Terrorism and Security — Prelims Strategy

Prelims Strategy

Focus on factual accuracy regarding constitutional articles (355, 356, 352), agency jurisdictions and reporting structures, and recent amendments to key laws. Create comparison charts for intelligence agencies (RAW-external, IB-internal, NTRO-technical, DIA-military) with their specific mandates and reporting mechanisms.

Memorize UAPA amendment years (2004-terrorist acts, 2008-post Mumbai, 2019-individual designation) and key provisions. Maintain updated current affairs notes on recent terrorist incidents, policy changes, and international cooperation developments.

Practice elimination techniques for questions combining multiple agencies or legal provisions. Pay special attention to acronyms and their full forms, as UPSC frequently tests these. Understand the difference between terrorism, insurgency, and extremism with Indian examples.

Focus on numerical data like number of Naxal-affected districts, CAPF strength, and budget allocations. Recent trends show questions on cyber-terrorism, FATF compliance, and COVID-19 security implications requiring current affairs integration.

Also build Paper II skills

Dense constitutional and IR passages mirror CSAT-style comprehension and argument evaluation—build those skills in parallel. CSAT hub.

• Valid & invalid arguments
• Syllogisms
• Critical reasoning