GUIDE’.

TO EACH THEIR OWN – Every aspirant is different. Their strengths and weaknesses are different. Their time availability is also different. Identifying this is important so you don’t end up making unrealistic targets and lose momentum. Your mentor will make sure you start slow but remain consistent to build your confidence. Making your schedule structured based on our experience of working with 2500+ students is our first priority. 

TRACK YOUR PROGRESS – When you see yourself grow, it becomes easier to motivate yourself to push boundaries. Tracking your progress can happen in many ways like mentorship calls or chat sessions or by regular tests. The idea is to ensure that you don’t go off track in your preparation, and even if you do, we have your back.

EVOLUTION – A constant guidance is important to bring consistency to your UPSC preparation. Guidance is not about clearing your doubts or asking you to study when you don’t. It is also about the evolution of your preparation. This is where you and your mentor work as a team. A constant effort to PLAN AND BUILD UP YOUR ABILITY to learn in a faster and more efficient way.

TALK IT OUT – The biggest hurdle in achieving your highest level of consistency is the emotional part. Every now and then, you. surround yourself with negative thoughts, you feel scared and depressed. Instead of resolving these emotional issues, you avoid them as it seems like a waste of your precious time. You have to understand that ignoring emotional troubles does not solve them. What your doing is building an emotional time bomb that may burst a week before your mains or prelims! This is where your MENTOR AS A FRIEND comes in. All our mentors have been through this journey. We understand your fears and anxieties. So, TALK IT OUT.

Don’t let inconsistency keep you away from your dreams.

Fill up the SAMANVAYA form given below. Let us know your problems and we will find a solution to it, just like our students say ” TOGETHER WE CAN AND WE WILL”. BOOK YOUR SLOT FOR YOUR FREE 1-0N-1 COUNSELLING SESSION IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS

How has Civilsdaily Mentorship, helped Aspirants become Toppers?

The most difficult challenge faced by EVERY candidate is inconsistency. Be it inconsistency in studies, answer-writing practice, covering the syllabus, or revision, every candidate finds it difficult to cope with. But how do successful candidates manage to FIGHT Inconsistency so consistently?

In UPSC 2020, Civilsdaily helped 80+ students secure ranks in their exams. In the top 100, every 3rd ranker was a Civilsdaily student.

 A very recent success story would be Vishwa Shah, student of Civilsdaily Mentor, Sukanya Ma’am. Vishwa has cleared the GPSC exam to become the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Gujarat. He has penned a thank-you note yesterday. Heartiest Congratulations to Vishwa!

One of our other Civilsdaily Student, Shubham Nagargoje cleared the exams in 2020 to become an IPS Officer. Shubham was gracious enough to let us know how he felt about Civilsdaily Samanvaya Guidance under Parth sir.

To know how all of them cleared the exam with our mentorship, visit the Unherd Podcast.

Now that results are announced for UPSC 2021 Prelims, out of 15 out of 25 students of Santhosh Gupta sir have been recommended to Mains. One such student, Rahul expresses his gratitude and extends his appreciation.

Most of our Mentors like Sudhanshu sir, Sajal sir, Santhosh sir, Pravin sir, Parth Verma sir and Sukanya Ma’am were UPSC aspirants themselves and have attended UPSC Mains more than five times and UPSC Interview more than twice. Hence their mentorship is always a blend of the best test series, comprehensive notes and current affairs knowledge.

All of them dedicate their time weekly to give 1-on-1 mentorship to every student where they discuss last week’s performance and next week’s approach.

Be it Telegram, Whatsapp or Habitiat channels, they are always available and clear student’s doubts in a turnaround time of 24 Hours.

Why Civilsdaily Mentors are the GPS for Your UPSC-CSE Preparation

Remember there is always light at the end of the tunnel and if you want to get out of the tunnel you have to follow the direction of the light! Our mentors’ give you direction which is divided into daily modules. All you have to do is study and complete them on time.

As every year passes by, we don’t get confident by the previous years’ performance and become laidback. Instead, we become more hungry to convert all our students into toppers.REGISTER HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR FIRST FREE SAMANVAYA COUNSELLING SESSION IN NEXT 24 HOURS

How are Current Civilsdaily Students Gearing up for UPSC-CSE 2022?

Initially, our Civilsdaily student Smriti wasn’t confident about Prelims when she began her preparation. Though she had joined Civilsdaily in 2020, she started studying for UPSC-CSE back in 2019. At that time, Smriti had enrolled in multiple institutes. Though, most of these institutes had promised a personal mentor, she was unable to get in touch with them on a daily basis. Also those mentors never scheduled test-series on a weekly basis. Hence, despite preparing for a year, Smriti had scored only 35 marks out of 200 in her first test series by Civilsdaily.

She then started writing 20-25 test series over the course of UAP 2021 and in her last test, her scores have drastically improved. She now scores in the range of 130-135 marks in prelims’ and 110+ in mains’ papers.

In Smriti’s own words she describes her Samanvaya Mentorship Experience to be —

“Our parents provide us financial and emotional support, friends provide us moral support and the right mentor gives you logistic and logical support for UPSC. There are days when I felt I won’t be able to compete against lakhs of aspirants. That’s when my mentor, Ravi sir reminded me of my improvement and encouraged me that I can crack it with the same consistency. We need someone, who tells us we are performing well especially when we cannot see that ourselves. The mentorship at Civilsdaily helped me become mentally stronger as a person. In other institutes, mentors are allotted only for doubt resolution. But at Civilsdaily, I am getting end-to-end mentorship via value added notes, classes, test series and detailed evaluation.”

Similarly our another Civilsdaily student, Ashish sums up his Samanvaya experience with Civilsdaily mentor, Pravin Sir, “Because of Pravin sir’s support, I am able to understand a topic in lesser time.”

This is how Pravin sir evaluates Ashish’s Mains Test Series every week. After every test series evaluation, Pravin sir schedules a 1 hour call to discuss how Ashish can improve his marks and the sources he can refer for key topics.

It’s Your Turn Get the Free 40 Min Counselling Session By a CD Mentor

Civilsdaily mentors are so dedicated, consistent and focused for your UPSC goal, that you will eventually become focused into turning your dreams to reality.

At the core of Civilsdaily UPSC mentorship, lies the fact that each one of you will have a unique journey while preparing for the exam. Some will get through on the first attempt without much effort while others will take both more time and more effort.

We want to understand you better to help you optimize your journey so you can focus on the right things and not waste time on the wrong ones. We are asking you to tap into the valuable experiences of mentors who underwent the same grind and realize the pitfalls and understand the shortcuts to make it.

In the first counselling session, we will understand your weaknesses. We then help you to stick to one plan or strategy throughout your preparation. We will then follow up with you on a daily basis to check if you are right on track. TALK TO OUR MENTORS & CLARIFY YOUR DOUBTS NOW