All About Civil Services Examination

The Civil Services Exam (CSE) in India is considered as the most prestigious and coveted exam in India.

The popularity of civil services exam can be assessed from the fact that every year lacs of students from every nook and corner of India appear in this prestigious exam. This exam is conducted by a constitutional body the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on annual basis. Candidates are recruited by UPSC for various Central and All India Civil Service posts in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Group ‘B’ Services etc. There are about 24 services which come under the ambit of Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC. The details and number of posts are brought out in Official Notification that is released every year in the month of February/ March every year.

The status symbol and reputation attached with the Civil Services make this career as the most lucrative and most sought career in India. Nationally UPSC is the agency that has been conferred the responsibility of conducting the Civil Services Exam. However at state level the same responsibility has been given to concerned state public service commissions. Through state PSCs the various government jobs in states are filled.

Civil Services as a Career

Civil Services is considered as the backbone of the administrative machinery of the country. Framework of most of the policies and laws is drafted by the bureaucrats only. The concerned minister is entitled to present this policy or bill in the house for further clearance. The bureaucracy acts like veins in human body that are responsible to flow the blood to entire body. Besides the formulation of policy civil servants also holds the responsibility to execute them. Civil servants are the individuals that act like a bridge between public and government. Thus civil service as a career gives an ample opportunity to serve the people by availing them the benefits through the benevolent schemes and planning floated by the government. The power and perks attached to this service also make this job peculiar and unique.

Eligibility Criteria

The eligibility criteria for Civil Services Exam is as follows:

• To become an IAS and the IPS officer the candidate should possess citizenship of India. However except these two services a candidate belonging to India or any other country can join other services. Though the eligibility have some specific clauses that should be met by the nationals of another country.
• The age of a candidate should lie between 21 to 32 years on the 1st of August of examination year. The upper age-limit has been relaxed in some case. For an example relaxation of maximum of 5 years has been given to SC/STs candidates and 3 years has been given to OBC candidates. Age relaxation is also applicable for Ex-Defense personnel and candidates with certain disability. The number of attempts for general category students have been fixed at 6 however for other backward classes (OBC) the attempts have been kept at 9 or 35 years of age or whichever is earlier .No attempt bar has been put for SC/ST candidates while upper age limit has been kept at 37 years.
• A candidate must hold a Universities degree, or possess an equivalent qualification for appearing in Civil Services Examination. Candidates who have appeared in the final year of degree examination and also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. But such candidates have to produce proof of passing the requisite examination before appearing in Civil Services (Main) Examination.

*A candidate who got appointed as an IAS or IFS officer in earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination. Moreover, a candidate who is appointed to the Indian Police Service will not be eligible to opt for the Indian Police Service in the next exam.

IAS Exam Process

UPSC exam is conducted in three tiers – Prelims, Mains and Personality Test (Interview). Prelims exam is having objective types or multiple choice questions. The marks obtained in this exam is for qualifying exam only and are not added in the final mark sheet. The mains exam is subjective in nature and it comprise of 4 General Studies Papers, 2 optional Papers, One Essay paper, One Hindi and English paper. However the marks of Hindi and English are not added in the final marks they are of qualifying nature. The last round is personality test that is oral in nature and the purpose of this exam is to ascertain mental alertness and presence of mind of candidate. Candidates who clear all the three stages of the civil services exam enter into the prestigious civil services of the country, and become officers in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and a host of other services.

Although CSE is considered as one of the toughest exams in the country, with the right approach and strategy, an aspirant can crack the civil services examination in the very first attempt. The first and foremost thing for any aspirant is to know and understand the requirements of the civil services exam, such as the UPSC syllabus for IAS Exam (Prelims and Mains), pattern, eligibility criteria, application procedure, and other such significant details before kick-starting the preparations. Here, we present all the details relevant to UPSC Exam IAS Exam Pattern.

Application Process:

• Candidates are required to apply Online using the official website of UPSC that is www.upsconline.nic.in.
• Candidates need to complete the Online Application Form containing two stages viz. Part-I and Part-II as per the instructions available in the above mentioned website.
• The candidates are required to pay a fee of Rs.100/- Rupees One Hundred only) [excepting SC/ST/ Female/Persons with Benchmark Disability candidates who are exempted from payment of fee] either by depositing the money in any branch of State Bank of India by cash, or by using net banking facility of State Bank of India or by using any UPI/Visa/Master/RuPay Credit/ Debit Card.
• Before start filling up Online Application form, a candidate must have his/her photograph and signature duly scanned in the jpg format in such a manner that each file should not exceed 40 KB and must not be less than 3 KB in size for the photograph and 1 KB for the signature.
• Applicants should avoid submitting multiple applications. In case of multiple applications, the applications with higher Registration ID will be considered by the Commission.
• The applicants must ensure that while filling their Application Form, they are providing their valid and active E-Mail IDs as the Commission may use electronic mode of communication while contacting them at different stages of examination process.

The exam pattern for the Preliminary stage of Civil Services Exam comprise two papers, conducted on single day. Both the papers in IAS Prelims consist of objective-type questions with multiple choice of answers. The candidates are filtered for the mains exam through this stage. However the marks obtained at this stage are not counted towards the final merit list, though candidates have to prepare well for this exam as cut-offs are unpredictable and depend on the average score every year. The details of UPSC Prelims Exam are as follows:

Prelims Exam Syllabus:

PRELIMS SYLLABUS for PAPER-I  (200 MARKS)

• 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 specialization.
• General Science.

PRELIMS SYLLABUS for PAPER-II (200 MARKS)

• 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).

The pattern for the UPSC Mains Exam is quite different from Prelims stage. The nature of mains exam is purely subjective. There are total-9 papers in the IAS Mains exam that are conducted over 5-7 days. Only those candidates are eligible to appear in this stage who qualifies the UPSC Prelims Exam. The details regarding types of papers and their allocated marks in UPSC Mains Exam have been mentioned below:

All of the mains papers except for the language papers A and B are of a merit ranking nature. Paper A and B are qualifying in nature and candidates are required to score at least 25% in each.  However, Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from the States hailing from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim as well as candidates with hearing impairment, provided they provide proof that they have been exempted from such 2nd or 3rd language courses by their concerned board or university. The Indian Language paper covers any of the languages included in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.

General Studies Papers in Mains Exam cover the following sections:

The Optional subjects for Paper VI and VII of the mains examination have to be any one of the subjects from the following list:

All the papers except the Language papers A and B can be answered in English or any of the languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution of India. The optional papers can be answered in English even if none of the other papers has been answered by the candidate in English.

Mains Syllabus Pattern

1. PAPER‐I: (ESSAY) 250 MARKS.

• In Essay Paper, candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. Candidates are required to express their ideas on any topic given in the paper. The purpose of essay is to examine the analytical skills and ideas of the students produced on the paper.

2. PAPER‐2: (GENERAL STUDIES 1) 250 MARKS.

• Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society. 

• • Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
  • Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
  • The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country.
  • Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
  • History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars,
  • Redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism,
  • Capitalism, socialism etc. – their forms and effect on the society.
  • Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
  • Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and
  • Developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
  • Effects of globalization on Indian society
  • Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
  • Salient features of world’s physical geography.
  • Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent);
  • factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in
  • various parts of the world (including India)
  • Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.,
  • Geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

3. PAPER‐3: (GENERAL STUDIES 2) 250 MARKS.

• Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

• • Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions, and basic structure.
  • Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
  • Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
  • Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
  • Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges, and issues arising out of these.
  • Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
  • Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
  • Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
  • Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
  • Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
  • Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
  • Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
  • Issues relating to the development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
  • Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
  • Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
  • Role of civil services in a democracy.
  • India and its neighbourhood- relations.
  • Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
  • Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian Diaspora.
  • Important International institutions, agencies and fore- their structure, mandate.

4. PAPER‐4: (GENERAL STUDIES 3) 250 MARKS.

• Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.

• • Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
  • Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
  • Government Budgeting.
  • Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
  • Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
  • Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
  • Land reforms in India.
  • Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
  • Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
  • Investment models.
  • Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
  • Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
  • Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nanotechnology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
  • Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
  • Disaster and disaster management.
  • Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
  • Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
  • Challenges to internal security through communication networks, the role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
  • Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
  • Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

5. PAPER‐5: (GENERAL STUDIES 4) 250 MARKS.

• Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude. Details of the syllabus as provided by UPSC is as below: This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem-solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects.

• • Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
  • Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
  • Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker sections.
  • Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
  • Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world.
  • Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
  • Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
  • Case Studies on the above issues.

6. PAPER‐6: (OPTIONAL SUBJECT PAPER 1) 250 MARKS.
7. PAPER‐7: (OPTIONAL SUBJECT PAPER 2) 250 MARKS.

QUALIFYING PAPERS – NOT COUNTED FOR FINAL RANKING:

• Paper ‐ A – Indian Language – Syllabus. (One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. This paper will not be compulsory for candidates hailing from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.) 300 Marks.
• Paper‐ B – English Language – Syllabus. 300 Marks.