Career In Civil Services
Entry into the IAS, IPS and the Central Services, Group A and Group B is through the All India Combined Competitive Examination for the Civil Services conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in different centers spread all over the country. However, recruitment to the Indian Forest Service is through a different procedure. Entry into the State Civil Services is through a competitive examination conducted by every state public service commission. Anyone thinking of taking up civil service, should have an idea how difficult it is to get in as lakhs of candidates apply for the 400 to 500 vacancies that may arise. So once you decide to appear in civil service exam, one should be prepared to slog endlessly.
Posts Under Civil Service :
Services/posts to which recruitment is to be made through the examination are:
(i) Indian Administrative Service.
(ii) Indian Foreign Service.
(iii) Indian Police Service.
(iv) Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group �A�.
(v) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group �A�.
(vi) Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) Group 'A'
(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group �A�.
(viii) Indian Revenue Service, Group �A�.
(ix) Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group 'A' (Assistant Works Manager, Administration)(x) Indian Postal Service, Group �A�.
(xi) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group �A�.
(xii) Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group �A�.
(xiii) Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group �A�.
(xiv) Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group �A�.
(xv) Post of Assistant Security Officer, Group 'A' in Railway Protection Force.
(xvi) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group �A�.
(xvii) Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group �A�.
(xviii) Indian Trade Service, Group "A" (GR.III)(xix) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group "A"
(xx) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group �B� (Section Officer�s Grade)
(xxi) Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group 'B'.
(xxii) Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group 'B'.
(xxiii) Pondicherry Civil Service, Group 'B'
(xxiv) Pondicherry Police Service, Group 'B'
Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Physically disabled categories in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.
Eligibility
The Candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility condition for admission to examination. Commission take up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents only after the candidate has qualified for interview/Personality Test. Educational Qualifications : Graduates in any discipline from a recognised university. Candidates having professional and technical qualifications recognised by the government are also eligible.
Nationality :
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India. Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (b), (c) and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service. A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him by the Government of India. Age Limits :
(a) Candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on the 1st August of the year in which examination is being held. Personal Attributes : The aspiring candidates are expected to have keen interest in the General Studies and are supposed to have a good amount of interest in current affairs. Regular and detailed reading of a good national newspaper, a standard competition magazine and a basic book on general knowledge is the essential pre-requisite. Another important point is efficient time planning. Physical Standards : Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards for admission to Civil Services Examination. Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Physically disabled categories in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government. Number of Attempts: Every candidate appearing at the Civil Services Examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted four attempts at the examination. Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates who are otherwise eligible. Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible, shall be seven. This relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates. Provided further that a Physically handicapped will get as many attempts as are available to other non-physically handicapped candidates of his or her community, subject to the General Category shall be eligible for seven attempts. The relaxation will be available to the physically handicapped candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates. Note:-
(i) An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination. Restrictions on applying for the examination : A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination. In case such a candidate is appointed to the IAS/IFS after the Preliminary Examination of Civil Services Examination and he/she continues to be a member of that service, he/she shall not be eligible to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Examination notwithstanding his/her having qualified in the Preliminary Examination. Also provided that if such a candidate is appointed to IAS/IFS after the commencement of the Civil Services (Main) Examination but before the result thereof and continues to be a member of that service, he/she shall not be considered for appointment to any service/post on the basis of the result of this examination viz. Civil Services Examination. |
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Exam Details : All India Combined Competitive Examination for the Civil Services conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) comprises of two successive stages:
The Preliminary Examination is held in May/June and the Main Examination in October/November. One must begin preparations of the main exam along with preliminary exam. This is because there is little time for the Main exam if one waits for the results of the Preliminaries. A candidate is permitted 4 attempts at the examination. If a person appears in the Preliminary Exam or even appears in one paper, it is counted as an attempt. Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions). Paper I is of general studies (200marks) and paper II (200marks) is an aptitude test. The question papers are set in Hindi as well as in English. Each paper is of two hours duration. Blind candidates are allowed an extra time of 20 minutes for each paper. Preliminary Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in a year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination. Main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory. It will consist of a written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the selected subjects for main examination. Each paper is of 3 hours duration. Blind candidates will, however be allowed an extra time of thirty minutes at each paper. Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers viz. Papers I and II above in any one of the languages in cluded in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English. Candidates exercising the option to answer papers III to IX in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution may, if they so desire, give English version within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version in the language opted by them. The question papers other than language papers will be set both in Hindi and English.
Papers for main examination :
The subjects include : Literature of one of the following languages: Arabic, Assamese, Bodo, Bengali, Dogri, Chinese, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combinations of subjects :
Notes :
Interview Test: (carry 300 marks with no minimum qualifying marks) Candidates who obtain minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination shall be summoned for an interview. It is usually conducted in the month of April/May every year. The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of his career. He/ She will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interst in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity. Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts. There is also a medical test, especially rigid for IPS. Out of the final candidates selected top rankers are appointed as IAS officers. Once appointed, all probationary officers of the All India and Central Services undergo a compulsory foundation training. |
Syllabus
Civil Services Aptitude Test CSAT (Earlier Civil Services Preliminary Examination) - General Studies
Main Examination - English and Indian Languagues; Essay; General Studies (C) | Optional Subjects | Literature
Part A - Preliminary Examination :
The Examination shall comprise two compulsory papers of 200 marks each.
Paper I - (200 marks) Duration : Two hours
• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialisation
• General Science
Paper II- (200 marks) Duration: Two hours
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus of Paper- II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.
Part B- Main Examination
Compulsory Subjects
English and Indian Languagues
The aim of the paper is to test the candidate's ability to read and understand serious discursive prose, and to express his ideas clearly and correctly in English/ Indian language concerned.
The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows :-
(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary
(iv) Short Essay
Indian Languages
(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.
(iv) Short Essay
(v) Translation from English to the Indian language and vice-versa.
Note 1 : The Papers on Indian languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
Note 2 : The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language (except where translation is involved).
Essay
Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic. The choice of subjects will be given. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.
General Studies - Paper I & II
Optional Subjects
Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce and Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics,Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science and International relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology.
Literature of one of the following languages : (A candidate may be required to answer some or all the questions in the language concerned; In regard to the languages include in the Eighth schedule to constitution, the scripts will be the same; Candidates should note that the questions not required to be answered in a specific language will have to be answered in the language medum indicated by them for answering papers on Essay, general studies and optional subjects)
Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Chinese, Dogri, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
Source:- Inrernet & Various Books