Indian Civil Service Exams (CSE) Syllabus - UPSC Exams

UPSC Exams Indian Civil Services Syllabus for Main Exams: Geography

Paper-II

Geography of India

Section -A.

Physical Setting: Space relationship of India with neighbouring countries; structure and relief; drainage system and watersheds; physiographic regions; mechanism of Indian monsoons; tropical cyclones and western disturbances; floods and droughts; climatic regions; natural vegetation, soil types and their distributions.
Resources : Land, surface and groundwater, energy, minerals, and biotic resources, their distribution, utilization and conservation; energy crisis.
Agriculture: Infrastructure–irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power; institutional factors–land holdings, land tenure and land reforms; agricultural productivity, agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability; agro-and social forestry; green revolution and its socio-economic and ecological implications; significance of dry farming; livestock resources and white revolution; blue revolution; agricultural rationalization; agro-climatic zones.
Industry: Evolution of industries; locational factors of cotton, jute, iron and steel, fertilizer, paper, drugs and pharmaceutical, automobile and cottage indusries; industrial complexes and industrial regionalisaiton; new industrial policy; multinationals and liberalization.
Transport, Communication and Trade: Road, railway, waterway, airway and pipeline networks and their complementary roles in regional development; growing importance of ports on national and foreign trade, trade balance; free trade and export promotion zones; developments in communication technology and its impact on economy and society.

Section-B

Cultural Setting: Racial and ethnic diversities; major tribes, tribal areas and their problems; role of language, religion and tradition in the formation of cultural regions; growth, distribution and density of population; demographic attributes–sex-ratio, age structure, literacy rate, work-force, dependency ratio and longevity; migration (inter-regional, intra-regional and international) and associated problems, population problems and policies.
Settlements: Types, patterns and morphology of rural settlements; urban development; census definition of urban areas; morphology of Indian cities; functional classification of Indian cities; conurbations and metropolitan regions; urban sprawl; slums and associated problems; town planning; problems of urbanization.
Regional Development and Planning: Experience of regional planning in India; Five Year Plans; integrated rural development programmes; panchayat raj and decentralized planning; command area development; watershed management; planning for backward area, desert drought-prone, hill and tribal area development; multi-level planning; geography and regional planning.
Political Aspects: Geographical basis of Indian federalism; state reorganization; regional consciousness and national integration; international boundary of India and related issues; disputes on sharing of water resources; India and geopolitics of the Indian Ocean.
Contemporary Issues: Environmental hazards–landslides, earthquakes, floods and droughts, epidemics; issues related to environmental pollution; changes in patterns of land use; principles of environmental impact assessment and environmental management; population explosion and food security; environmental degradation; problems of agrarian and industrial unrest; regional disparities in economic development; concept of sustainable growth and development.

Note : Candidates will be required to answer one compulsory map question pertinent to subjects covered by this paper.