How to read Newspaper ??

1.How many newspapers to read for UPSC ?

• It goes without saying that the news remains the same whether it’s the Hindu or Economic Times.
• The good resource is The Hindu /Indian Express – it’s a balanced newspaper and contains a lot of relevant UPSC relevant news.
• The editorials are easy to comprehend and written by a variety of experts which gives you a rich analysis which is required for UPSC Mains answer- writing.

2.What to focus and what to skip ?

• News Should be able to fit into one of the broad topics of GS syllabus like Polity,Economics,Geography etc.
• World news where India does not has any role to play can be skipped.
• Most of the state news can be skipped except those announcing government schemes or similar issues.

3.How to make notes from the newspaper ?

• Notes should be short and Crisp.
• Points that can be common to other issues also should be noted
• Make notes for recurring themes like federalism ,judicial activism ,best practices for pandemic management ,best practices for cyclone relief and rescue.
• Make notes GS Paper wise and for factual information for prelims keep a separate folder.
• Last but not the least ,make note which YOU can revise at the end (Taking notes of others never helps)

4.How much time one needs to spend on reading the newspaper ?

Ideally 1.30 hrs .(But this will take a consistency of 2-3 months)

Last but not the least , Do revise the newspaper notes weekly and then monthly .It will boost your confidence and you will be able to retain most of the information and also will be able to connect the issues with static part .(eg:Right to privacy -Puttaswami case(2017-18) can be link with article 21 of Fundamental Right. Also marital rape issue (2020-21) can be link with polity topics and also with the society topic of paper 1).In this way news paper reading can prepare you for all the stages of UPSC exam.