How to prepare for Internal Security for UPSC Mains

Internal Security & Disaster Management is included in the General Studies-III in UPSC Mains Exam. Although the number of questions asked on this topic varies from year to year, it is important to prepare it holistically. The small topic is further divided into micro topics, the list of which is provided below. For every topic, you must know the relevance and development to date.

Since it is highly dependent on current affairs, a major chunk of the Internal Security UPSC syllabus is covered from the newspaper and magazines. In this article, we have listed the micro topics as well as preparation strategy and booklist to be referred to for the preparation of this topic.

Internal Security UPSC Syllabus

Internal Security is a very small yet important topic and is a part of General Studies-III in UPSC Mains. The major topics that are included in this topic are tabulated below:

Internal Security

Internal Security Challenges

Terrorism Threat to India

Organized Crime

The linkage between Development and Spread of Extremism

Insurgency in North-East

Security Challenges in Border Areas

Basics of Cyber Security

Cyber Warfare

Social Media and Internal Security Threat

Money Laundering

Black Money in India

Police Reforms in India

Various Security Forces and Their Mandate


Internal Security UPSC Preparation Strategy

Although the number of questions that are asked on this topic varies from year to year, one must not take it lightly. For the past few years, at least 50-marks are dedicated to the Internal Security topic in the GS-III paper. Moreover, relevant questions from this topic may also be asked in the CIvil Services interview. Hence, it is better to prepare this topic holistically. Let’s look at a simple yet effective preparation strategy for the Internal Security topic for UPSC Mains:

  • Syllabus-focussed study:

    Since the syllabus of UPSC Mains is too vast, it is important that you study relevant. Mind-map the topics included in the syllabus and study only that is relevant to the internal security UPSC syllabus.

  • Short and concise notes:

    Now, there is no single book that covers the entire syllabus of Internal Security. So, the best way to deal with it is to prepare your own notes. While preparing notes, make sure you include the history, relevance to the present context as well as development to date for each topic. You may have to refer to multiple sources to prepare the notes, but they will be more than enough.

  • Current Affairs:

    This topic is highly dynamic in nature, hence, it is important that you read current affairs from The Hindu or The Indian Express, and note down important details for preparing this topic.

  • Optimum Revision:

    Revision is the key to retain such a large chunk of information. Hence, keep on revising your notes to retain as much information as possible. You also need to revise these notes for answer-writing practice to be able to include instances in your answers.

  • Previous Year Questions & Answer-writing Practice:

    Solving the previous year’s questions will help you in identifying the type of questions that may be asked in the exam. This will further help you in preparing draft answers for the questions.


Booklist for Internal Security UPSC Preparation

The resources that you must follow to prepare this topic includes:

  • India's National

  • Security: A Reader Challenges to Internal Security of India

  • Current Affairs from The Hindu

Since there is no single book for this topic, different books need to be read to prepare this topic. Hence, while reading these resources, it is important to be as syllabus-specific as possible


Also Read | How to prepare Current Affairs for UPSC?

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Current Affairs analysis