Environment and Ecology trend analysis
Today we are going to discuss a very important topic for the civil services exam, especially from the perspective of prelims. It emerged as the most important topic for the preliminary.
Environment and ecology which is a very crucial segment of the UPSC Prelims syllabus. What makes it more interesting it intertwined with current affairs immensely and also overlaps with other subjects such as geography, economy and social issues for the IAS exam.
Every year, several questions are asked from this section in prelims and mains exam. In 2019, there were 21 questions from this area. This number could vary every year depends on current issues like climate change, global warming, etc.
Syllabus of UPSC preliminary and mains
Preliminary syllabus for Environment and Ecology
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change.
– that do not require subject specialization General Science.
Mains syllabus for Environment and Ecology
Paper-III General Studies-III 250 Marks (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
Current Affairs perspective
Another factor which makes it important and tricky is it linked with current affairs:
* Terms like climate change, ecosystem, sustainable development, natural disaster, etc. are regularly featured in the news.
* Environment topics can be interlinked with core concepts of other subjects like geography, biology, botany, zoology and also the economy.
* It can also overlap with policy and governance since many government schemes are linked towards preserving the natural resources and environment, conservation of flora and fauna, and reducing pollution, etc.
Importance of Environment Section in UPSC
– Preliminary: at least 15-20 questions can be linked to the environment section directly or indirectly.
– Mains: candidates can expect 2-3 questions from this section.
– Interview: questions are asked from the environmental angle too.
Environment & Ecology Trend Analysis
Take a look at the following table. It gives the number of questions asked from environment and ecology in the UPSC CSE prelims from 2011 (when the section was introduced) to 2019.
| YEAR | NUMBER OF QUESTIONS IN PRELIMS | NUMBER OF QUESTIONS IN MAINS |
| 2013 | 22 | 2 |
| 2014 | 31 | 2 |
| 2015 | 13 | 1 |
| 2016 | 10 | 3 |
| 2017 | 15 | 2 |
| 2018 | 13 | 4 |
| 2019 | 21 |
2 |
-Now since 2011 when this topic was specifically mentioned the number of questions that are, they can be allocated to this particular topic is very high.
– In 2014 as many as 18 to 20 questions were there from this section only.
– The reason for this is very simple, Indian Forest Services examination prelims process was introduced in that examination and the prelims process is merged with the Civil Services examination.
– So, when you appear for the Civil Services examination some of you also appear for the Indian Forest Services prelims examination.
Sources of Environment and Ecology
1) NCERT Science Class IX & Class X: In this aspirants must focus on Environment and Geography resources.
2) Biology Class XII NCERT: Aspirants have to focus the last four chapter which is basically for Environment and Ecology.
3) Environment and Ecology by PD Sharma: It can be one book you can go through easily and it’s very lucidly written and concepts are very easy to grasp.
4) India Year Book (English): Especially in this book the focus is on one particular thing that what is happening in terms of policy and what has been the impact of policy over some time. Hindi Medium India Year Book.
5) Yojana & Kurukshetra Magazines: We need to define and classified that this is important for environment & ecology aspects with these magazines.
6) Science Reporter & The Hindu: These also very good sources which cover various issues and articles on environment and ecology over the period.
7) Ministry of Environment website: it will help about what government policies are, annual reports and government stand on various international conventions.
- Hope this will help you to gain more and more aspects of Environment and Ecology…
All the best…
Keep studying hard…