Civil Services
The Indian Civil Service serves as the backbone of India and carries great respect and responsibilities. Civil Services constitute all non-military departments of the government machinery, which run State Administration.India's best brains vie for entry into the Indian Civil Services as officers. Even though corporate jobs may offer the best of salaries and perks, a majority of youngsters and their parents still crave entry to the prestigious Indian Civil Services held by the UPSC. The very fact that a big share of every year's top posts in the civil services exams are bagged by professionals from various streams, shows that the IAS is still the dream job for many.
The Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) selects candidates for various central services, including for the most coveted cadres of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS). The remaining services are categorised in two Central Services, Group A, and Group B.
The Group ‘A’ services:
- Indian Railway Traffic Services (IRTS)
- Indian Railway Accounts Services (IRAS)
- Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
- Indian Railway Protection Force (IRPF)
- Indian Postal Service
- Indian Audit & Accounts Service (IA &AS)
- Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
- Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
- Indian Revenue Service (IRS)
- The Indian Information Service (IIS)
- Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)
- Indian Defense Estate Service (IDES)
- The Indian P &T Accounts & Finance Service
- Assistant Commandants in Central Industrial Security Force.
The Group B Services:
- Defence Secretariat Service
- Union Territories Administrative Service
- Union Territories Police Service
Eligibility:
A graduate in any discipline from a recognized university or institution, between 21-28 years of age as on 1st August of the examination year, is eligible to sit for the Civil Services Examination.
Process
The UPSC conducts the combined Civil Services Exam in three phases comprising of preliminary exam, mains and interview or the personality test, and the entire cycle well over a year to complete.
The preliminary exam is notified in December and usually held on the second Sunday of the following June. The results are declared by end of July or the first week of August. The exam consists of two objective types multiple choice question papers. The first paper is on general studies and carries 150 marks. The second paper, called `optional’ is on the subject chosen by the candidate and carries 300 marks. Preliminary examination basically eliminates all those who are not serious or well prepared. The success rate of preliminary exam is less than 10%.
Main exam is held around November/December every year and consists of eight papers of conventional type carrying 300 marks each. Two of these are language papers, one in English and the other in any recognized Indian language chosen by the candidate. Qualifying in both these papers is compulsory, however marks obtained in them is not added in the total score, in other words performance in these papers would not effect the final position in merit. Third and the fourth papers are on general studies and carry 600 marks. The rest of the four papers are on two optional subjects, carrying total marks of 1200. Results of the Mains are declared by February/March.
Those who qualify make it to the third stage of the selection process i.e. the Personality Test. The interview or the personality test carries 250 marks and is held around April/May. Final results are declared by June and successful candidates are allotted different services according to their ranks in the final list. Individual preferences of the candidates are also taken into account while allocation of service. Those who are at the top of the merit list get IAS, IPS, IFS and so on and so forth.
