If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should Point to India.
Max Mueller (German Scholar)
Indian Polity: M Laxmikant: Indian Polity by Laxmikant is the bible for UPSC aspirants. It is not only helpful for prelims but also helpful for mains examination. Indian Government and Politics section of the Political Science & International Relations (PSIR) require you to be aware of all constitutional provisions. Most importantly, you have to be aware of the current happenings of Indian politics and constantly try to see the bigger picture and what happened in the history of Indian politics with respect to that particular issue. For instance: If President’s rule is declared in some states, you should know under what article of the Constitution of India , it is declared and what is the Supreme Court judgement on President’s rule and what is something about this particular president’s rule.
Indian Government and Politics: B L Fadia: This book by B L Fadia is a kind of guide book for the section on Indian Government and Politics. It almost covers the whole syllabus. It is a quite methodical and full of text, so it can help you to summarize or to have many view points on a particular issue. However, the book is quite boring.
Indian Government and Politics: A S Narang: This book is very similar to B L Fadia’s book. However, two things are different: one is that the book is quite old, so it is not updated as per current happenings and the second thing is that the writing style is totally different as compared to the B L Fadia’s book. Just have this book to get an idea of how the author has written on a particular issue. It’s not compulsory to buy.
Series of Books by Subhash Kashyap: Subhash Kashyap is a well known political scientist, India Constitution expert and a distinguished scholar and a writer. He has written extensively on parliament, the constitution of India and Indian political system. His books on Indian Constitution and Parliament gives you a lucid perspective on legal and political issues which helps in writing answers for mains examination. I would highly recommend reading these books if anyone has taken PSIR as an optional for the Civil Services Examination.
The Constitution of India: P M Bakshi: This book has all the acts of the Constitution along with the important cases. Keep this book with you whenever you want to refer some important case related to any specific article of the Constitution of India.
The Oxford Companion to Politics in India: Niraja Gopal Jayal & Pratap Bhanu Mehta This book is very important and highly recommended. It can help you to analyze the important issues of Indian politics. This book is divided into eight parts comprehensively covering all important issues starting from the institutions, the society, political processes, ideological contestations, social movements, political economy and different ways of looking at Indian Politics. I would recommend this book reading as many times as you can and if possible also make notes from this book that will be useful for revision just before the mains examination.
Miscellaneous: (Highly Recommended) : The Indian Government and Politics section of the PSIR optional is quite dynamic and also need a lot of analysis and interlinking of many concepts for better understanding. So, I will also recommend reading unconventional books on Indian politics, history and memoirs or autobiography of politicians to understand the political dynamics and the nuances of Indian politics.
- NCERT Books on Indian Politics, Democracy and Constitution of India
- IGNOU Notes on Indian Government and Politics
- Read 2-3 newspapers daily. The Hindu, The Indian Express, Times of India
- Watch Rajya Sabha Debates. Big Picture and also the Samvidhhan series
- Watch out important Supreme Court judgements
- Check out the PRS website for all new bills, Standing committee reports and their summaries
Please find my other blogs on Political Science and International Relations here:
- Why Political Science & IR is the best optional for UPSC?
- Modern India
- Comparative Politics and International Relations
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Policy Wise 
This is one section of PSIR where there is a of dearth of strategy/guidance in the public forum with lots of myths/misconceptions/misguidance floating around. And many(even experienced candidates) fool themselves thinking its same as GS2. While GS2 preparation shows the “light”, it takes massive effort to “reach the end of the tunnel” to master this section on a scholarly level–which UPSC expects from serious PSIR aspirants as pointed out in the post with much clarity.
Excellent guidance for any serious PSIR aspirant upping their IGP game who are not looking for easy shortcuts to embrace this elusive part of PSIR unlike the rest of the 3 sections.
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Thanks so much 🙂
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