The journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step. Hence, it takes time and effort to complete this journey without losing hope. Every aspirant who cleared the Civil Services Examination had to study various textbooks while often getting stuck at different places.
Polity is one subject that is very important for the Civil Services, in Prelims, Mains and Interview. Laxmikant is a textbook that is widely used to study Polity. Often, my students come to me citing the issue of not being able to completely understand it while reading.
How to effectively read Laxmikant?
Before starting with Laxmikant, it is essential to understand that every aspirant has to cover the basics. In short words, the NCERTs have to be completed before you start Laxmikant. This ensures that you have a solid foundation in Polity before reading something that is much more knowledge-rich. Some NCERTs that you should read before taking up Laxmikant are Class XI Political Science: Indian Constitution at Work, NCERT Class XI Political Science: Political Theory. Post going through these NCERTs, try to underline the critical areas and revise them often. Click here to download the important NCERT textbooks to start your preparation. If you wish to test your knowledge in the NCERTs, click here to take our free NCERT based tests.
Now, when you are ready for Laxmikant, make sure that you club topics that are related while studying. For example, when an aspirant reads about the President of India, also read about the Governor- compare and contrast their powers, functions, roles etc. Likewise, please read about the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers and continue this fashion to give the maximum benefit without complicating it.
In the case of Polity, some areas are significant for the exam but are at the same time time-consuming to understand. Some of these areas are Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, Directive Principles of State Policy, Parliament, Emergency Provisions, Judiciary etc. These areas have to be given the utmost importance while studying, as most of the questions stem from these areas directly or indirectly. The trick to get the best out of these areas is by reading the bare act of the constitution and the relevant chapters of Laxmikant. The bare act refers to the actual constitution with all the articles. At Officers IAS Academy, we made sure that our Polity textbook has the relevant articles that are the actual constitution\’s undiluted version. When an aspirant goes through the bare act and then read from Laxmikant, it ensures that the aspirant understands the concept.
The final trick in making Polity easier to study is to read the relevant static chapters while you read the Polity current affairs. When you go through the current affairs, for example, in PULSE, specific news that come under Polity has to be studied along with the appropriate static chapter in Laxmikant. Not only does this improve your grip on current affairs, but it also helps you revise and recall the static portions as well.
As I have mentioned before, Polity is a topic that takes time and effort to understand. But the advantage of Polity is that once you grasp the basics, there is no need to memorize a large amount of text mindlessly. It is relatively easy to reproduce in the exam if sufficient revisions are done after the basics are read and understood thoroughly. Best Wishes!