Best books for UPSC IAS Prelims And Mains

Introduction:

• Keep Resources Limited
• Do Smart Reading
• Notemaking is Essential for Success
• Revise, Revise, Revise

Having limited resources for all subjects is a must to ace the UPSC/ IAS Exam. You are not reading merely to accumulate knowledge, but to success in this exam. Your goal should be clear. Hence, it is always better to revise the same book three times than to read three books on the same subject.

Reading a book effectively is also an art. On the first reading, you should just try to understand the concept. Do not underline/ highlight anything as at this stage, as you do not know what is important. On a second reading, you can begin to underline the keywords, in light of the UPSC Syllabus and Previous Year's Questions. On a third reading, you can begin making succinct notes which will help you capture entire chapters succinctly.

The Mains examination tests you on two subjects on the same day, with merely a few hour’s break in between, making it impossible to revise thousands of pages of books. Here, crisp notes will enable you to recall entire topics.

With this in mind, let's review the best books and resources for each subject. These will form the backbone of your preparation. We have consciously kept only the best and limited resources here to spare you any confusion. We have also mentioned some supplementary sources which you can view. Supplementary sources are to be referred to sparingly if you have managed to revise the main books multiple times.

You can find the relevant PDFs on Chahal IAS Academy’s page ‘All NCERT Books’.

Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society

1. History: Ancient India

• New NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 1 Class XII- essential reading
• New NCERT Our Past Part 1 Class VI - supplementary reading
• Ancient India by RS Sharma - supplementary reading

History: Medieval India

• New NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 2 Class XII -essential reading
• New NCERT Our Past Part 2 Class VII - supplementary reading
• Medieval India by Satish Chandra- supplementary reading

History: Modern India and Post Independent History

• A Brief History of Modern India- Spectrum Publications- essential reading
• New NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 3 Class XII- essential reading
• India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra- supplementary reading
• New NCERT Our Past Part 3 Class VIII - supplementary reading

You can refer to Chahal IAS Academy NCERT Compendium for Indian and World History (Includes Class 6-12) which covers the books in a holistic manner.

History: Art and Culture

• An Introduction to Indian Art Part-1, NCERT Class XI- essential reading
• Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania- selective reading

History: World History

• Themes in World History- Class 11- essential reading
• World History by Norman Lowe- supplementary reading

2. Geography

• Essential Reading
  • NCERT Class XI – Fundamentals of Physical Geography
  • NCERT Class XI – India – Physical Environment
  • NCERT Class XII – Fundamentals of Human Geography
  • NCERT Class XII – India – People and Economy
  • Instead of reading multiple NCERT books, you can refer to Chahal IAS Academy NCERT Compendium for Indian & World Geography (Includes Class 6-12) which covers the books in a holistic manner. It will save time and effort as it will be much easier to revise and recall.
  • Orient Blackswan Atlas for Competitive Exams
• Supplementary Reading
  • Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong- selected chapters for value addition
  • For Human and Economic Geography- While, NCERT static part is enough, you will have to update the data on various dimensions from reliable Government publications like the Census, Labour Ministry data, etc.

3. Society

• Essential Reading
  • This is a dynamic topic and an in dept reading of the newspaper, in light of the syllabus is all you require. It is advised that you prepare your own notes for the topics listed. You can seek guidance from topper’s notes as well.
  • You can refer to Chahal IAS Academy’s ‘Monthly Current Affairs Magazines’.
• Supplementary Reading: NCERT Sociology textbooks can be referred to for static concepts and basic understanding. However, this is not essential and does not have a very high return on investment for the study.
  • Understanding Society Class 11th
  • Indian Society Class 12th
  • Social Change and Development in India Class 12th
  • You can also cover these with the Chahal IAS Academy NCERT Compendium for Indian Society (Includes Class 6-12)

Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

1. Polity

• Essential Reading
  • Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth
  • NCERT Class XI – Political Science: Political Theory
  • NCERT Class XI – Political Science: Indian Constitution at Work
• Supplementary Reading
  • Our Constitution by Subash Kashyap
  • Our Parliament by Subash Kashyap
  • Introduction to the Constitution of India by DD Basu

2. Governance and Social Justice:

• Essential Reading
  • This is a dynamic topic and an in-depth reading of the newspaper should be done keeping in mind the syllabus. It is advised that you prepare your own notes for the topics listed. You can seek guidance from the topper’s notes as well to understand what should be covered.
  • You can refer to Chahal IAS Academy’s ‘Monthly Current Affairs Magazines’.
• Supplementary Reading
  • Laxmikant's Governance in India

3. International Relations:

• Contemporary World Politics NCERT textbook for Class XII
• Study of International Relations requires a thorough understanding of Current Affairs as well. Keep up to date with the latest events through the newspaper and Chahal IAS Academy’s ‘Monthly Current Affairs Magazines’.

Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management

1. Economics

• Essential Reading
  • NCERT Class XI – Indian Economic Development
  • NCERT Class XII – Introductory Macroeconomics (Ignore Mathematical Formulas and focus on concepts)
  • Instead of reading multiple NCERT books, you can refer to Chahal IAS Academy NCERT Compendium for Indian Economy (Includes Class 6-12) which covers the books in a holistic manner. It will save time, and effort and will be much easier to revise and recall.
  • Latest Economic Survey
• Reference Books
  • Indian Economy by Nitin Singhania
  • he Indian Economy by Sanjiv Verma

2. Science and Technology:

• This is a dynamic topic which will require that you keep up to date with Current Affairs. Keep a curious mind and google the scientific systems, models and discoveries. You can find a deep dive into this from the Chahal IAS Academy’s ‘Monthly Current Affairs Magazines’.

3. Environment and biodiversity:

• PMF IAS Environment for UPSC
• Class XII Biology Chapter- 13-16 can also be referred to.
• Check out Chahal IAS Academy’s NCERT Compendium for Science & Environment (Includes Class 6-12)
• State of India’s Environment Report by Centre for Science and Environment
• This topic is dynamic and questions are asked from current affairs so keep up to date with the newspaper and read it with a curious mind.

4. Security

• This is a dynamic topic and you can know the latest reliable data on the subject from Ministry of Home Affair’s Annual Report.
• You should thoroughly examine the syllabus and read the newspaper keeping in mind the requirements of the exam and latest developments.
• Challenges to Internal Security of India – Ashok Kumar

5. Disaster Management

• National Disaster Management Authority’s guidelines on various disasters their basics and the mitigation, adaptation strategies for each employed by the country
• National Disaster Management Plan by National Disaster Management Authority
• Disaster Management Act, 2005 should be referred to for basic understanding

General Studies- IV: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

• This paper is a low hanging fruit as you have to read one subject which weighs a full 250 marks while all other GS papers have multiple subjects and topics.
• You can refer to one of the following books-
  • Lexicon for Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude
  • Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude by G Subba Rao and P.N. Roy Chowdhury
  • Decode Ethics - a collaborative effort by toppers of the exam
• For this exam it is important to undertake extensive answer writing practice.

Resources to cover Current Affairs for IAS/ UPSC Exam:

• Essential Reading: The Hindu or Indian Express newspapers for in-depth coverage
• Supplementary Reading: Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines
• You can check websites like PIB, PRS India, and other government-related portals for authentic data.