What are the top five magazines that every UPSC civil services aspirant must read? - pravinnath/upscpreparationguide GitHub Wiki

There is limited time available during the Civil Services Exam preparation, and so there is hardly time to read 5 magazines. But one can read selectively from these magazines. Also different magazines serve different purposes for different people. For example you don’t need to read Kurukshetra if your optional is not Geography. Here are some of the best magazines for UPSC preparation:

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Yojana: Yojana is one magazine you can’t miss. It contains articles from serving bureaucrats and diplomats and it covers most of the “official” policies and issues. Irrespective of what your optional is, you need to read this magazine. But there is no need to read it from cover to cover. Just read important articles. Also you should skip the case studies as they are too detailed and not relevant for UPSC CSE.

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Kurukshetra: If your optional is Geography then you need to read Kurukshetra. It contains latest data and articles about Indian agriculture, food security, disasters etc. It is relevant for paper 2 of Geography optional. But skip the case studies. Also be selective.

Economic & Political Weekly: Only relevant if you have Economics as optional. Some deep and well researched article about the latest economic trends. Need to skip the political part though. Also be very selective.

The Economist: Read if you have free time. Very relevant to develop a global point of view. But it is difficult to get and the subscription is very costly.

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Science Reporter: You can read it selectively to cover Science & Tech. Especially if you are from a non science background.

Avoid magazines like ChronicKill (Chronicle), Lizard (Wizard) and Competition Success Review (CSR) like plague if you can. They add absolutely no value to the preparation. Also Pratiyogita Darpan should be avoided if you are not preparing for State PCS. It is relevant only for those exams. Also Frontline is better avoided in my opinion because it is heavily biased towards the left and also too detailed.