CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION

 

CIVIL SERVIECE EXAMINATION FIRST STEPS

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) among others. Also simply referred as UPSC examination[1]. It is conducted in three phases - a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (General Studies Paper I and General Studies Paper II also popularly known as Civil Service Aptitude Test or CSAT), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type, in which two papers are qualifying and only marks of seven paper are counted followed by a personality test.

Eligibility

Eligibility for the examination is as follows
Nationality

• For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, the candidate must be a citizen of India.
• For other services, the candidate must be one of the following:
  • A citizen of India
  • A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan
  • A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India

Education
All candidates must have as a minimum one of the following educational qualifications:

• A degree from a Central, State or a Deemed university
• A degree received through correspondence or distance education
• A degree from an open university
• A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to one of the above

The following candidates are also eligible, but must submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam

• Candidates who have appeared in an examination, the passing of which would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy one of the above points
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but have not yet completed an internship.
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of ICAI, ICSI and ICWAI.
• A degree from a private university.
• A degree from any foreign university recognized by the Association of Indian Universities.

Age
The candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years (for the General category candidate) on August 1 of the year of examination. Prescribed age limits vary with respect to caste reservations.

• For Other Backward Castes (OBC) the upper age limit is35
• For Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST), the limit is 37 years.
• The upper age limit is relaxed for certain candidates who are backward with respect to other factors and differently abled

Number of attempts
The number of times a candidate may attempt the exam is limited as follows:

• General category candidates = 6.
• OBC category candidates = 9.
• SC/ST candidates = unlimited attempts till 37 years of age.

Appearing to attempt one of the papers in the preliminary examination is counted as an attempt, including disqualification/ cancellation of candidature. However, applying to sit the exam but failing to attend is not counted as an attempt.

List of Services

Following are the services which one gets on qualifying the Civil Service Examination.

All India Services

• Indian Administrative Service (IAS)Pondicherry Police Service(PPS)
• Indian Police Service(IPS)
• Indian Forest Service(IFoS)

Central Services (Group A)

• Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS)
• Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS)
• Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
• Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)
• Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
• Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES)
• Indian Foreign Service (IFS)
• Indian Information Service (IIS)
• Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)
• Indian Postal Service (IPoS)
• Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)
• Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
• Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
• Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT)
• Indian Revenue Service (IRS-C&CE)
• Indian Trade Service (ITrS)
• Railway Protection Force (RPF)

Group B Services

• Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHCS)
• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS)
• Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS)
• Pondicherry Civil Service (PCS)
• Pondicherry Police Service (PPS)