UPSC Syllabus: Prelims, Mains & Interview — Every Topic, Every Paper

1. Current events of national and international importanceThe single largest theme. Includes governance announcements, schemes, indices, treaties, summits, elections, awards, and breaking news from the previous 12–15 months.
2. History of India and Indian National MovementAncient (IVC to Gupta), medieval (Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Vijayanagara, Marathas), modern (1757 onwards), and the freedom struggle (1857–1947). Art & Culture often grouped here.
3. Indian and World Geography — Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the WorldPhysical features, climate, soils, drainage, agriculture, minerals; world physical and human geography; mapping and locational awareness.
4. Indian Polity and Governance — Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights IssuesConstitutional articles, schedules, amendments; centre-state relations; statutory and constitutional bodies; landmark judgments; recent governance reforms.
5. Economic and Social Development — Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiativesMacroeconomics basics, RBI policy, Budget terminology, banking reforms, agricultural economics, social-sector schemes, demographic indicators.
6. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity, and Climate ChangeNo subject specialisation required. UN conventions, IPCC reports, Indian environmental Acts, protected areas, climate-finance frameworks, species in news.
7. General ScienceNCERT-level physics, chemistry, biology essentials plus contemporary science & tech (space, biotech, defence, AI, semiconductors).

1. Comprehension Reading passages with inference, summary, and main-idea questions. Often the largest single section.
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills Conceptual questions on workplace communication and conflict; small section, increasingly merged with comprehension.
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability Syllogisms, statement-assumption, statement-conclusion, sequencing, blood relations.
4. Decision-making and problem-solving Case-style ethics-adjacent questions; no negative marking on these.
5. General mental ability Number series, coding-decoding, direction sense, family puzzles.
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) — Class X level Arithmetic, percentages, ratios, profit-loss, simple/compound interest, time-work, time-distance.
7. Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc.) — Class X level Tabular, bar, line, pie-chart-based questions; data-sufficiency style.

Both papers test language proficiency, not literature. Marks do not count toward your rank, but failing either paper invalidates the entire Mains performance — your GS and Optional answer sheets are not even evaluated unless you clear both qualifying papers.

Paper A — Indian Language

Choose one language from the 22 listed in the Eighth Schedule (e.g., Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Urdu, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Odia, Assamese, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Konkani, Manipuri, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Nepali, Santhali, Kashmiri).

Sections include comprehension of given passages, précis writing, usage and vocabulary, short essays, and translation from English into the language and vice versa.

Exempted candidates: domicile of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, and J&K. Hearing-impaired candidates as defined under PwBD norms.

Paper B — English

Same structure as Paper A, applied to English. Comprehension, précis, usage/vocabulary, short essays, translation between English and the chosen Indian language. Class-X level proficiency suffices.

Two essays, one from each of two sections (each section offering four prompts; choose one per section). 125 marks per essay. No prescribed syllabus — topics range across philosophical, social, political, economic, environmental, and abstract themes (often metaphorical or aphoristic).

Essays are evaluated on structure, depth, originality of argument, supporting evidence, and language. Highest-scoring essays carry a clear thesis, a tight introduction, three to four major argumentative sections with evidence drawn from history, current affairs, and inter-disciplinary thinking, and a strong conclusion.

1. Indian culture Salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
2. Modern Indian History (from about middle of the eighteenth century until the present) Significant events, personalities, issues.
3. The Freedom Struggle Various stages, important contributors and contributions from different parts of the country.
4. Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country Princely states integration, linguistic states, partition aftermath.
5. History of the world Events from the 18th century — Industrial Revolution, World Wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies (communism, capitalism, socialism) — their forms and effects on society.
6. Salient features of Indian Society Diversity of India.
7. Role of women and women's organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies
8. Effects of globalization on Indian society
9. Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism
10. Salient features of world's physical geography
11. Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent) Factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
12. Important Geophysical phenomena Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.; geographical features and their location — changes in critical geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna; the effects of such changes.

1. Indian Constitution Historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
2. Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States Issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
3. Separation of powers between various organs, dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions
4. Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
5. Parliament and State Legislatures Structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
6. Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
7. Salient features of the Representation of People's Act
8. Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies
9. Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies
10. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
11. Development processes and the development industry — the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
12. Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections
13. Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector / Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
14. Issues relating to poverty and hunger
15. Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance — applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures
16. Role of civil services in a democracy
17. India and its neighbourhood — relations
18. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India's interests
19. Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India's interests, Indian diaspora
20. Important International institutions, agencies and fora — their structure, mandate

1. Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment
2. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it
3. Government Budgeting
4. Major crops — cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems; storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers
5. Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System — objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing
6. Food processing and related industries in India — scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management
7. Land reforms in India
8. Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth
9. Infrastructure — Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
10. Investment models
11. Science and Technology — developments and their applications and effects in everyday life
12. Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology
13. Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights
14. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
15. Disaster and disaster management
16. Linkages between development and spread of extremism
17. Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security
18. Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention
19. Security challenges and their management in border areas — linkages of organized crime with terrorism
20. Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

This paper has two sections — a theoretical Section A (Foundational concepts) and an applied Section B (Six to eight case studies). Each section carries approximately equal weight.

Section A — Foundational concepts

1. Ethics and Human Interface Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values — lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
2. Attitude Content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
3. Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service Integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
4. Emotional intelligence Concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
5. Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world
6. Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
7. Probity in Governance Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen's Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.

Section B — Case studies

Case studies on the above issues. Typically six to eight situational dilemmas, each requiring a structured response: stakeholder analysis, options evaluation, recommended course of action with reasoning.

You pick one Optional subject and write two papers on it. The Optional contributes 500 of 1,750 counted marks — nearly 30% of Mains weight — so the choice matters as much as the preparation.

All 25 listed optional subjects

Plus literature of any one of the 22 Indian languages in the Eighth Schedule, and literature of English. Subjects marked with the orange edge have dedicated subject hubs.