Indian Civil service has considered as one of the toughest competitive examinations in India. The results of this examination will determine the recruitment of all officers to All India Services, Central Services and Group B Services. The person who wants to be an IAS officer should clear the Civil Service Examination. There are 3-stages for Civil service examination. They are preliminary examination, Mains Examination and the Personal Interview. Civil Service Examination is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for 24 cadres among these IAS is the highest cadre.
Aspirants should have to prepare well to attain this highest position of Civil Service. The basic pay for an IAS officer is Rs. 56000. In addition to that, they can get facilities like govt. owned vehicle, housing facility or with the HRA.
Eligibility for applying IAS
- The Indian candidates can apply for Civil service examination.
- The subject of Nepal, Bhutan, Tibetan refugee who came to India before January 1st 1962, can also apply for the exam.
- Candidates should have a minimum age of 21 years and a maximum of 32 years.
- There will be age relaxation for certain categories, they are:
- SC/ST – 5years.
- OBC (non-creamy layer)- 3 years
- Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country -3 years
- Ex-servicemen including commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs – 5years
- PwD – 10years
- Aspirants should hold graduation from any recognised university or colleges. Those who are appearing in the final year exams at the time of preliminary exams can also apply for Civil Service Examination. But they have to submit the certificate of their graduation at the time of the Mains exam.
- There are limits for attempting the CES examination. The restrictions for the attempts are not applicable for SC/ST category.
There limits for attempting the exam. Limits are as follows.
- General -6 (with the age of 32)
- OBC/Economically weaker section- 9 (with the age of 35)
- SC/ST- any attempt within the age of 37
- PH- that comes under General, OBC and Economically weaker section – 9
- PH other category has no restrictions in the attempt and the maximum age limit of all PH category is 42
Those who are passed the IAS and IFS and who are in service can’t apply for the exam. For apply the IAS exams they have to resign from their post.
The basic things that an aspirant should keep in their mind for acquiring this post are as follows.
At first, the candidates should confirm whether they are interested in this job because the preparation for the post-IAS is time-consuming and a challenging one.
Second, the students should update with the IAS exam schedules and updates.
Third, the aspirants have to build a study plan by understanding the Syllabus for the exam and dedicate yourselves by executing the study plans and have to updated with current news and events.
Candidates can take mock tests to analyse their performance and to improve themselves.
The three stages in Civil Service Exams are:
At first, the candidates have to appear for the preliminary examination. Students need thorough preparation for years to qualify for the first stage of the examination.
Syllabus- Preliminary exam
Paper- I
- General Science.
- Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
- History of India and Indian National Movement
- General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation.
- Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
- Current events of national and international importance.
- Economic and Social Development Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
Paper-II
- English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
- Comprehension
- Decision-making and problem-solving
- Logical reasoning and analytical ability
- General mental ability
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation
The second stage is the Mains Examination which is a descriptive paper. There is nine descriptive paper that consists of four general papers, 2 optional papers, 2 language papers and one essay paper. The syllabus of the Mains examination has mentioned below.
| SUBJECTS | TOPICS |
| Any Indian language mentioned in the 8th schedule of the constitution | Comprehension of given passagesPrecise writingUsage and vocabularyShort essaysTranslation from English to the Indian language and vice-versa |
| English language | Comprehension of given passagesPrecise writingUsage and Vocabulary.Short essays |
| Essay | Essay will be on multiple topics. |
| General Studies 1 | Indian heritage and culturehistory and geography of the world and society |
| General Studies 2 | GovernanceConstitutionPolitysocial justiceinternational relations |
| General Studies 3 | Technologyeconomic developmentbio diversity, environmentsecurity and disaster management |
| General Studies 4 | Ethics and human InterfaceHuman ValuesAttitudeAptitude and foundational values for civil serviceEmotional intelligence-conceptsContributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and worldPublic/civil service values and ethics in public administrationProbity in governance |
Optional papers – I & II
| Group-I | 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 |
| Group-2 | AssameseBengaliBodoDogriGujaratiHindiKannadaKashmiriKonkaniMaithiliMalayalamManipuriMarathiNepaliOriyaPunjabiSanskritSanthaliSindhiTamilTeluguUrduEnglish |
The final session is a personal interview where the knowledge and the personality of the candidate got tested. Such as general awareness, clarity of thoughts, ability to tackle the stress etc. After successfully passing the three stages, the candidates can find their name in the merit list.
