Dear Aspirants,

Those who have joined us today for the MOCK tests will be getting their log in credentials by tonight.

Also , for all the registered user either ESSAY or PRELIMS or MOCK Program – A new section of STUDY MATERIAL is added in your student zone which can help you in PRELIMS.The STUDY MATERIAL section is a work in progress and we will be keep adding items that are important from prelims point of view.

Currently the study material section has few exclusive notes on Environment and CCRT notes on Culture.

Also we are compiling current events for the whole year ( More than 250 items  are already with us and we are giving it a final editorial oversight – you will have this list by tomorrow.) – Go through this daily and we believe it can help you in real time.

Prelims is around the corner and we have been working relentlessly to give a last push for the test series takers.

Recently , we have got requests from many of you with regards to Mock Tests and many have shown their interest to take the MOCK tests.

We did not have any plan for separate MOCK tests when we launched the program, however after hearing from many of you , it only seems rational to open the Mock tests for all to join.

In this regard, after much contemplation , we though the MOCK TESTS could help you.Few have asked for specific sets on ENVIRONMENT and CULTURE as well.

Hence, we are launching 2 programs in this regard:-

  1. 5 MOCK Tests only
  2. 5 MOCK Tests+ 1 Environment+ 1 Culture (Total 7 sets)

MOCK Test Schedule:-

3-Jul-16 PM1 Full length mock
10-Jul-16 PM2 Full length mock
17-Jul-16 PM3 Full length mock
24-Jul-16 PM4 Full length mock
31-Jul-16 PM5 Full length mock

Environment and Culture sets will be given starting form 1st July  itself.

Principle of question framing:-

  1. The questions will be framed from each and every chapter of syllabus and each mock will have the following features:-
    1. Equal emphasis is given to both STATIC and DYNAMIC/Current Affairs
    2. For STATIC part, we will pick the most important questions from each and every chapter.And for DYNAMIC part questions will asked from current affairs.Questions will be framed from below mentioned books:-
      1. History:-
        1. Ancient- Old NCERT,New NCERT,Selective questions from Upinder Singh(Optional Book)
        2. Medieval – Old NCERT, New NCERT, Selective questions from Salma Ahmed Farooqi(Optional Book)
        3. Modern – Older NCERT, New NCERT,Spectrum,Selective questions from Sekhar Bandopadhya(Optional Book)
      2. Geography:-
        1. NCERT, Goh Cheng Leong,Selective questions from Savindra Singh(Optional Book) and National Geographic Answer book on Fast Facts.
      3. Environment:-
        1. NCERT (All classes),Erach Barucha , Current Affairs, International Treaties and Organizations,Climate funds,Ministry of Environment report and Recent Trend.Major Sites of tiger reserves , national park,bio-sphere,wetlands,rivers,lakes and any particular details of the sites that are important will be asked.
        2. Questions on tribes and their location or any other major trend will be asked.
        3. Endangered species and any other species that were in news  and their status (eg- Mahseer,Amur falcon etc)
      4. Culture:-
        1. NCERT books, CCRT material,Current events related to Culture (Such as – Folk dance, Handicraft , Painting ,Arts and heritage or any major concepts that were in news – eg -Sallekhana or Jallikattu etc)
        2. International and Indian Organizations and Funds for culture and important sites.
      5. Mapping:-
        1. The questions on mapping on both world and India will be asked from the major trends and patterns as UPSC asks (Eg- Countries surrounding Mediterranean Sea or river passing twice through equator). Also any major towns or heritage villages of importance either form cultural or environmental perspective.
      6. Polity:-
        1. Laximikant, Current events related to polity , Panchayat Raj and Public institutions of importance(Eg- Lokayut, CVC,CIC etc),RTI related questions will be asked as well.
      7. Schemes:-
        1. Recent schemes of Government and details as required will be asked.
      8. Reports:-
        1. Major reports and who publishes it.Trends in the report and India’s rank in those reports.
        2. The reports will be both published by Indian agencies and world agencies( Biodiversity report, MOEF report,UN reports,IPCC report,Literacy report,Census report etc)
      9. Science and Tech:-
        1. NCERT for fundamentals (biology,chemistry,physics) for fundamentals
        2. Organizations and recent developments (eg- LIGO,Project Loon,Aerosol etc)
        3. Questions will be asked related to major diseases and vaccines, Indian public health troubles and programs (eg- Indradhanush , rotavirus,Zika etc)
        4. Defense related questions and Organizations (Missile tech,Satellites ,NSG,MTCR,ISRO,DRDO etc)
      10. Economy:-
        1. Major concepts,Questions form economic survey and budget,Global engagements and treaties.
        2. Specific questions on FTA,MFN,Customs Union,Common Market,Employment and demography etc will be asked.
        3. Policies and Schemes related to economy will be asked.
      11. Awards :-
        1. Both World and Indian – (Gandhi Peace award, Noble awards and works etc)
      12. Miscellaneous:-
        1. Questions of importance related to Internet and cyber security will be asked
        2. Any other questions that has significant bearing on agriculture or society as a whole will be asked (Such as GM crops,recent Irrigation and farming techniques,Disaster Management-organization and funds,NGOS of importance and their scope of work,Governmental and Intergovernmental engagements and organizations etc)

5 MOCK Tests+ 1 Environment+ 1 Culture (Total 7 sets)

This will include above 5 Mock tests and two exclusive sets of environment and culture. Environment and culture being very vast it is important to cover all important aspects and hence exclusive sets for these two as request by many.

Once you Join:-

  1. You will be given access to student portal, where you can have access to study materials (Environment, Culture etc) related to prelims
  2. Before every test – you will be provided with a link and password to take the test in your mail.
  3. Each test will be active for at least 10 days, you will also get 2 PDFS for each test – one with only questions and another with questions and explanations.
  4. Once you join , kindly send the PDF of receipt to upsctree@upsctree.com , upon receipt we will set the login credentials at the earliest.

 

There is at least a month to go, and much can be accomplished in this one month, with that in view mock tests can help you regain your focus and get you ready for the PRELIMS.

Click Here to Join the 5 Mock Tests Only

Click here to Join the 5 Mock Test + 1 Environment + 1 Culture

Feel Free to contact us in  case of any queries.

Thank You

UPSCTREE Team

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  • Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.

    Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.

    The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.

    Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.

    In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.

    Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.

    “Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.

    India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.

    With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.

    They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.

    India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.

    As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices

    The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).

    The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.

    Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):

    a)Base Price

    39

    b)Freight

    0.34

    c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b)

    39.34

    d) Excise Duty

    40.17

    e) Dealer Commission

    4.68

    f) VAT

    25.35

    g) Retail Selling Price

    109.54

     

    Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.

    So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?

    India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.

    However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.

    That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.

    Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.

    Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.

    But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.