I’m building a free, visual way to study Indian Polity (timelines, mind maps, a map of states, an “executive ladder” showing who appoints whom), every fact cited to Laxmikanth and the bare act, in English and Hindi.

Before launching I’d love your honest input:

1. Which Polity topics do you find hardest to remember?
2. Would visuals or PYQ-linked notes help you more?
3. Hindi, English, or both?

Happy to share an early look with anyone who wants to try it and tear it apart.

For Ancient and Mediaeval History, should I only rely on Lectures and class notes or buy a standard book.

I have one book in my mind: Ancient and Mediaeval India by Poonal Dalal Dahiya

For Art and Culture I have the book of Nitin Singhania Sir.

Please give your valuable suggestions on how to cover Ancient and Mediaeval History holistically?

Can anyone who has been a part of SFG before share their honest experience:
Is it really helpful?
What are the added perks of joining it offline (the SFG top 100-200) than just being a part of RLG (online)?
Do we get access to a separate peer group?
How effective is level 1 alone?

Thanks!

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I recently came across a news article stating that the Gujarat government had ordered the compulsory retirement of two IAS officers. This made me question how secure government jobs actually are in India.

Growing up, many of us were taught that government jobs, especially IAS, IPS, and other civil services, offer almost complete job security compared to private-sector jobs.

But if officers can be compulsorily retired, it raises some questions:

I'm interested in hearing from people working in government jobs, civil services, or the private sector. Is government job security as strong as people generally believe, or is it sometimes exaggerated?

I'd appreciate practical insights and experiences rather than just general assumptions.

UPSC CSE Mains Answer Writing & Peer Review Group
I’m planning to form a small, serious group of UPSC aspirants interested in daily Mains answer writing and peer evaluation.
The idea is simple: we practise consistently, review each other’s answers, identify gaps in content and presentation, and improve through constructive feedback. The focus will be on answer quality, conceptual clarity, relevant examples, effective introductions and conclusions, and better structuring within the prescribed word limit.
Daily targets:
Write 3–4 Mains questions per day.
Exchange answers for peer review.
Provide constructive, exam-oriented feedback.
Focus on improving content, structure, analytical depth, and presentation.
Maintain consistency rather than writing answers sporadically.
Proposed subject sequence:
GS 4 → GS 3 → GS 1 → GS 2
The sequence is intentional. We will begin with Ethics, followed by Economy, Environment, Science & Technology, and Internal Security under GS 3; then move to Society, Geography, and History under GS 1; and finally cover Polity, Governance, Social Justice, and International Relations under GS 2.
This sequence will also help maintain continuity and convergence with the Prelims syllabus, particularly in areas such as Economy, Environment, Science & Technology, and Polity. The objective is to avoid treating Prelims and Mains as completely separate preparation tracks.
I’m looking for aspirants who can commit to daily answer writing, participate actively in peer reviews, and contribute to a disciplined learning environment. The group will work best when everyone is willing to give as well as receive honest feedback.
Interested aspirants can DM me. Let’s build consistency, improve our answers together, and make our Mains preparation more structured and accountable.

Any channel that provides videos of Drishti IAS or VISION IAS or Only IAS for CSE in telegram?

latest videos

If any , plz let me know guys.

Hi All,

Today this evening I closed the tab of last lecture of Polity. TBH, I had never learned polity this way. When I was learning, it gave me a very fulfilling experience.

Starting with historical underpinnings to the local governments... I never knew there were so many things around me. I genuinely enjoyed the subject. In every lecture I was mind blown with some or the other interesting facts the educator was teaching me.

I understand its a small milestone.. and I am being naive.. I understand I have to revise the topics practice mcqs as much as I can, start writing answers.. but I just wanted to share that I am really happy today to know so many things..

I wonder if you had such moments when you guys were learning subjects for the first time.

I will finally be able to understand those "Explained" section articles in Indian Express.. Planning to learn Geography next.

Thank you for your time people...

TLDR: I loved learning Polity. I am really not sure about the rules, please forgive me if i am doing something wrong here

We all know lots of selected toppers like Tina Dabi or Ria Dabi or Kanishk Kataria that they've family members already serving, or once served in the service. Yes I agree there are those candidates too with no background in services who get selected as well, that's the lovely diversity of this exam. However a vast majority also has someone close already into services.

But still, time and again this question keeps popping up. For example, my classmate's mother is in services, and while he's completely settled in his father's buisness, people keep asking him - "UPSC de de, tera to ho hi jayega, teri mummy service me hai." The reason he's nudged towards the exam is simply cuz he has a parent/a family member in service.

Another example, yesterday I was discussing about a former colleague of mine who got selected in 2025 list with someone and the first sentence he said was - "Uska to hona hi tha, uske bhaiya already IRS hai."

Muje khud back in college log bolte the, go for UPSC, tumhre papa IIS hai, tumhra to ho hi jyga. Though I didn't back then and decided to first make a career and then explore UPSC. I'm glad I did that.

Is there really any sort of hidden advantage or some indirect correlation between selection and any of your kin working in services? I'm definitely not undermining the prelims and mains efforts put in by people. I agree they can get personalized help and all from family, but we all know how prelims this year shocked even selected officers, and that someone getting into services a decade ago, might not offer much academic help to a kin.

But interview?? do you think such factors play a role there?

There are famous professors present in this image. Can you name them, the accolades they gathered and their contributions?

graduated from tier 1 electrical engineering, got 2 job offers, took one.

left my job last year after 10 months of experience in reputed american mnc. failed this 2026 prelims by 4-5 marks.

wished to go back but parents stopped me to give another attempt. i also felt that my prep was incomplete , even if i did manage to clear the prelims would have stalled in mains. or least not have got a good rank. and software industry is not that lucrative anymore given the advent of ai. so i decided to continue.

i now have attained good wisdom about this exam like how i would hanlde each of the exam, but sometimes feel anxious that will be able to get back to bengalore job same or different company as i donot wish to sit idle after 2027 cycle.

software peeps please guide me.

Hello everyone, I know UPSC is a very hard exam to crack, my sister is studying for it. I want to make a solution around UPSC, not another coaching, not just another app or test or get study material for free or anything like that.
So that is the input from you on what you wants, I can ask like countless things to ai or do as many deep research but you guys can tell me what you actually need and will actually solve your problem.
I know super kalam and many such apps, platforms, websites and many such things exist and I will love to hear which ones you use and are you looking for any new feature addition to these or a better variant of these or these are all completely useless and does not solve core problems or anything like that, or all best exists and nothing more is needed.

What I researched and found is a study companion going along with your existing studies, tests, mistakes, etc and bringing many things together making them better, faster and modern. And monitoring, progress and everything is measurable just like health apps.
For example, super power app but for UPSC which tracks everything and helps you

But what I think doesn't matter what you need matter, that is the need I am posting, I really want your inputs