How to prepare Current Affairs from

Newspapers
Your profile is made up of: Your Location + Academic Background + hobbies and Extracurricular activities

Location-based questions

Socio, political, administrative and economic problems of your city, district

and state.

And (Sometimes) the role-playing questions about how will you tackle
them, if youre an inspector, tehsildaar, Collector, DSP, Secretary, etc.

Academic background based questions.

For example, if you are an MBBS or Pharmacist, the current affairs relate
to TB/HIV/Malaria/Delhi Superbug related research, etc.

If youre a B.A (English): Whats the latest trend in English literature? What
was the controversy in the Jaipur literature festival? And so on.

Hobby

Tennis, Cricket, Chess, Computer: then you are supposed to know the
current affairs related to that field.

What are the important items in a newspaper?

Administration/ Polity
1.

2.

Press conference of government, where they announce various policies,

administrative reforms etc. (Im talking about the press conference of union and
State government, not the press conference of Congress and BJP.)
Various bills, minutes of Cabinet meetings.

How to prepare Current Affairs from

Newspapers
3.

The big full-page advertisements given by ruling party, about their achievements.
(This usually comes before the election and on the birth anniversary of Nehru
Gandhi Family). It is important because, they list out the various developmental
schemes and provisions in it. Most important part is who runs the scheme? for
example NREGA thing for under the jurisdiction of rural development Ministry (and
not under Labour Ministry)

4.

Election related items: what will the initiatives taken by the election commission?
Any problems or controversies.

5.

You have to prepare these for both Union as well as your own state Government.
(Your state-Government schemes and Administrative reforms for the profile Based
Questions)

What is not important?

1.

Press conferences of political parties and civil society.

2.

No need to do Ph.D on every scam. All you have to do is brief highlight of what
was the scam, how was it committed, what is the presence status in investigation or
court and how to prevent it in future.

3.

Same goes for elections: The XYZ by-elections were conducted on 23th October
2004 in which Mrs. XYZ wife of ABC belong with JYZ Political party defeated

National News

Maoists kidnap a collector = name of the collector is not important. But now
experts and politicians say we need a comprehensive hostage-crisis guideline after
this incidence= important.

Railway accidents, how many killed =not important. Reason for the rail accident
and suggestions to prevent future accidents = important.

SP says BSP took 50 crores or vice versa = not important.

How many killed in floods, landslides or tsunamis on which date= not important.
But the reason behind those geographical phenomenons = important.

ISRO sends an artificial satellite = important. How much does it weigh? = not
important.

How to prepare Current Affairs from

Newspapers

When and How many men did leopards kill in Maharashtra = not important. Why
is leopard killing men in Maharashtra= important. What is Government doing to
stop the leopard? = important.

International News
1.

Bilateral visits of prime ministers and presidents. What treaties or trade pacts did
they sign?

2.

What is going on in UN, IMF, World Bank?

3.

Elections in the big nations : USA, Russia, China, France, UK.

4.

Political or military coup (usually in South America and Africa.)

5.

Any major event: the democratic uprising in Middle East, Israel palestine, US vs
China / Russia missile defence, NATO-Afghanistan and so on.

6.

Meetings of organisations such as ASEAN, G20 etc , and particularly what India
did in such conferences and meetings.

7.
8.

Climate change, environment related news.

Science and Tech related items for example CERN, Chinas space program, missle
tests by N.Korea, Irans nuke program and so on.

What is not important?

1.

Lady Gaga or Justine Timberlakes world tours.

2.

How many people are killed in a car bomb blast in Pakistan or Afghanistan?

3.

XYZ researchers found out that eating tomato daily helps preventing tooth ache
= not important.

4.

Anything small-time, that does not affect future of the World. For example sexscandles of Italian PM or marital wooes of Sarkozy.

Economy

How to prepare Current Affairs from

Newspapers
1.

Press conference or press note by Government, SEBI, RBI, Planning Commission

etc.

2.

ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM etc. (they usually complaint or suggest about

Government policies that affect the business houses.)

3.
4.

Columns and Editorials related to Economy.

IIP, GDP, WPI, CPI etc. Not the numbers but the reasons behind that number
and the future because of that number.

5.
6.

International: ASEAN, World Bank, EU etc.

Those preparing for Bank exams, should also note down the names of Chaimen
of various companies and banks.

What is not important in Economy

1.
2.

Daily Ups and downs of sharemarket.

Numbers. Because Economy is not about number but the meaning, history and
future related to that number.
a.

For example, if IIP was 0.13 on Jan-2012. That itself is not important.
Whether it was 0.13 or 0.128? that is not important.

b.

Important Questions are : is this IIP good or bad? And why is it good or
bad? Whatll be its impact on future of Indian economy and Government / RBI
policies?

FrontPage
1.

There is a narrow column on the left hand side of the front page, most of the
time, the yearbook related information, government schemes etc. appear here.

2.

The main news item on the frontpage: it is usually not-very-important. Reason

most of the time it is the political news. For example, Bihar Mahadalit Land Racket.
If you are a candidate from Bihar, you should read it, for the others, it is not worth
it.

Columns / Editorials
4

How to prepare Current Affairs from

Newspapers
What to prepare from Columns/ Editorials?

Usually columns are made up of 7-8 paragraphs. But not every sentence and line
is important; there are just 3-4 gemstones in it, which you can use in your mains /
essay / interview answers. So just note them down.
o

Some people use highlighters to mark important lines and then file those
newspaper cuttings. So do whichever method suits you (noting down or filing
the cuttings).
But Not every column is worth your time and energy.

Maintain the balance: some column writers have a habit of being totally cynical
and anti-Government.

And if you criticise the Government, then you should also offer the reform
suggestions.

Sports / music / life-style/ Bollywood

Lifestyle = painting, pottery, music, fashion events etc. most of which cannot be
afforded by middle class people.

The last 3-4 pages of English newspaper are devoted to this. if your hobby is
tennis or chess, then you must follow the related sport-news.

For others, I say just skip it. Anything historic about Sports will get published in
the competitive magazines and or the free blogs/ current-affairs related websites
anyways. So daily following these sports-pages = not worth the time and energy.

Bollywood and cricket related news = not important in any case. Unless
something related to administration or polity for example should BCCI be brought
under RTI? And the copyright act vs Bollywood.