General Studies Paper – I broadly covers : Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society. The detailed syllabus of the same is given below.
| S.No | Topics |
| 1 | Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times. |
| 2 | Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues |
| 3 | The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country. |
| 4 | Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country. |
| 5 | History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society. |
| 6 | Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. |
| 7 | Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies. |
| 8 | Effects of globalization on Indian society |
| 9 | Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism |
| 10 | Salient features of world’s physical geography. |
| 11 | Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India) |
| 12 | Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes. |