A "Ten Point Something" on Newspaper-reading for CSE

It is unfair to write a primer on how to effectively read a newspaper since perusing the pages of our favorite newspaper first thing in the morning is a way of life for most of us. But for Civil Services Exam (CSE) aspirants, the newspaper is an entirely different creature. While the Aam Aadmi merely sees a picture of Narendra Modi hugging some country's President in the front page, CSE aspirants see a 15 mark question "Comment on India's relations with X". Newspaper is not just a reading pleasure to be savoured early morning but the Holy Grail which issues the hall ticket to an All India Rank. Since so many juniors (exact count : around 3) pinged me on a formula to tame the newspaper, here we go :

1.  It is important to stick to a single newspaper. Despite my secular outlook, I preferred "The Hindu". "Indian Express" published out of New Delhi is a brilliant one as well. (South Indian readers must be aware that The Indian Express and The New Indian Express are two entirely different newspapers with different editorial teams). "The Hindu" is known for its sharp editorials as well as good coverage of environmental and international issues. Some regional newspapers are indeed very good (Malayala Manorama or "The Hindu" in Tamil) but a standard English newspaper does give that extra edge.

2. The opinion page in the newspaper is a must read because UPSC expects our views on a topic and not mere regurgitation of facts. To develop an independent opinion on an issue, the right way is to get a hand on expert's opinion available in the editorials of a standard newspaper, reflect on it and then come up with your own judgement . Editorials are also beautifully worded (especially in "The Hindu" ) and reading such good prose indirectly reflects in our writing later.

3. In the case of "The Hindu" , it's leftist economic outlook is a dampener. It's ideological biases should never get reflected in our answers . Since our aim in writing this exam is to be the next Ira Singhal and not the next Arundhati Roy, such readings in "The Hindu" can be supplemented by reading the editorials (alone) of a "right of centre" newspaper like "Business Standard" online. A popular cinema dialogue regarding Tamil Nadu's auto rickshaws comes to my mind : We should put our indicator to the left, show our hand to the right and keep going straight.

4. If available, reading the newspaper can be coupled with usage of Internet as a news-item by itself will not give all the relevant information . For example, reading today's newspaper piece on Syrian war will not enlighten us fully. This can be supplemented through effective Google searches  like "BBC Syrian conflict analysis" etc.

5. Focus on the following heads :

o   Environment

o   Energy

o   Agriculture

o   New legislations debated in the parliament

o   India's foreign policy

o   Any flare-up or elections in any country across the world (If it is there on the newspaper for more than 5 days . Otherwise, just ignore it. We have enough flare-ups in India to know about, anyway)

o   Sports - Reading on sports means issues like Lodha reports, BCCI reform , how can India win Olympic medals etc and not trivia like "who won Wimbledon doubles?".

o   Any policy announcement by the Government or RBI.

6. Ignore

o   Business news like "Canadian pension fund buys stake in TVS Logistics". This kind of information is useful only to that Canadian pension fund and TVS alone. The Business pages are full of such information and so, mercilessly skip them with no apologies to those pension funds.

o   Local news like " Kerala minister steps down due to nepotism charges". These kind of "Breaking news" which will stare at you from front pages and which will be force-fed by local Arnabs can be safely ignored.

o   Scandals and murder cases - These are the sensational kind and we cannot resist reading about them. But treat them as guilty pleasures and never take notes on the Sheena Bora case.

7.  Taking notes on a hard-copy or an application like Evernote on your desktop/tablet can come in handy because we are reading hundred things every day and we are no Super-brains. In my case , I used to book-mark every useful article online.

8. Some good columnists to follow outside "The Hindu" are

o   C.Rajamohan - International affairs - "Indian Express"

o   Ashok Gulati - Agriculture - " Indian Express"

o Ramachandra Guha - Historical perspective in contemporary events- "Telegraph" and "Hindustan Times"

o   Mihir Sharma - Economy - "Business Standard" and "Bloomberg"

o   T.N.Ninan - Economy - "Business Standard"

o   Ashutosh Varshney - Politics and society- "Indian Express"

o   Pratap Bhanu Mehta -  Politics and society - "Indian Express"

o   Manu Joseph - The sheer joy of reading him - "Hindustan Times"

o   Mukul Kesavan - The sheer joy of reading him - "Telegraph"

o   Shashi Tharoor- The sheer joy of reading him (excepting his obnoxious narcissism) - His official website

9. Do not ever conclude that current affairs magazines/online capsules can substitute newspaper reading. They are equivalent to watching a scratchy highlights package of a brilliant Virat Kohli innings on a 2G connection.

10. Finally ,there is no need to think of stuff like "How much time can I spend on newspaper every day?". Actually, this whole business of discussing how many hours to read every day is pointless. A.R.Rahman takes just fifteen seconds at the end of "Tum Saath Ho" to connect to our souls directly which even a five minute song by Honey Singh cannot. It is important for all of us to aspire to be A.R.Rahman . All the best.

Websites :

www.indianexpress.com

www.thehindu.com

www.pib.nic.in

www.prsindia.org

www.business-standard.com