Previous Year Question Patterns

PYQ Analysis — Topic 101

Year	Marks	Question Summary	Sub-domain
2013	5	Role of terrorism in internal security	Terrorism
2013	2	Cybercrime	Cybercrime/Cybersecurity
2018	2	Brief note (likely: NIA or LWE)	Agency/LWE
2021	2	Brief note (likely: CRPF or internal security challenge)	CAPF/Security

Pattern Observations:

1. Internal security has been tested mostly through small-mark questions (2m) in 2018 and 2021 — BUT in the new 2026 format with only 5-mark and 10-mark questions, this topic must be answered more substantively.
2. Operation Sindoor (May 2025) is fresh current affairs material — India's first cross-border precision strike since Balakot (2019). Highly likely as 5-mark question.
3. NIA (establishment, jurisdiction, powers) is the most likely 5-mark institutional question.
4. LWE decline — from 106 districts to ~18-20 — is a significant governance success story, likely to be asked as 5-mark or 10-mark.
5. Cyber threats (AIIMS attack, Chinese APTs) have been in the 2013 PYQ and are more relevant in 2026.
6. UAPA and its 2019 amendment (individual designation) is directly examinable.
7. A 10-mark question on "India's internal security challenges — nature, agencies, responses" would synthesise LWE + J&K + cyber + northeast.

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