Events or activities that have a political or social significance at the current time are called current affairs. Current affairs can be seen from the world’s point of view or from the point of view of a single country. If some event is going on in a country, then its effect will be on other parts of the world as well. So the current affairs 2020 plays a prominent role.
Current Affairs 2020
If you’re preparing for any exams like UPSC, Bank, SSC, RRB or any Government (Sarkari) Exam, the major section in the exam is the Current Affairs. So, it is quintessential that the candidates should be updated with what’s happening in India and across the world.
Why is it important to read Current Affairs?
Changes in the exam pattern, questions appearing in the exam related to current events, and daily news are a few factors of current affairs that decide the fate of the students. The General awareness section will have questions appearing from two categories which are Static and Dynamic.
In the Static section, as the name suggests, the syllabus of this section pertains to that of the UPSC exam syllabus or another exam syllabus which do not change. For example, the Revolt of 1857, the physical features of India, etc. all of these are static information that does not variate.
The Dynamic section is the current affairs section. The daily newspapers cover the information provided in the Dynamic section. Candidates can prepare for this section from credible sources like the Press Information Bureau (PIB) and Yojana Magazine.
If a candidate has good knowledge of Current Affairs then it will be easier for him/her to get good success in the IAS exam, Government exams, or any competitive exam. The current affairs section contains subjects like history, geography, economy, environment, and ecology, polity, science, and technology, etc.
Candidates should be aware of all the information that creates headlines nationally as well as internationally. In the recent analysis, the static and dynamic sections of the current affairs section have shown significant overlap. Also, the candidates should prepare the static section on priority, because it has a high probability of encountering unexpected questions from the current affairs.
How to make notes on Current Affairs 2020?
Candidates can get a brief idea about preparing notes on current affairs by the three examples of events that recently occurred in the news:
- The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 (CAB) issue which took place recently, can be one of the important concepts from the competitive exam’s perspective. So, the candidate can make notes for this event by understanding the following factors:
- The source of the bill.
- The intention of the bill.
- The significance of the bill on the Republic of India.
- There will be various debates for and against the bill. So, the candidates should study them properly to write critical answers during the UPSC Mains.
- The Ayodhya Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue which is quite trending even today. To make notes for this issue for UPSC exam or any other exam, the candidate should know:
- The context of when did the Supreme Court order to hand over the disputed land to the Government of India to build the Ram Janmabhoomi temple. Also, it should include the amount of land given to the Sunni Waqf Board to build a mosque.
- The candidate should also be aware of the Supreme Court’s directives.
- The acts, provisions and implementations related to this issue.
- The Electoral Bonds is another issue. To make notes on this issue, the candidate can make including the factors like:
- The context of the political funding that the Government issued to curb black money and corruption.
- Line it up with the UPSC prelims syllabus.
- The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is always trending in the news. This topic is very important for all the Government exams, while for UPSC exams it is much more important while preparing for UPSC GS II. To prepare the notes for the issue, the candidate should include:
- The context that the 16-nation group led by ASEAN countries is making a push for India to sign the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Free Trade Agreement.
All you need to know about UPSC Current Affairs 2020
Current Affairs plays a prominent role in the UPSC Civil Services Exam. The syllabus for the UPSC exam is huge, along with that the candidate should also prepare for the current affairs section which keeps increasing day-by-day.
One thing the candidate can do is that he/she can segregate the topics in the news according to the IAS Syllabus for Prelims and Mains. For IAS Prelims the current affairs are somewhat easier because there is just one GS paper. But, cracking the IAS Mains exam is quite challenging because of the comprehensive syllabus and descriptive-essay type questions.
To be updated about the daily current affairs, the candidate can refer to the newspapers as they are the best source.
Important Sources
When the candidate refers to the questions that appeared in the previous years, he/she will understand the important source of the questions asked in the newspaper. The static sections like Geography, History, Economics, Polity, Science, and Tech or Environment are an integral part of daily news. Let’s have a look at the Important Sources for Current Affairs UPSC:
The Hindu: The candidate referring The Hindu Newspaper should go through:
- The socio-economic and political issues in the newspaper.
- The editorials and opinions on government programs and policies.
- The Thursday Edition of the newspaper to refer to Science & Technology.
- Environmental Issues and policies at the national and international levels.
- Economic developments and policies of the country.
The Indian Express: The candidate referring The Indian Express Newspaper should go through:
- The articles on International Relations that appear in this newspaper are one of the best.
- This is written & recommended by IFS officers.
- A lot of stuff and dimensions for IR can be studied here.
Press Information Bureau: The candidate referring The Press Information Bureau should go through:
- In case the candidate misses any Programmes and Policy updates of Government on a daily basis, they can check it here.
- Candidates can find selective articles on important personalities and their contributions. The candidates can also find some important historical accounts.
- As it written by the Government Officials, they have good authenticity.
PRS Legislative Research: The candidate referring The PRS Legislative Research should go through:
- The bills and policies of the Government that appear in this research.
- All the tabled and non tabled bills of the Parliament are found here.
- A quite brief summary of the acts and bills is available here.
- A monthly comprehensive report of the major policy developments across various sectors in the country is available.
- The reader of the PRS Legislative Research can keep a track of all significant policy events, including reports by parliamentary and government committees.
IDSA: Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis: The candidate referring The IDSA should go through:
- The detailed coverage of India’s national security, internal security, and relations.
- The candidates can refer and get an opinion on International Relations, Defense relations, and governments’ approach for national and international diplomacy.
- One of the best sources for preparing paper 3- Internal and External security.
Yojana and Kurukshetra: The candidate referring The Yojana and Kurukshetra Magazine published by GOI should go through:
- Articles on diverse topics from social to the economic domain.
- A detailed analysis of government schemes, programs, and policies.
- Social issues and policies that affect the vulnerable sections.
- An authentic source for generating opinions on government programs and policies.
Loksabha & Rajyasabha Debates: The candidate referring The Loksabha & Rajyasabha Debates should go through:
- Discussions that happen on various socio-economic and political discourses.
- Government officials or subject experts give their opinions on such topics.
- The live discussions have a weightage to drive good attention of the watcher and the candidate gets a lot of quality information and dimensions in less time.
- One of the highly recommended sources from the Mains point of view.
How to prepare for Current Affairs for UPSC?
The candidates who are aspiring for Current Affairs 2020 for UPSC should regularly read newspapers. A candidate can invest 1 hour of the day to study the newspaper thoroughly. But reading just the newspaper isn’t enough, so let’s have a look at various ways of preparing for the Current Affairs for UPSC.
- Know your syllabus – Before you start your preparation get through the exam syllabus thoroughly. Go through the newspaper to highlight the news headlines that come under the UPSC syllabus. The candidate should always keep a list of micro-topics that appear in the UPSC CSE at their study table.
- Study Smartly – While the candidate is preparing for the current affairs 2020, there are plenty of materials like newspapers, websites, monthly magazines, yearly magazines that he/she should refer to. The candidates will be confused with so many materials, so he/she should smartly categorize the materials which are important for the UPSC exam.
- Time Management – While referring to newspapers or any materials, there are chances that the candidate loses control over the time spent on reading. So, it is better to make a timetable with proper management and spend 2 hours a day to read daily current affairs. In the beginning, it may take a bit longer, but make sure to manage the time properly. Also, during the weekend the candidate should revise his/her notes at least once.
- Use some online tools for preparing notes – Hand-written notes for all the current is tedious and time-consuming, so the candidates can use other online tools like Evernote, Google Docs, etc for preparing online notes. In online notes, all you have to do is copy the content from the website and paste it into your doc.
- Revise Regularly – Current Affairs is a volatile subject, so the candidate should revise it regularly. If not, it will be extremely difficult for the candidate to prepare for the current affairs for the entire year. So, it is necessary that the candidate revises the daily current affairs constantly to never lose its track.
- Solve Questions – After you read a paragraph or a page from the book, pen down just the questions on a paper or online. Once you finish reading answer those questions in the paper. As you have read it just now, it will be easier to answer. But as two or three days pass and if you try to repeat the same thing it will be difficult to answer the questions. In such cases, you have re-read it to refresh your memory. This is one of the good techniques for revision as well.
- Take Quizzes – Taking quizzes on the topic you studied will help you remember the current affairs easily. Also, you can assess your abilities to learn current affairs daily. By taking small assessments, the information will remain in mind for a longer time.
Importance of UPSC Current Affairs for IAS 2020
Every year in the UPSC Prelims Exam, near about 15-20 questions from Current Affairs 2020 are asked. It is observed that nearly 60-70% of questions asked in UPSC CSE Prelims are related to current events.
For instance, if any bilateral dispute of a river is trending in the news, then static questions related to the river or the states may be asked in the GS paper. Furthermore, in the UPSC mains exam, the answers with pointers from current events are marked higher. Because it indicates that the candidate is aware of the goings-on in society.
So, a thorough understanding of current affairs is extremely important for UPSC aspiring candidates to ensure they score well to rank well in the questions that are asked from current affairs 2020 in the UPSC exam.
The areas like central and state-sponsored schemes and policies, recent bills and acts passed in parliament, budget, economic survey report, international relations, science, and technology, etc. are some of the important parts in the Current affairs 2020 section.
Tips to remember Current Affairs 2020
Remembering the current affairs section is quite difficult but the harsh truth is that it is a section that is present in each and every competitive exam. Below are the tips to remember the daily current affairs:
- Prepare a mind map of various sections from political events to sports to history to arts and even the economy of the subject of the current affairs.
- Always keep yourself updated with the latest and recent developments in and out of the nation.
- Always co-relate with the happenings of the events that occurred recently or in the past.
- Prepare a chronological order of events under separate headings.
- Get knowledge about the latest bank rates, inflation rates, market conditions, etc.
- Get to know about the contemporary themes that are affecting the world presently.
- Regularly follow the updates from important organizations like RBI, Ministry of finance, external affairs, United Nations, etc.
- Attempt a current affairs quiz to boost your memory power.
Current Affairs FAQs
Q). What are a few current affairs resources that a candidate can refer to?
A). A candidate can refer to The Hindu, Indian Express, India Year Book, Yojana, Kurukshetra, Loksabha & Rajyasabha Debates. All of these are to be referred on priority.
Q). How is the current affairs quiz important for preparation?
A). Taking current affairs quiz will help the candidate to test his/her ability to remember the daily current affairs.
Q). How important is the current affairs section when compared to other subjects?
A). From the analysis of the previous year question papers, the current affairs section holds maximum marks when compared to other sections. So, it is quintessential to learn the daily current affairs for the Government exam preparation.
Q). Will solving the previous year questions help in preparing for daily current affairs?
A). No, solving previous year questions will only give you an idea of how and from where the questions can appear, but it will never repeat. Except for the questions from the static portion.
Q). Is it enough to prepare 1 year of current affairs?
A). Yes, the current affairs in the past year are enough to clear the section
Q). What are the static and dynamic sections?
A). Static portion is the one where syllabus of the section will not change. The dynamic portion is the current affairs part which keeps adding every day.
Q). Are the current affairs 2020 pdf available online?
A). Yes, the current affairs 2020 pdf is available online to download.