What to read for GS Mains - Paper 2 ?

For those who take Political Science as an optional, this paper does not require special preparation at all except for the fact that the answers in a General Studies paper must be light and contemporary while answers in an optional paper must be heavy and blend theory with contemporary touches.

List of study material needed for paper two in General Studies-Mains is as follows :

Indian constitution, governance and polity

1.NCERT books

2.Laxmikanth's Indian Polity

3.2nd ARC reports 

 Report no : 11 on e-governance

 Report no:13 on Organisational structure of Indian govt

 Report no :6 on Local Governance

 Report no: 10 on refurbishing Personnel administration

 Report no : 12 on citizen centric administration

 Report no: 15 on state and district administration

4.“Public Institutions in India – Performance and Design" edited by Pratap Bhanu Mehta

5. Subash Kashyap's "Our parliament"

6. Comparison of constitutions of the world can be studied online. But in case you are interested in a detailed study,this book is good

7. Latest editions of Economic Survey and India year book (For govt schemes and policy)

Foreign Policy and International affairs

1. David Malone's "Does the Elephant Dance"

2. Columns by Srinath Raghavan, Suhasini Haidar,Brahma Challaney and Rajamohan.C in periodicals

3. BBC website for overview of all important international events . Sample this one on US-Iran nuclear deal.

NOTE : Even if we read all books as given above, paper 2 cannot be handled if we do not read the newspaper religiously based on every word as given in the syllabus of paper 2. We often hear from childhood that "IAS exam" preparation begins and ends with "The Hindu" and this paper (along with paper 3) stands testimony to this age-old wisdom.