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L1 - Introduction - Syllabus, Importance, Weightage, Trend analysis, Strategy, Approach, Books Flipbook PDF
L1 - Introduction - Syllabus, Importance, Weightage, Trend analysis, Strategy, Approach, Books
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IntroductionSyllabus, Importance, Weightage, Trend analysis, Strategy, Approach, Books By Dr. Roman Saini
Plan of the Lesson 1. Importance of the Subject in Examination 2. UPSC Syllabus - Prelims & Mains 3. Breakdown of the Syllabus/Integrated Syllabus 4. Trend Analysis - Prelims & Mains 5. Books & Resources 6. Strategy & Approach
Importance of Environment & Ecology ● Environment and Ecology section has been important for UPSC. ● But this section gained importance especially from 2013 onwards when the Civil Services Prelims exam and the Forest Services Prelims were combined as one exam. ● The emerging issues of environment like global warming, climate change, deforestation, etc. have increased the importance of this section for a civil services aspirant.
● General issues on a. Environmental Ecology
Preliminary Exam Syllabus
b. Bio-diversity and c. Climate Change (that do not require subject specialization.) ● Current Affairs (Related to Biodiversity, conservation efforts, developments in the field, etc.)
GS Paper 1
Mains Exam Syllabus
● Geographical features and their locationchanges in critical geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes. GS Paper 3 ● Conservation, Environmental pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment ● Disaster and Disaster management.
Breaking Down the Syllabus/ Integrated Syllabus
1. Environment & Ecology a. Ecology and Ecosystem- Concept, Meaning, Properties b. Ecosystem and Its functioning- System’s Analysis Approach and Understanding c. Types of Ecosystem i. Terrestrial Ecosystem ii. Aquatic Ecosystem d. Environment Pollution : Types, Genesis and Their Impact e. Contemporary Environmental Issues and Future Challenges f. Environmental Impact Assessment
2. Biodiversity & Conservation a. Biodiversity- Concept and Importance b. Brief of Biodiversity in India: Extent of Endemism of Biodiversity in India c. Legislations On Biodiversity in India d. Protected Flora and Fauna- Glimpse of Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and Environmental Protection Act 1986 e. Animal Diversity in India and ZSI f. Plant Diversity in India and BSI
g. Marine Organism- Protected Global Areas, Organization and Efforts, Impact of Climate Change, etc. h. Protected Area Network- Biosphere Reserves, National Parks, Wildlife Sanctuary, Botanical Garden, etc. i. Conservation Efforts- In-situ, Ex-situ j. Concept Of Sustainable Development
3. Climate Change & Its Consequences a. Concepts b. Impact of climate change on Indian Sub-continent & the World i. Ocean Acidification, ii. Ozone Depletion, etc. c. Adaptation & Mitigation Strategies d. Climate Change vis-a-vis Developmental Issues e. India and Climate Change- Legislation & Missions f. Global Climate Change related Organizations and Schemes
4. Biosphere: An Ecosystem a. Biosphere as an Ecosystem b. Trophic Level and Energy Flow c. Circulation of Matter- Biogeochemical and Sedimentary Cycles d. Hydrological Cycle e. Biogeographical Realms
5. Biomes a. Meaning and Concept b. Classification of Biomes and Related Socio-economic Activities
6. Plant Community: In Brief a. Vertical Stratification and Plant Community b. Ecological/Biotic Succession c. Plant Kingdoms i. Australian Kingdom ii. Cape Kingdom iii. Antarctic iv. Paleotropical v. Neotropical vi. Boreal
7. Animal Community: Brief a. Animal Dispersal and Factors b. Extinction of Animals c. Geographical Regions for Wildlife
8. Environmental Pollution & Degradation a. Water Pollution, b. Air Pollution, c. Land Degradation, d. Solid Waste Management, etc.
9. Disaster and Disaster Management a. India’s Key Hazards, Vulnerabilities, and the Crisis Response Mechanism b. Legal and Institutional Framework c. Risk Reduction d. Emergency Response System e. Recovery and Rehabilitation f. Sendai Framework
10. Environment Impact Assessment
11. Environment Related Chapters in Last Three Economic Surveys a. The Year 2016-17: i. V2: Chapter 5 - Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Energy b. The Year 2017-18: i. V1: Chapter 3 - Climate, Climate Change, and Agriculture ii. V2: Chapter 5 - Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate Change c. The Year 2018-19: i. V2: Chapter 5 - Sustainable Development & Climate Change
12. Environmental & Biodiversity Related Sustainable Development Goals 2015-2030 13. The Economics and Geopolitics of Environment 14. Notes of 3rd Report on Crisis management of ARC 15. Miscellaneous
Trend Analysis Prelims & Mains
Prelims since 2011
● As you can see, an average of 20 questions is being asked from the environment and ecology in UPSC CSE prelims every year for the past few years. ● Most of the questions are directly or indirectly related to topics in the news. ● That makes contemporary issues related to Environment, Biodiversity, & Climate Change necessary to read in every aspect. ● These issues will give you a hint about the fundamental topics to focus upon them.
Mains since 2013
● The trend analysis of the Previous Year Mains questions on Environment and Ecology including Disaster management have been shown in the figure. ● Environment and Ecology questions are included in the General Studies Mains Paper III which carries a total of 250 marks. ● A minimum of 3 questions of 40 marks has been asked for the past 3 Mains papers. ● In 2019, Environment and Ecology constituted 50 marks of the GS Mains Paper III.
● First & Foremost necessary Sources to make the solid foundation ○ This Comprehensive course by me
Books/ Sources
○ My course on YouTube ○ The Hindu and Related Yojana Issue ● Sources to substantiate your understanding and knowledge through self- study is given on the next slides.
1. Environment Ecology a. Ecology and Ecosystem- Concept, Meaning, Properties b. Ecosystem and Its functioning- System’s Analysis Approach (Only Basic needed to be mentioned in mains for extra marks) and Understanding Sourcei. NCERT 12th class Biology chapter 14 ii. NIOS Module 2 on the environment
c. Types of Ecosystem i. Terrestrial Ecosystem ii. Aquatic Ecosystem d. Environment Pollution: Types, Genesis and Their Impact e. Contemporary Environmental Issues and Future Challenges f. Environmental Impact assessment Source● NCERT 12th class Biology Chapter 16 ● NIOS environment Module 3 and 4
2. Biodiversity and Conservation a. Biodiversity- Concept and Importance b. Brief of Biodiversity in India: Extent of Endemism of biodiversity in India c. Legislations On biodiversity in India d. Protected flora and Fauna- Glimpse of WPA 1972 e. Animal Diversity in India and ZSI f. Plant diversity in India and BSI g. Marine Organism- Protected Global areas, Organization, and Efforts
h. Protected area Network i. Conservation Efforts j. Concept Of Sustainable Development Sources● Chapter 15 - NCERT 12th class Biology ● NIOS environment Module 5, 6, 7 ● MoEF&CC website ● PIB/The Hindu
3. Climate Change a. Concepts b. Impact of climate change- India c. Ocean Acidification d. Ozone Depletion e. Mitigation Strategies f. Climate Change vis-a-vis Developmental issues g. India and Climate change- Legislation h. Global Climate change-related Organizations and schemes
Sources● NIOS Environment Module 4 section ● Models in Geography- By Majid Hussain- Only Chapter 7
4. Biosphere: An ecosystem a. Biosphere as an ecosystem b. Trophic level and energy flow c. Circulation of matter- Biogeochemical and sedimentary cycles d. Hydrological cycle e. Biogeographical Realms Sources● NCERT 12th class Biology Chapter ● Savindra Singh Physical Geography Chapter 40 and 42
5. Biomes a. Meaning and concept b. Classification of Biomes and related socio-economic activities Sources● Basic Study from Geography NCERTs ● Certified Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong Part 2Chapter 13 to 25 ● Savindra Singh- Physical Geography Chapter 45 only
6. Plant Community: Brief a. Vertical stratification and plant community b. Ecological/Biotic Succession c. Plant Kingdoms i. Australian Kingdom ii. Cape Kingdom iii. Antarctic
iv. Paleotropical v. Neotropical vi. Boreal
SourceSavindra Singh Physical Geography- Chapter 43
7. Animal Community: Brief a. Animal Dispersal and factors b. Extinction of Animals c. Zoo-Geographical Regions as Given By Wallace Source● Savindra Singh- Physical Geography Chapter 44
8. Sustainable Development 2015- 2030 SourceVisit United Nations Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/
9.
Important Chapters of Economic Survey Related to Environment SourceVisit the Ministry of Finance’s following Website https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/
10. The Economics and Geopolitics of Environment SourceRegular Current Affairs from any authentic source
11. Miscellaneous ● MoEFCC Website ● All the reports related to Environment and their publishing authority ● Ecofeminism ● Module 8A and 8B of NIOS ● National Disaster Management Plan- NDMA and National Policy on DM summary
Notes of the 3rd ARC report on Crisis Management 1. India’s Key Hazards, Vulnerabilities 2. 12 Crisis Response Mechanism 3. Recommendations
Magazines 1. Only Yojana magazines released on environment issues. Note- Do not go for bulky magazines like ‘Geography and You’.
Keep It Smart & Simple!
● The content in the Environment and Ecology can be divided into Static and Dynamic portions.
Strategy & Approach
● The Static portion includes the content which never changes like basic concepts, theory, etc. ● Some of this portion also requires correlation with Geography like national parks, sanctuaries, rivers flowing through them, etc.
● Most of this portion requires understanding and rote learning. (Only for Prelims) ● It requires clarity. So learn the facts, analyse them and master them. ● The Dynamic portion includes topics that keep changing and which have to be updated from the news. ● It may be new conventions, protocols, new organisations related to the environment, new agreements on climate change, global warming, etc. ● Correlate the static and the dynamic portion as both are important for the exam.
● As the syllabus says, the subject does not require subject specialisation but the analytical approach is required to solve the questions. ● Going through the Previous Year questions you will get an idea of what to focus on and what to eliminate. ● You may find the immense number of sources on environment and ecology online and offline. ● But, be careful and stick to the selected authentic resources you have. ● The mantra is to “READ, REVISE and REPEAT!”.
● Again, it is very important to know the official syllabus given for the exam. ● Be thorough with the syllabus such that you should be able to identify and relate any important topic in news to the syllabus. ● Developing the habit of Notes making is a potent tool for this examination. ● Maintain a separate folder/Diary for environment and conservation-related news. ● Update it regularly, as the issues related to the environment/climate is always in news. ● Write on half side of the page only and leave the other half side blank for further updates.
● The benefit of the Notes and self note-making is realised only once the exam nears. ● Everything can be revised within hours. ● Solve as many MCQs as possible, as many times as possible. Eventually, you would recognise the pattern and trend of questions by yourselves.
Exclusive Strategy For Mains: ● While Prelims is the game of ‘range’ of knowledge, Mains examination is concerned with ‘depth of that range’ of the knowledge. ● But these days, UPSC Prelims and Mains are not too much different to prepare with a different strategy. ● UPSC is also checking analytical skills along with facts and concepts in each subject. ● However, after prelims, you need to adapt the Mains specific approach to focus completely on the Mains examination.
● In short, ○ Keep the sources limited. ○ Study and revise the topics which are repeated a lot. ○ Keep answers on important topics ready and handy. ○ Memorisation & Revision is the key. ○ Already prepared Notes pays back in a big way at this stage. ○ Avoid preparing new topics rather than revise the sufficient number of topics you have prepared very well.
DON’Ts● Don’t read complete Savindra Singh or any other book for the environment. ● Do Not jump to Advanced sources immediately and if you are not finding advanced content useful as per your discretion/judgment, just avoid them. ● Don’t forget to stick the following basic formula to save your time for other subjects i.e. This Course + NCERTs + The Hindu/PIB/Yojana ● Do not read multiple sources. Limit your resources and read and revise a few sources multiple times.
● Do not make irrelevant jottings on Notes. It will kill double time, firstly while writing and again while revising every time. ● Do not forget to revise your own Notes after every 7-8 days. ● There is no use of hard work if you fail to revise your own work and keep stacking them page after page.
Do Remember Hard Works Always Pays..!! Revise your own Notes every 7-10 days. Trust & Update your own Notes. Practice Makes A Person Perfect.
Thank You!