One advantage of history is that it covers some areas of the general studies paper as well. The NCERT books suggested for the general studies paper are also useful for history as an optional subject. However, it is necessary to read more specialised books.

The Pelican History of India by Romila Thapar, Medieval India by Satish Chandra and Modern India by Sumit Sarkar are compulsory reading. Basham?s The Wonder That Was India and Rizvis?s book of the same title are useful for cultural history. Indian National Movement by Bipan Chandra and others and Freedom Struggle by Chandra, Tripathi and De comprehensively cover the national movement. The book on post-1947 India by Bipan Chandra & others will be adequate for the post-colonial period.

There are some professional books written just for this exam. Among them the books of Reddy and Agnihotri are useful. The books have a short narrative part, followed by a exhaustive question bank on each module. For the Prelims you need to collect a lot of information, but a critical study will help you answer different types of questions. It will also help you for the Mains.

Political science

Political science is another popular subject. It will cover some part of the general studies paper as well if you choose it.

The syllabus has two parts: the first section includes political theory and aspects of political thought. This part includes theories of international relations. The second section relates to Indian government and politics. Here the emphasis would be on the Constitution. New issues like environment and new social movements are included in the syllabus. Gauba?s book on political theory, D. Basu?s Introduction to the Indian Constitution and A.K Mukhopadhyay?s Western Political Thought: Plato to Marx are essential companion volumes. It will be necessary to consult other books on specific topics as well.

Public administration

This is considered to be a scoring option. The syllabus would appear to be more manageable than many other subjects. There are 12 units in all: meaning, concept and theories of public administration; accountability and control; systems of administration in France, Britain, USA and Japan; personnel and financial administration; history of public administration in India; civil services; central, state and local governments. Mohit Bhattacharya?s book on theory is comprehensive and must be used. Maheswari?s and Laxmikant?s books on public administration are also useful. Constitutional developments in the colonial period, the evolution of administration, centre-state relations, aspects of financial administration like the role of the Public Accounts Committee, the role of the CAG etc. are significant areas to be studied.

Geography

Geography is considered popular, but it is not an easy subject. For one thing, the syllabus is elaborate. There are six sections on physical geography, human geography, geography of the world, geography of India, geographical thought and techniques of geographical analysis. It is difficult to find one good book that covers all of these. K. Siddharth?s books are good to begin with. Some of the reference books are: D.S. Lal on Climatology; Vatal on Oceanography; Majid Hussain on Human Geography; Chadna on Population Geography; Singh on Environmental Geography; Adhikary on Political Geography and Geographical Thought and Dikshit on Geographical Thought. You must also consult an informative atlas. There are quite a few questions that involve the use of maps.