You Too Can Be An IAS Officer

Sometimes in your childhood you would have dreamt of taking up a service, through which you can leave a lasting impression in the life of many people. The civil service is one such service that gives you such an opportunity. But you do not know the ways and means of joining the IAS. You may be seeking answers to questions like, what is the eligibility criteria , what is the competitive examination and what is the plan of examination. Some times you would have been discouraged by the fear that the competitive examination is too difficult to pass. You would have hesitated to write the exam on the suspicion that this service is meant for men & women of high social status, economic background and political connections. I shall clarify all these doubts of yours right now.

In order to become an IAS officer you should pass the Civil Service Examination, which is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. This examination is conducted every year to select candidates for IAS and 21 other services, such as Indian Foreign Services (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Audit And Account Service (IAAS), Indian Customs and Central Exercise Service, Indian Revenue Service, Group A, Indian Postal Service, Indian Railway Traffic, Account or Personal Service, Indian Information Service.

The number of vacancies to be filled up each year in all the above services would be around 350 and that of the IAS is around 50.

Eligibility Criteria
a. You should be a citizen of India.
b. You must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30. The 1st of August of the year is the reference date to calculate your exact age.
c.You should hold a degree of any University. However to appear for Preliminary examination, you are eligible if you are appearing for the Final Year examination. You are eligible, if you are degree holder in a professional course like MBBS, BDS, BE etc. In the case of MBBS, even if you are doing the Internship you are eligible for writing the Civil Service Examination

FEE
You don't have to pay a large sum of fee. It is only Rs.50/-.

HOW TO APPLY

The application form developed by the UPSC is available in the Head Post Office.
The filled in application form should be submitted directly to the Secretary, Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi. You should write on top of the envelope the name of the examination

VIZ
Civil Services (Preliminary examination. Last date for receipt of application for the examination would usually be the first week of January.

PLAN OF EXAMINATION
The Civil Services Examination is a competitive examination, which comprises two stages. They are

1. Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination for selection of candidates for main examination. This is an objective type examination. You should qualify in this exam.
2. Civil Services (Main) Examination comprises a written test and an interview. This is for selection of candidates for various services and posts.

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination
This consists of two papers of objective type multiple choices questions and each question should be answered. This exam would carry 450 marks. Paper –I General studies carries 150 marks and Paper –II optional subject carries 300 marks. The list of optional subjects for preliminary exam are Agriculture, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, Indian History, Law, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Sciences, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics and Zoology.

Each paper will be of two hours duration. The Question would be of objective type. Question papers will be set both in Hindi and in English. The Course content of the syllabi for the optional will be of the degree level only.

This Examination is only a screening test for admitting candidates for main Examination. The marks obtained in preliminary examination would not be counted for determining their final order of merit. Approximately 5000 candidates are selected. You should pass the preliminary examination to be one among this group.

Civil Services ( Main) Examination

The Main Examination will consist of
a. Written Examination (Main) and
b. Interview
The written Examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type. They are:

Paper-I One of the Indian Languages 300 marks
Paper-II English 300 marks
Paper-III Essay 200 marks
Paper-IV General Studies-I 300 marks
Paper-V General Studies-II 300 marks
Paper-VI Optional-I Part-I 300 marks
Paper-VII Optional-I Part-II 300 marks
Paper-VIII Optional-II Part-I 300 marks
Paper-IX Optional-II Part-II 300 marks

Here you must remember that in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, you should select two optional subjects for four papers, Paper-VI to IX. Your degree subject could be one of the optionals (but it is not a must that you choose your degree subject) and you should carefully select a second subject. The optional subjects for main Examination are Agriculture; Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Sciences, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce & Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science & International Relation, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology and Literature of any one of the Indian languages.

I will advise you to choose the subject of your graduation as optional-I; and you may choose another subject Optional – II; based on your interest in the subject. However, if you are good at language, you may choose mother tongue, as second optional for, it is easy to score high marks in language subject than others.

1. The paper on Indian language and English will be of matriculation standard. They will be of qualifying nature and marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
2. The paper on Essay, General Studies and Optional subjects of only such candidate will be evaluated as attained such minimum standard for their qualifying paper on Indian language and English.
3. The question papers of the exam will be Essay type.
4. Each paper will be of 3 hours duration.
5. Candidates have the option to answer all papers except language paper (Paper I and II) in any of the language included in the 8th schedule of Constitution or in English.
6. The question paper other than language paper will be set both in Hindi and English.

INTERVIEW
The result of the main exam will be announced in March. Once you have scored required marks in the main (written) examination; you will be called for an interview in New Delhi. You will be interviewed by a Board, comprising of a Chairman and 4 members. Your career record would be available with the members of the board. The members would ask you question on matters of general interest or on your subjects, in degree examination. You shall always remember that the object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service. This test is intended to judge the mental calibre of the candidate. Test is really an assessment of not only intellectual qualities but also social traits and interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alterness , critical power of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement , variety and depth of interest, ability of social cohesion, leadership, intelligence and integrity.

The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross examination but of a natural-though directed-and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. Interview would be held during the month of April – May in New Delhi.

WHEN ARE YOU A SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE?

The UPSC publishes a list of successful candidates subjectto reservation during June of every year. The marks that are counted for the final ranking is as follows.

Paper –III - 200 marks
Paper – IV - 300 marks
Paper – V - 300 marks
Paper – VI - 300 marks
Paper – VII - 300 marks
Paper – VIII - 300 marks
Paper – IX - 300 marks
Interview Test - 300 marks
Total 2300 marks

If you have scored the highest marks. You will be in the top and if your mark is the lowest among the 350 selected candidates, your name would be in the bottom of the list of successful candidates. The candidates in the top of the list usually prefer IAS and IFS.

I am sure you have a fair idea of how to go about joining the IAS. Here's wishing you all the best in your quest.

Patrick Braggs Cap Cell coordinator and Nodal officer.

For further details visit- www.upscportal.com