Yojana is a monthly publication that focuses on socio-economic issues. The publication offers a variety of viewpoints and opinions on every topic, creating a well-rounded picture. The magazine is popular among Civil Services aspirants, as changes in the UPSC syllabus and pattern over the years have resulted in exam questions that can’t be answered simply based on static resources. Therefore, keeping up with current events that relate to the socio-economic questions of the day has become essential for excelling in this extremely competitive exam.
The UPSC Notification was released in February, along with the detailed syllabus for the exam. All aspirants can register for the UPSC online by visiting the official website of the UPSC. The UPSC Civil Services Exam is conducted in three stages: Prelims, Mains and the Interview.
In the given article, we have discussed certain tips for the UPSC aspirants to read the Yojana magazine in less time to develop a better understanding of the most important socio-economic issues.
Importance of Yojana Magazine
Aspirants of the IAS exam should carefully go through and take notes on Yojana’s monthly editions because it is one of the most reliable sources of information and statistics made available by the government. The other reasons to read the magazine are:
- Useful for GS Mains, Essay and Language papers: There are multiple articles about the keywords used in UPSC examinations in Yojna’s articles. Examples include urban infrastructure, rural economy, climate change, self-help organisations, disaster management etc. All of these socio-economic topics are important for both essay writing and the GS Mains.
- Covers dynamic issues: Today’s UPSC questions cannot be answered by merely reading static books. Yojana magazine serves as a dynamic source for current topics due to the evolving UPSC syllabus and question paper format. The questions increasingly focus on current events. Since Yojana does a thorough job of covering these topics, aspirants should keep an eye on news stories about them.
Tips to Read Yojana Magazine
- Clear concepts before reading the magazine: To understand the topics in the magazine, the basic concepts of the candidates must be clear. Reading NCERT books helps to clear the fundamentals.
- Cover one year of the magazines: The Yojana magazines should be covered for at least a year. For example, if aspirants are targeting the UPSC 2023, they should read the Yojana Magazine from July 2022.
- Align with the UPSC syllabus: Look for the fundamental definitions, information regarding the issue and associated concerns first, then the redressal mechanism picks out the relevant terms and groups them under the UPSC Mains syllabus. Read the headlines and focus on the points that are highlighted.
- Make notes: The facts given in the magazine can be noted down, which will be really helpful in the GS Mains exam. The diagrams and tables in the magazine must also be given a quick glance.
- Go through the Yojna theme: To comprehend the theme, read the note from the Chief Editor’s desk. It will be helpful for writing essays as well because the note coherently interlinks issues, government initiatives and criticism to the central theme.
- Article selection: It is to be noted that one does not need to read all the articles given in the magazine. Selecting any four to five articles which seem important and diverse should be read.
- Ignore irrelevant information: Any individual accomplishment or a local area development can be avoided. Generally, it is pretty safe to ignore case studies, opinions of a Minister and examples of pilot projects from a yojana monthly issue.
Although Yojana is one of the most effective magazines for UPSC Preparation, aspirants must not substitute it with the main sources of the exam. Remember that it is an information source for the government; hence, it must be used mainly to understand the broad issue. Also, Yojana magazine is beneficial only after at least two revisions of the General studies static syllabus. If the fundamentals from the NCERT and standard textbooks are not clear, Yojana won’t be able to help much.
How much use one can make of a resource depends on the individual, just like with any other resource. Yojana is useful for the Prelims and Personal Interview phases in addition to Mains. As the magazine is published in various Indian languages and the themes are pertinent to general UPSC preparation, it may also be helpful for the Indian Language paper.
