FEATURES OF RECRUITMENT IN REGARD TO ALL INDIA SERVICES

The recruitment to All India Services and Central Services Group A & B is made through the Union Public Service Commission on the basis of the annual Civil Services Examination, a competitive civil service exam. The Combined Competitive Examination for the Civil Services is conducted in different centers spread all over the country. However, recruitment to the Indian Forest Service is through a different procedure. Entry into the State Civil Services is through a competitive examination conducted by every state public service commission.

The main features of the system of recruitment to all India services and central services may be summarized as under the following heads :

1. Eligibility or Qualification: The Candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility condition for admission to examination. The recruiting agency take up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents only after the candidate has qualified for interview/Personality Test. The eligibility of candidates includes age limit and educational qualifications. As such a candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and not more than 30 years of age. The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe or Other Backward Classes; up to a maximum of five years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during a particular period and up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof. Relaxation for upper age limit is also granted upto a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and Orthopedically handicapped persons.

A candidate must hold a graduate degree from a recognized university. Candidates having professional and technical qualifications recognized by the government are also eligible.

2. Preliminary Examination: The Preliminary Examination is held in May/June. Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions). Paper I is of general studies (150marks) and paper II (300marks) is from a selected list of optional subjects for preliminary examinations. The question papers are set in Hindi as well as in English. The course content for the optional subjects will be of the degree level. Each paper is of two hours duration. Blind candidates are allowed an extra time of 20 minutes for each paper. Preliminary Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit. As many as 23 subjects are listed for optional subject for preliminary examination.

Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in a year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year.

3. Main Examination: Main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory. It consists of a written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the selected subjects for main examination. Each paper is of 3 hours duration. Blind candidates will, however be allowed an extra time of thirty minutes at each paper.

The paper on Indian Language and English is of Matriculation or equivalent standard and is of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers are not counted for ranking. The candidates from North-East India are exempted from this paper. Further, there are certain restrictions on combination of various papers. The question papers other than the Language papers are set both in Hindi and English.

4. Interview Test : Candidates who obtain minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination shall be called for an interview. It is usually conducted in the month of April/May every year. The interview carries 300 marks with no minimum qualifying marks. Thus, the total marks come to 2300 (2000 written and 300 interview). The interview is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interest in current affairs etc.

Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts. There is also a medical test, especially rigid for IPS. Out of the final candidates selected top rankers are appointed as IAS officers. Once appointed, all probationary officers of the All India and Central Services will have to undergo compulsory foundation training.

Note :

• Candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combinations of subjects :

• Political Science & International Relations and Public Administration

• Commerce & Accountancy and Management

• Anthropology and Sociology

• Mathematics and Statistics

• Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science

• Management and Public Administration

• Of the Engineering subjects, viz., Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering–not more than one subject.

• Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and Medical Science.