The stock answer is one year prior to the exam. However, there are reasons one year is preferred and situations in which you can flout the norms.
Reasons
- First reason is research. This assumes that you have zero knowledge in general studies, which means you don’t have a lot of background knowledge to make the most of the news items that appear in papers. For example, if the RBI were to reduce or hike the rates, you should be able to understand what it means to the Indian economy, how it is going to affect the money supply, what are the monetary tools that the RBI has etc. Spreading the reading over one year gives you enough time to do research and enhance your knowledge.
- The second reason is repetition/revision. Over one year, you will see a lot of things repeating. This would mean your memory gets continually refreshed with these concepts and you no longer have to actively remember these things. They become part of your basic knowledge. This is a considerable advantage because now you will be able to put these concepts to better use.
- Third reason is that it gives you a better coverage. There is very little chance that topics prior to one year would be asked in the exam. If you have religiously read the paper for the past one year, there is little you have to do for current affairs.
- Experience to skip: One year time period also gives you an understanding of what is important and what is not. This is very important considering you might end up spending a lot of time reading just the paper and not doing much else.
When can it be flouted?
- You already have good general knowledge. If you already are very strong with the concepts, then the only requirement is for you to stay updated. This can be done by relying on twitter feeds, apps like inshorts etc.
- The absolute minimum:- 6 months. This is my recommendation of absolute, religious reading of the paper. So for prelims, you have to start reading the paper atleast 6 months prior to the exam. Same goes for mains too.
- You revise actively: Since you have skipped the one year period, there is less chance you repetitively encounter the same items. This means to gloss over this handicap, you should actively revise your notes.
If you can adhere to the 3 points above, you need to start reading the newspaper (not necessarily The Hindu, there are a lot of other good papers too) 6 months prior. Otherwise, start reading now.