With 1000 MCQs in 40 days, we’re going to cover and revise Current affairs + related static parts for IAS Prelims 2021.
Weekly schedule released
To make the program accessible to working aspirants, we will be having classes on weekends as well. Join today’s workshop to discuss how to make the most out of Prelims-1000 program.
Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.
*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check here: Click2Join
Starting today, Amit sir is going to have a three days workshop-cum-preparatory session for Prelims-1000 club. Session will start at 7:30 pm on Habitat.
With 1000 MCQs in 40 days, we’re going to cover and revise Current affairs + related static parts for IAS Prelims 2021.
Weekly schedule released
To make the program accessible to working aspirants, we will be having classes on weekends as well. Join today’s workshop to discuss how to make the most out of Prelims-1000 program.
Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.
*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check here: Click2Join
Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.
*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check here: Click2Join
Attempting MCQs is the best way to learn concepts, explore different aspects of a topic, establish linkages, understanding the relevance of a topic for pre, and tackle unpredictability in the exam hall. And this is exactly why after first reading of the syllabus, you must integrate second reading and revision with attempting MCQs.
With IAS Prelims 2021 fast approaching, ‘Prelims- 1000’ is the need of the hour.
What is Prelims-1000 by Amit sir?
With 1000 MCQs in 40 days, we’re going to cover and revise Current affairs + related static parts for IAS Prelims 2021.
On an exclusive Habitat club, we’re going to have five days a week sessions. These chat-based sessions under the guidance of Amit sir will be enriched by insights from peers as well. It’ll ensure that learning is active, collaborative, and effective.
What are we going to cover?
1.5 yrs of IAS Prelims 2021 worthy current affairs
Related static revision from NCERTs and Standard books
All the discussions and sessions will be held on Habitat. It is our innovative chat-based learning platform. You’ll be assigned to an exclusive club Prelims-1000 that is administered by Amit sir.
As per a timetable (to be shared in the group) Amit sir will take daily sessions. Every question will be dealt with in its entirety covering both the depth as well as the breadth (interlinkages).
Where to find Prelims-1000 Habitat club link?
After you have enrolled for the program you will receive an email with the Habitat link for Prelims-1000 club.
You can also find the link in the curriculum section of this course.
Below is a rough breakdown of the 8 weeks and course we are going to cover. It is going to be comprehensive and intensive.
Program inclusion:
Membership to an exclusive group on Habitat. (Link will be emailed to you. You can also find that in the curriculum section of this program)
5 days a week Habitat chat-based discussion sessions. (2-3 hours minimum)
1000 MCQs (PDF + Habitat discussion)
Mentorship by Amit sir
Note: After enrollment, please check your email inbox and visit the curriculum section of Prelims-1000 Club by Amit sir for further instructions and Habitat links.
It’s not just the MCQs but the process that makes Prelims-1000 essential.
The questions shall be sourced from a multitude of sources, standard plus a few more, to ensure that the candidate experiences a wide variety of questions and gets acclimatized with the kind of questions that appear in the actual examination i.e. combining multiple concepts and current events together to frame a question.
Consider the following questions that are more a test of the application of what a candidate has learned instead of relying on the candidate’s eidetic memory:
Ques. Narmada River does not have many tributaries primarily because: 1. It flows through the region of scanty rainfall. 2. The hard rock surface and non-alluvial nature of the peninsular plateau permits little scope for the development of tributaries. 3. It flows through a narrow valley confined by precipitous hills.
Choose the correct alternative using the codes given below.
(a) 1 and 3 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Ques. Apart from poaching, which of the following is/are among the reasons for the decline of the bird population in India? 1. Extension in tea gardens and plantations 2. Colonization by invasive plant species 3. Decline in insect population Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
(a) 2 and 3 only
(b) 1 and 2 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
However, even the chaos should have some semblance of order. And therefore, we have tied the program to the following salient features that will help you gauge the final outcome of the course.
Each question shall be followed by a discussion about the theory and the current event, if any, that motivated the question.
The static portion and current affairs to be covered shall be informed in advance to enable the students to prepare for the week ahead.
The weekends have been kept free to ensure the candidates are not overwhelmed but the weekends can still be utilized for discussing the important issues on a need-basis.
And now let us answer the most pertinent question, i.e., how will the course help you in your preparation? To enumerate the benefits, at the conclusion of the course, you would have:
Practiced more than 1000 MCQs.
Attempted important MCQs sourced from Previous Year Papers.
Revised NCERTs and other reference books.
Covered current affairs for the past one and a half years.
Shared with- and assimilated knowledge shared by your peers.
Gotten a fair idea of the competition that lies ahead.
Discussed, argued, and counter-argued various dimensions of important topics.
Covered a healthy amount of interesting trivia.
Clarified all your doubts.
Put to rest any misgivings you might have about the exam and your preparation.
Acclimatized yourself to the exam-like conditions.
Attuned yourself to answering questions in a time-bound manner.
Perfected the art of making intelligent guesses.
Shared the methods you have mastered to solve the MCQs and learnt the same from your peers.
Transformed into a confident candidate set to take the Prelims head-on.
UPSC by design is an exam that should take just one attempt to crack it. Any further attempt after that must be just to improve your rank. And to accomplish this feat you must perform extremely well in GS mains papers.
Sajal sir here in this video will help you analyze the UPSC Mains 2020 GS paper 3, explain the changing trend and discuss the strategy for UPSC Mains 2021.
He also talked about Smash Mains 2021 in the video. Below are the details of the program.
Smash mains is a highly personalized and intensive handholding program for the crème-de-la-crème (veterans) amongst UPSC aspirants (the intake is 50 students).
Note: The Entry Restricted to those who have given mains in the past 2 years and have failed to score high marks.
It’s a three-phased program under personalized guidance by Sajal sir. The focus is on identifying and highlighting the issues with your preparation (information / analysis / utilization). According to your strength and weaknesses, a tailor-made strategy is developed. And it is worked on under Sajal sir’s strict monitoring, aiming for incremental improvements every day, after every session with Sajal sir.
Sajal sir’s marks in UPSC 2017 GS Mains paper were:
GS Paper 1 – 132
GS Paper 2 – 125
GS Paper 3 – 130
It’s a three-phased program under personalized guidance by Sajal sir. The focus is on identifying and highlighting the issues with your preparation (information / analysis / utilization). According to your strength and weaknesses, a tailor-made strategy is developed. And it is worked on under Sajal sir’s strict monitoring, aiming for incremental improvements every day, after every session with Sajal sir.
Program inclusion:
1. One-to-One mentorship by Sajal sir. 2. Mains Test Series 3. Samachar Manthan – For holistic and comprehensive coverage of Current Affairs. 4. Decimate Prelims Crash Course 5. Prelims Full-Length Tests – To prepare you for prelims. 6. Exclusive membership to Smash Mains group in Civilsdaily’s Habitat.
The fact that you have been missing the cut-off with a small margin (repeatedly) tells that there are some fundamental issueswith your approach. The answers to which you might or might not have. For bringing the change you have to work upon its execution as well. (Realization is not enough). And bringing that to fruition is not possible in isolation. Now onwards, it should be a guided process under a meticulously designed plan.
It is all about redesigning the machinery which is unable to convert your knowledge and analysis into marks in Mains. And you know it – Fewer marks in mains, very low chances of seeing your name in the final list.
What makes Smash Mains unique?
Individual attention and approachability are the USPs of this program.
Not putting Penguins among the Fowls – You already know how to write an average answer (you’re missing it by a few marks actually). You want to know how to increase your score from 90 to 110-115. The approach followed by other institutes in their Test series is the same for a veteran and a complete newbie and here lies the problem. Without personalizedone-to-one interaction with someone like Sajal sir (who has scored these awesome marks), it will be difficult for you to rectify these minute yet very important shortcomings.
Evaluation is a strength of this program and we put it on a high priority. Sajal sir himself is involved in the process, unlike other institutes where evaluation is outsourced to those who themselves might not have appeared for mains (It’s bizarre). It shouldn’t be based on ‘model answers’ as there are 3-4 ways of approaching an answer. Only a seasoned player will be able to go beyond these model answers and be able to appreciate your approach (If it’s innovative) even if it differs from the model answers provided.
Test copies get checked in a time-bound manner. The questions, answers and material provided are of the highest quality.
Emphasis on execution and utilization of knowledge – Mains is not only about knowledge but the way you express the relevant knowledge in the most optimum manner.
Sajal sir’s interventions are highly specific and not generalized. Sitting right in front of you he walks you through each and every question. Always there, he will not let you lose your focus.
Phase 1: Identifying the fundamental flaws in your Answers. Working on them with Sajal sir.
Phase 2: Prelims- This is the first hurdle. Decimate Prelims course will be provided here. We’ll work on strategy and the way to attempt a prelims paper here.
Phase 3: After Prelims- Mains Test series each followed by one-to-one detailed and in-depth interaction with Sajal sir. Final refinements are done in this phase. Value addition material, as well as pointers, will be provided here.
What you have to do?
As it’s a limited intake program a sieving process has been put in place by us. Please do the following: 1. Send your last Mains scorecard to sajal@civilsdaily.com . 2. We’ll send you one Civilsdaily’s GS Mains test, write it, submit it. It’ll be followed by evaluation and an on-call discussion with Sajal sir. 3. Or send your already attempted and evaluated test copies (at least 3) to sajal@civilsdaily.com
Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.
*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check here: Click2Join
In the early hours of day, Myanmar’s military, also known as the Tatmadaw staged a bloodless coup which brought the country’s recent and limited experiment with democracy to an end.
Tens of thousands of protesters poured onto the streets across Myanmar in the biggest anti-coup rallies with deteriorating situation amidst internet ban.
India voiced a strong condemnation of the deeply disturbing developments in Myanmar.
Myanmar: A backgrounder
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is in South East Asia and neighbours Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China and India.
The biggest city is Yangon (Rangoon) but the capital is Nay Pyi Taw.
The main religion is Buddhism. There are many ethnic groups in the country, including Rohingya Muslims.
The country gained independence from Britain in 1948. It was ruled by the armed forces from 1962 until 2011, when a new government began ushering in a return to civilian rule.
Myanmar under Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi became world-famous in the 1990s for campaigning to restore democracy.
She spent nearly 15 years in detention between 1989 and 2010 after organising rallies calling for democratic reform and free elections.
She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991.
In 2015, she led the NLD to victory in Myanmar’s first openly contested election in 25 years.
Her crackdown on Rohingyas
Suu Kyi’s international reputation has suffered greatly as a result of Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya minority.
Myanmar considers them illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship. Over decades, many have fled the country to escape persecution.
Thousands of Rohingya were killed and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh following an army crackdown in 2017.
Ms Suu Kyi appeared before the International Court of Justice in 2019, where she denied allegations that the military had committed genocide.
The ‘infamous’ Coup
The military is now backing in charge and has declared a year-long state of emergency.
It seized control following a general election which Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.
The armed forces had backed the opposition, who were demanding a rerun of the vote, claiming widespread fraud.
The election commission said there was no evidence to support these claims.
Suu Kyi is thought to be under house arrest. Several charges have been filed against her, including breaching import and export laws and possession of unlawful communication devices.
Public has outraged
Suu Kyi has urged her supporters to “protest against the coup”. The nights that followed the military takeover saw people show their dissent by banging pots and honking car horns.
The military blocked access to Facebook, which is widely used across the country than Twitter and Instagram. But that failed to stop large nationwide protests on Saturday.
The rulers then ordered a full internet blackout. Protesters, again, took to the streets to denounce the coup.
Next day saw the country’s largest protests since the so-called Saffron Revolution in 2007, when thousands of the country’s monks rose up against the military regime.
What has the international reaction been?
Experts say that the real motivation behind the military’s action is Suu Kyi’s popularity and growing power, which it believes could erode its control over critical policy domains.
The UK, EU and Australia are among those to have condemned the military takeover.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it was a “serious blow to democratic reforms”.
US President Joe Biden has threatened to reinstate sanctions.
Someone seems ‘pleased’
China neither condemned nor expressed any concern. It just said that reconciliation is needed between the civilian set-up and Myanmar military or Tatmadaw.
China blocked a UN Security Council statement condemning the coup.
The country, which has previously opposed international intervention in Myanmar, urged all sides to “resolve differences”.
Its Xinhua news agency described the changes as a “cabinet reshuffle”.
Neighbours including Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines, have said it is an “internal matter”.
The two vastly different stances adopted by India and China offer a glimpse into who stands to gain as military rule returns to Myanmar after 10 years of gradual, albeit limited, political opening.
An analysis: India-Myanmar Relations
India-Myanmar relations are rooted in shared historical, ethnic, cultural and religious ties. As the land of Lord Buddha, India is a country of pilgrimage for the people of Myanmar. The geographical proximity of the two countries has helped develop and sustain cordial relations and facilitated people-to- people contact.
Both share a long land border of over 1600 km (approx.) and a maritime boundary in the Bay of Bengal.
A large population of Indian origin (according to some estimates about 2.5 million) lives in Myanmar. India and Myanmar signed a Treaty of Friendship in 1951.
India’s interests
The geographically strategic location of Myanmar makes it a bridge between South Asia and Southeast Asia.
India needs a good working relationship with the Myanmar government for its diplomatic and strategic initiatives.
This is especially due to China’s nefarious designs in Myanmar, which wants to develop it as a geopolitical base against India.
Despite Myanmar being ruled by military junta over the years, India has developed close ties and shares a good relationship with Tatmadaw.
(a) Strategic relations
Last year, despite facing shortage of its own, India handed over INS Sindhuvir, a submarine, to the Myanmar Navy.
Tatmadaw responded well to Indian overtures and even allowed India to conduct counter-interagency operations against Indian insurgents groups in Myanmar border areas.
Both nations seek to cooperate to counteract drug trafficking and insurgent groups operating in the border areas.
(b) Economic relations
India and Myanmar are leading members of BIMSTEC, SAARC and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, along with Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, helping India develop its influence and ties amongst Southeast Asian nations.
Also, the Myanmar government recently hinted at delaying and cancelling BRI projects and developing some big ticket projects with India.
(c) HADR operations
India responded promptly and effectively in rendering assistance after natural disaster in Myanmar such as the earthquake in Shan state (2010) Cyclone Mora (2017), and Komen (2015).
India offered to help in capacity building in disaster risk mitigation as well as strengthening Myanmar’s National Disaster Response Mechanism.
What defines China-Myanmar relations?
China has its own designs and wants to use Myanmar as another base in its ‘string of pearl’ strategy against India. Through the string of pearls approach, China intends to encircle India by developing military bases in India’s neighbouring countries and Myanmar has long been on China’s radar.
(a) Debt traps
Burdening Myanmar under Chinese debt trap is the first step of the plan.
Under China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is funding and developing many big projects in Myanmar that can be used as military bases in future.
These infrastructure projects have put Myanmar in massive Chinese debt trap, and accounts for over 40 per cent of the current $10 billion national debt.
(b) Political interference
The second Chinese step was to control the political machinery.
Like in Nepal, where China maneuvered to install a pro-Beijing and anti-India group government, Myanmar is expected to witness the same thing with military coup.
Geostrategic experts say China instigated Nepal to start the border dispute with India.
(c) Trade dependence
With this second step done, the third step comes into play: making a country your economically held scapegoat.
When it comes to bilateral trade with India, it stood at just $1.5 billion dollars in 2019-20, nowhere near that of China. With China, the bilateral trade is worth $12 billion dollars.
But if we go by an official Chinese report quoting the Ministry of Commerce of China, export and import between China and Myanmar was worth $168 billion dollars in 2019.
That is huge for a small country like Myanmar.
Through the prism of Coup
(a) Impact on India
While the coup invited international condemnation, not much will change for India as it has built ties with the Tatmadaw over the years.
The handing over late last year of INS Sindhuvir, a kilo-class submarine of the Indian Navy, to the Myanmar Navy, was the most recent sign of the deepening ties between New Delhi and the Tatmadaw.
India and China have been competing for influence in Myanmar.
If India hadn’t agreed to help Myanmar meet its naval requirements, it would have meant a greater Chinese presence in the Bay of Bengal.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (behind this coup) has made multiple visits to India over the last few years, most recently in 2019, when he met our PM.
(b) Impact on China
India was the largest supplier of weapons and other military equipment to Myanmar in 2019, the last year for which records are available in the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database.
Tatmadaw exported military hardware worth $100 million from India that year while it spent only $47 million on Chinese military equipment the same year.
This is significant because China has been the largest supplier of weapons to the Southeast Asian country over the decades.
The General has also been critical of China, accusing Beijing of providing support to certain insurgent groups in the country, including the Arakan Army in Rakhine state, which the Tatmadaw has been fighting.
Many rebel groups in Myanmar have been using Chinese-made weapons against the military. This, experts say, rules out a tight embrace of China in the near term.
Repercussions of the Coup
And with over 50 years of military rule and an isolated status in the world, it seems that most of the relations are held by China alone.
If the US goes ahead with its threat of sanctions because of the coup, Myanmar will have to turn to Beijing as a shield.
In a nutshell, Myanmar’s economy is largely dependent on China, and with a pro-Beijing government in place, Myanmar may well fall finally into Chinese debt trap by allowing China funded BRI projects.
If that happens, Myanmar will be reducing to a mere economic scapegoat of its largest trading partner China, and a hostile neighbour for India’s geopolitical interests.
This in turn will emerge as a deterrent in the global vision of Indo-Pacific.
It may be often tempting to describe India’s Myanmar policy as suffering from a dilemma between values and interest.
Wait….. India never acts blindfolded
India’s interest in Myanmar has always been guided strategically by the centrality of democracy to ensure deeper ties.
India has also learned to accept that “the liberal democratic paradigm will not automatically come about” in Myanmar, nor in any other part of India’s politically volatile neighbourhood.
So while Indian policymakers have always been clear about their democratic endgame in Myanmar, they also recognise that pragmatic adjustments are sometimes necessary to engage with the military, which remains the ultimate guarantor of internal stability and order.
Since Nehruvian times….
60 years ago, the Burmese armed forces, the Tatmadaw, first took over power to end a decade of democratic reforms in the 1950s.
The coup of March 1962 was a severe setback for India’s investment in a federal, democratic Burma under the leadership of Nehru’s great friend U Nu.
However, with the democratic regime in deep crisis, it made sense to engage General Ne Win to protect Indian interests, including cross-border insurgencies, China’s influence and the safety of the larger Indian diaspora.
Despite his personal distress at the imprisonment of his friend and the end of democracy, Nehru gave the green light for India to become one of the first countries to recognise the military regime, even before China.
For the time being, India will push for democracy in public domain but in private it will pivot to engage with Myanmar’s new military regime.
The road to democracy in Myanmar lies through its military
Sixty years later, the situation is strikingly similar.
This marks a return to India’s dual policy of the 2000s, when it built a relationship of high-level trust with the Myanmar military while also nudging and supporting the Generals to embrace democratic reforms.
This approach was first crafted in the late 1990s by Shyam Saran, then India’s ambassador in Yangon, and executed in 2000 with a rare display of successful defence diplomacy led by Army chief VP Malik.
This was no easy task. Western analysts criticised India for blindly engaging Myanmar.
At the UN India came under attack for not supporting sanctions and condemnatory resolutions, especially during the failed 2007 democratic uprising.
Despite such pressure, India stood firm and also paid a price for it. PM Manmohan Singh, for example, declined two invitations and only visited Myanmar in 2012, after the democratic opening.
Way forward
The carefully calibrated policy of the 2000s will serve India well today, where circumstances are even more favourable.
Thanks to the rise of China, the US and the EU are now more wary of isolating Myanmar.
And the Tatmadaw is now also less enamored of China and keen to deepen relations with India.
But New Delhi will still have to work hard to pursue its democratic realist policy in Myanmar.
For India to play a role
(a) Domestically
The first challenge will be to preserve trust with the Generals even while keeping up the pressure to restore a democratic order.
Delhi will have to keep the relationship going at the highest level to ensure that the Generals respect India’s core concerns.
This includes the Naga peace process, keeping an eye on China’s activities, and cross-border connectivity initiatives.
(b) Internationally
The second challenge will be for India to coordinate its position internationally and buy itself manoeuvering space to engage Myanmar.
The US and the EU are still likely to be less understanding of India’s position than the Association of South-East Asian Nations and Japan.
Especially at the UN Security Council, India could play an important role to bridge differences and develop a common platform to nudge Myanmar back on to the democratic track.
Conclusion
Among the first countries to react, India’s statement was crystal clear, expressing “deep concern” about the future of democracy and the rule of law.
Such harsh words are not just out of moral solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and other democrats detained.
They reflect India’s long-held understanding that democracy is the only model for Myanmar to achieve political stability, internal security and sustainable development.
Reviews will be provided in a week. (In the order of submission- First come first serve basis). In case the answer is submitted late the review period may get extended to two weeks.
*In case your answer is not reviewed in a week, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*. If Parth Sir’s tag is available then tag him.
For the philosophy of AWE and payment, check here: Click2Join
