Quick Answer
Utkarsh Dwivedi secured AIR 5 in UPSC CSE 2021 with 314 marks in PSIR (Paper I: 168, Paper II: 146). His PSIR notes are among the most searched topper notes for the optional — but the copies in circulation were written for an exam held in January 2022. Since then, Paper I and Paper II have both moved on: new judgments, new amendments, a new Lok Sabha, the Russia–Ukraine war, BRICS expansion, the 2025 tariff war and a stream of new India FTAs.
- Updated edition (free): download the Utkarsh Dwivedi PSIR notes PDF with facts, names and language corrected and updated by Team LotusArise IAS — link below.
- For a strong foundation: pair them with the LotusArise PSIR Optional Complete Notes (all four sections) and the four LotusArise PSIR revision booklets.
- Read free online: every topic is also on our PSIR Optional Notes page.
If you have searched for Utkarsh Dwivedi PSIR notes PDF, you have probably already found three or four versions of it — re-uploaded to Telegram channels, compressed, missing pages, and in most cases unchanged since the day it first went around. The notes themselves are good. That is exactly why aspirants keep looking for them. The problem is the date on them.
This page gives you two things. First, an updated edition of Utkarsh Dwivedi’s PSIR notes, with every original chapter retained, factual errors and dated material corrected, and the language cleaned up by Team LotusArise IAS — free to download. Second, an honest answer to the question every serious aspirant should ask before relying on any topper’s notes: what else do I need to build a foundation that holds up in the 2027 paper?
Who Is Utkarsh Dwivedi and Why Are His PSIR Notes So Popular?
Utkarsh Dwivedi is a mechanical engineer who cleared UPSC CSE 2021 in his third attempt with All India Rank 5, with Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) as his optional. The final result was declared on 30 May 2022.
| Detail | Utkarsh Dwivedi |
|---|---|
| UPSC exam | Civil Services Examination 2021 |
| All India Rank | 5 |
| Optional subject | Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) |
| PSIR Paper I | 168 / 250 |
| PSIR Paper II | 146 / 250 |
| PSIR total | 314 / 500 |
| Attempt | Third |
| Background | B.Tech, Mechanical Engineering |
A score of 314 puts him among the highest PSIR scorers of recent years — on our PSIR syllabus page you can see how it compares with other toppers. Unsurprisingly, his notes became a reference point.
What Made His Notes Worth Reading
- They are revision notes, not textbooks. Each topic is compressed to what can be reproduced in an exam hall, which is what aspirants want in the last months.
- They were built digitally, with data, images and examples placed next to the theory — he described his optional notes as digital notes with lots of photos and data.
- They show how a 300+ scorer thinks. Which thinkers he paired, which examples he chose and how he linked Paper I theory with Paper II events is more valuable than any single fact in them.
Why the Old Utkarsh Dwivedi PSIR Notes PDF Is No Longer Enough
The notes were prepared for CSE 2021, whose Mains was written in January 2022. Political theory ages slowly — Rawls, Gramsci and Arendt have not changed. But roughly half of the PSIR syllabus is Indian politics and international relations, and those halves have been rewritten since 2022. An answer that quotes a pre-2022 position as current costs marks, because the examiner reads it as outdated preparation.
What Has Changed in Paper I (Indian Government and Politics)
| Area | When the notes were written | What you must write in 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Article 370 | Abrogation (2019) under challenge | Upheld in In Re: Article 370 (11 December 2023); J&K Assembly elected in 2024; statehood still not restored |
| Women’s reservation | Bill pending since 2010 | 106th Amendment Act, 2023 — operational only after the next census and delimitation |
| Party funding | Electoral bonds in force | Scheme struck down in ADR v. Union of India (15 February 2024) |
| Criminal law | IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act | BNS, BNSS and BSA in force from 1 July 2024 |
| Fiscal federalism | 15th Finance Commission; four GST slabs | 16th Finance Commission (report tabled February 2026) keeps devolution at 41%; GST 2.0 moves to two main slabs from 22 September 2025 |
| Governor and assent | Open debate | State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor (April 2025), then the Presidential Reference opinion of 20 November 2025: no court-fixed timelines, no deemed assent |
| Reservation | Sub-classification of SCs barred (E.V. Chinnaiah) | Allowed by a seven-judge bench in State of Punjab v. Davinder Singh (1 August 2024); caste to be counted in Census 2027 |
| Party system | BJP majority of 303 (2019) | 2024: BJP 240, coalition government with TDP and JD(U); 2026: TVK forms government in Tamil Nadu, BJP wins West Bengal |
| Delimitation | Freeze till the first census after 2026 | Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 defeated in the Lok Sabha on 17 April 2026 |
| Rural employment | MGNREGA | Replaced by the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (125 days of work) |
What Has Changed in Paper II (International Relations and India and the World)
| Area | When the notes were written | What you must write in 2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Great-power conflict | Pre-war Russia–Ukraine tensions | Russia–Ukraine war since 24 February 2022 — sanctions, energy, India’s strategic autonomy |
| West Asia | Abraham Accords | Israel–Hamas war from October 2023; IMEC corridor announced at the G20 (September 2023) |
| Global governance | G20 as a crisis forum | India’s G20 presidency (2023); African Union made a permanent G20 member |
| BRICS | Five members | Eleven members after the 2024–25 expansion (Saudi Arabia listed but yet to confirm formally); India chairs BRICS in 2026 |
| Trade order | WTO stalemate | 2025 US tariff war, an extra 25% on India from 27 August 2025; IEEPA tariffs struck down by the US Supreme Court (20 February 2026); WTO MC14 ends without a declaration (March 2026) |
| India’s FTAs | RCEP walk-out (2019) | Deals with UAE and Australia (2022), EFTA (in force October 2025), UK (in force 15 July 2026); India–EU FTA concluded 27 January 2026 |
| South Asia | Pre-2021 baseline | Taliban in Kabul (August 2021); Sri Lanka’s 2022 crisis; change of regime in Bangladesh (August 2024); Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor (2025); Indus Waters Treaty held in abeyance |
The Problem With the Copies in Circulation
Even setting the syllabus aside, most copies of the Utkarsh Dwivedi PSIR notes PDF online are copies of copies: screenshots stitched together, low-resolution scans, broken headings and missing sections. Spelling slips and factual errors that any personal notebook contains have been passed along untouched for four years. You cannot memorise a name or a date with confidence from a source you cannot trust.
Utkarsh Dwivedi PSIR Notes PDF: Updated Edition by LotusArise IAS
We have rebuilt the notes into a clean, corrected edition. The notes remain Utkarsh Dwivedi’s — his structure, his topic order and his way of linking thinkers and examples are retained, and he is credited on the cover of every part. What Team LotusArise IAS has done is make them safe to revise from.
What Has Been Updated
- Complete original content retained — no chapter or topic has been dropped.
- Facts, names, dates and figures checked and corrected, and dated material brought up to date.
- Grammar and sentences corrected, so every line can be read and reproduced without stumbling.
- Gaps filled — short new material for syllabus units the original notes did not cover.
- Thinker portraits and clean formatting — properly typeset, printable PDFs instead of stitched screenshots.
- Divided section-wise, so you can revise each part of the syllabus on its own.
What You Get in the Download
| Part | Syllabus section |
|---|---|
| Paper I, Section A | Political Theory and Indian Politics |
| Paper I, Section B | Indian Government and Politics |
| Paper II, Section A | Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics |
| Paper II, Section B | India and the World |
How to Download
- Click the download button above. The folder opens in Google Drive.
- Open the section you want and use the download icon at the top right.
- Save all four parts — keep them together with your PSIR syllabus so you can tick topics off as you revise.
Note: LotusArise IAS is not affiliated with Utkarsh Dwivedi. All credit for the original notes belongs to him; this edition has been independently corrected and updated by Team LotusArise IAS for the benefit of aspirants, and is free.
Build a Strong Foundation: LotusArise PSIR Notes and Revision Booklets
Topper Notes vs Comprehensive Notes: Why You Need Both
A topper’s notes are the last layer of someone else’s preparation. Utkarsh Dwivedi wrote his notes after reading the full material; the notes record what he chose to keep. When you read only the compressed version, you get his conclusions without the understanding that produced them — and PSIR questions are framed precisely to test that understanding. A 15-marker on Gramsci’s hegemony or a 20-marker on India’s strategic autonomy needs you to explain the argument, not just name it.
That is why the toppers who score 300+ almost always describe the same sequence: build the foundation from complete notes, then compress it into revision material, then practise answers. Topper notes are a benchmark for the second step, not a substitute for the first.
| Updated Utkarsh Dwivedi Notes | LotusArise PSIR Complete Notes | LotusArise Revision Booklets | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | See how a 314 scorer compressed the syllabus | Build the full foundation, topic by topic | Revise every topic fast before Mains |
| Depth | Revision-level | Full depth — thinkers, debates, data, examples | Condensed |
| Coverage | His original topics plus gap-filling | Entire Paper I and Paper II syllabus | Every topic, one booklet per section |
| Current to | Updated edition | 2026 developments included | 2026 |
| Previous Year Questions | No | Yes, after the chapters | No — pure revision content |
| Best used | Alongside your own notes | From day one | Final 60 days |
LotusArise PSIR Optional Complete Notes (Paper I + Paper II)
The PSIR Optional Complete Notes cover the whole syllabus in one consistent voice, in four section-wise PDFs:
- Paper I, Section A — Political Theory and Indian Political Thought (1,062 pages): thinker by thinker, built for comparison answers.
- Paper I, Section B — Indian Government and Politics (1,632 pages): provisions, debates and how institutions actually work.
- Paper II, Section A — Comparative Politics and International Politics (1,657 pages): every IR approach, the world order, the UN and global concerns.
- Paper II, Section B — India and the World (1,277 pages): foreign policy, every neighbour, every major power.
- Free inside: PSIR question papers from 1991 to 2025, plus previous year questions after the chapters in all four sections.
One-time payment, printable A4 PDFs for any device, available offline. Price: ₹1,180 (regular ₹2,000).
Prefer to Read Online First?
Every topic in the complete notes is also published on LotusArise. Start with the PSIR Optional Notes page, or go straight to a section:
- Political Theory and Indian Politics (Paper I-A)
- Indian Government and Politics (Paper I-B)
- Comparative Political Analysis and International Politics (Paper II-A)
- India and the World (Paper II-B)
LotusArise PSIR Revision Booklets
The revision booklets are four PDFs — one for each section (Paper I-A, I-B, II-A and II-B) — that condense every topic of every unit into exam-ready revision. They are written for both first-time aspirants and repeaters, and they leave out question lists entirely so that every page is content you will revise.
The booklets come with the PSIR Optional Mains Master Kit 2027, which brings the complete system together:
- Complete notes, Paper I and Paper II — online and PDF, with previous year questions after every topic.
- Four revision booklets — one per section.
- Practice question set — syllabus-wise questions for timed answer writing.
- Topic-wise PYQ bank, 1986–2026, with trend analysis and probables to follow by December 2026.
- Answer toolkit with thinker and example banks — by December 2026.
Price: ₹1,770 (regular ₹5,000), with access valid until UPSC CSE Mains 2027.
How to Use These Notes Together: A Study Sequence
- Foundation (first reading): read each topic from the LotusArise complete notes or the free online topic pages. Do not start with any topper’s notes.
- Compare and compress: after finishing a unit, read the same unit in the updated Utkarsh Dwivedi notes. Note what he kept, which examples he chose and how short he made it — then compress your own notes the same way.
- Map to previous year questions: go through the topic-wise PSIR PYQs and the solved PYQs for that unit, so you know what the examiner actually asks.
- Write answers: practise with timed questions every week — our PSIR answer writing tips show the structure that scores.
- Final 60 days: switch to the four revision booklets and your own compressed notes. Keep the topper notes for a last look at examples and linkages.
More PSIR Resources on LotusArise
- PSIR Optional Syllabus
- PSIR Optional Booklist
- PSIR Optional Strategy
- PSIR Optional Study Plan for Beginners
- PSIR Optional Test Series 2027
- PSIR Optional hub