Indian history: Quick Revision notes

1. Jambu-dvipa was considered to be the innermost of seven concentric islandcontinents into which the earth, as per Hindu cosmographers, was supposed to have been divided. The Indian sub-continent is said to bepart of Jambu-dvipa.

2. Sapta sindhavah is the name of the country of the Aryans in the Vedas.

3. The Negritos were the first human inhabitants of India. Originally, they came from Africa through Arabia, Iran and Baluchistan. They have practically disappeared from the soil of India, except in Andaman Islands.

4. Prakit was the single language of Indian sub-continent in third century B.C. Sanskrit came into being a few centuries later.

5. With the advent of age of metals, in Northern India, copper replaced stone as ordinary material for tools and weapons. And, it took several centuries for iron to replace copper. In Southern India, however, the Iron Age immediately succeeded the Stone Age.

6. The Indus civilization existed in the same period as those of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia.

7. It is presumed that Iron was not known to the Indus Valley civilisation as not a single scrap of iron has been found in the excavations at various sites.

8. The most important feature of houses of Mohenjodaro is the presence in them of one or more bathrooms, the floors of which were fully laid and connected by means of drainage channels with the main street.

9. The people of Indus Valley also practiced the worship of Lings and Yoni symbols.

10. The Dravadians are thought to have come to India from eastern Mediterranean. At one time the Dravadian culture was spread throughout India.

11. The Dravadian language is still spoken by the Brahui people of Baluchistan.

12. In the early vedic period river Ravi was known as Parushni, river Jhelum as Vitasta, Chenab as Asikni, Beas as Vipas and Sutlej as Sutudri.

13. The Veda consists of four different classes of literary compositions: (a) the Mantra constitutes the oldest division of Vedic literature and is distributed in four Samhitas or collections known as the Rig, Sama, Yajur and the Atharva; (b) Brahmanas are the second class of Vedic works. They are mainly prose texts containing observations on sacrifice; (c) Aranyakas or forest texts are books of instruction to be given in the forest or writings meant for wood-dwelling hermits; (d) Lastly there are the Upnishads which are either imbedded in the Aranyakas or form their supplements.

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Time Management

Rakesh is a senior executive in a top firm, eminently qualified for his job. He is ambitious and does not easily trust his subordinates, afraid of being let down by them. He, therefore, tries to do everything himself and is left with little time to think over larger issues. He remains immersed in files and carries work home. The last time he took the family for an outing appears to be years ago.

Shiv, also in a senior position in the same firm, heads another department. However, the ambience here is different. Everyone goes about his job with a song on his lips and Shiv is always at hand, easily accessible to anyone. He packs for home on time and frequents the golf course in the afternoon. Holidays with the family help him to unwind further, which brings in added zip to his job.

What essentially is the difference between these two executives?

Most people seldom have enough time to do all the things they want to do. They have to work late in the offices, carry papers home for disposal and spend all their energy in the drudgery of daily routine. They have, therefore, no time to plan and execute jobs requiring their personal attention. Nor do they have adequate time for self-development. One’s control over time is directly related to the hierarchical position one holds in an organization.

Of all the resources—human, material, financial and the like—time is the scarcest. It is rightly said that time is money. An executive earning Rs 40,000 per month has his time cost him Rs. 1,818 per day and Rs 227 per hour. This works out to Rs four every minute of his working time, including lunch and coffee breaks. Time must, therefore, be utilized with utmost care and on a priority basis. In the competitive environment prevailing in all spheres of life, the one who manages his time effectively will have the cutting edge.

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Civil Services Exam: Success plan for preliminary examination

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One important thing that candidates should keep in mind is that since the time between the Main Exam and the declaration of result of the Preliminary Exam is very less, it is advisable to begin preparations of the Main Exam along with the Preliminary Exam.

The General Studies paper covers the following areas:

General Science; Current events of national and international importance; History of India; World Geography; Indian Polity and Economy; Indian National Movement; General Mental Ability.

For this section, it is important to be updated in all fields. For History, Economy, Polity, etc, it is advisable to read Class 11 and 12 books published by the NCERT. Some books on the freedom struggle are published by the National Book Trust. For general knowledge and objective-type questions, refer to General Knowledge Refresher by O.P. Khanna. For General Mental Ability and current affairs, it is advisable to read The Competition Master regularly.

One question that is often asked by students is about the subjects that they should take up. Since some subjects are scoring, students wish to opt for them. But one thing that must be kept in mind is one’s aptitude. If one has studied a subject since school and one is comfortable in it, chances of doing well in it are greater rather than taking up an unrelated subject which one may never have studied. Generally speaking, do not choose an entirely new subject in which you will have to work very hard. If the optional is prepared well for the preliminary and the same subject is also planned to be opted as one of the optionals, it is very useful and saves a lot of labour.

Once you have decided to appear in the Civil Services Exam, preparations should start early. A look at past papers helps get an idea about the kind of questions that are asked. Over the years, The Competition Master has published solved papers which can be referred to. It may be advisable to join a coaching institute so that one keeps in touch with other students and discuss issues with them. It is important, however, to select a good institute. However, one can be successful by self-study also.

Prepare Well

Before initiating the preparations, a few things must be noted by the candidates. The choice of optional subject for Paper-II has to be done very carefully. The candidates must plan ahead of time with eyes on the main examination and choose the optional which he/she intends taking up in the Mains. The preparations done for the preliminaries would assist the candidates in getting good grasp of the subject and the effort put in would not go waste after the prelims. Secondly, optional subject carries more number of maximum marks as compared to the General Studies Paper. Hence, its importance cannot be undermined. A candidate doing well in the optional paper is expected to fare well in the examination. Moreover, the optional subject for Paper-II should usually be the subject in which the candidate has either attained proficiency/higher academic qualification or in which the candidate feels at home. Another consideration is the performance of candidates in the said subject in the recent past. There are several subjects like History, Psychology, Sociology, Public Administration etc in which even the candidates not having special or additional educational qualifications have been doing reasonably well, while the subjects like Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering are considered to offer tougher questions and the candidates with exceptionally good preparation only may expect to do well. But this observation may not be taken as the universal truth. Moreover, the aptitude and proficiency of a particular candidate in a given subject also plays an important role in arriving at a decision.

Availability and access to good and prescribed books is yet another consideration and often the candidates are also guided by this factor, particularly in smaller towns. Books for preliminary examination are available in plenty in common subjects but in case of specialised optionals like Mathematics, Engineering, Agriculture etc, one has to look carefully for good books which cover all parts of the syllabus.

Preparations for Paper-II also need specific planning. It would be wrong to confine the studies only to the multiple choice objective type questions. Unless a detailed study of the subject is carried out, it would be difficult to answer the questions on the subject properly. The aim, must, therefore, be to clearly understand the basics of the subject by covering each and every aspect of the syllabus. This provides a candidate with adequate self-confidence and knowledge to answer the questions correctly. It is better to consult various books on different aspects, as it is very rare that one single book covers the entire syllabus with total efficiency. After going through all parts of the syllabus in detail and getting hold of the basic concepts, it is desirable to have sufficient practice in solving multiple choice objective type questions. A good book on objective type multiple choice questions or a good question bank on the subject concerned may assist the candidates a great deal. Such practice, on the one hand, would perfect the art of answering the questions correctly and rapidly, and on the other would enable the candidates in understanding the questions asked in various forms. It is normally observed that at times even simple questions are asked in such a complex manner that it becomes difficult to understand the question correctly.

It is not difficult to find out a candidate who had, during the past couple of years, appeared in the prelims with the same subject. It is always better to discuss the subject, its intricacies, pattern of questions and the books to be studied. In addition, it is also not difficult to identify the candidate offering the same optional subject for Paper-II within the same town/city. It is always fruitful to have detailed discussions on various parts of the syllabus, books to be consulted for the basics, multiple choice question books or question banks and other related issues. Finally, the practice of correctly marking the answer sheet by using minimum possible time will go a long way in helping you succeed.

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