UPSC Integrated Batch

There is a dearth of awareness about UPSC as a strong career option, not only amongst the rural population but also amongst the well-educated, urban middle class. When we utter the word ‘career’, people, especially anxious parents and their wards think of Engineering (with preference attached to software engineering), Medical, Management, Architecture so on and so forth. We generally read in the interviews of successful, meritorious students from 10th or 12th Boards that they would like to become engineers, doctors or these days – MBAs. However, very few of them as well as their parents are aware about UPSC or Union civil services as a robust career option, which not only can give name, fame as well as a secure, stable and enriching career path but also immense inner satisfaction of serving the society in true sense of the term. Union Public Service Commission is an autonomous constitutional body that recruits personnel for different Union Services (except the Armed Forces). Civil Service is a crucial institution, which is responsible for implementing the laws made by the legislature as well as the policies formulated by the government. This is the higher class in public administration, which includes domestic and foreign affairs. (However, it does not include judiciary or Armed forces). The Indian Civil Services are categorized as Group A, Group B, Group C and Group D services. Through a rigorous examination procedure, UPSC recruits personnel for about 24 services. The list is given below:

ALL INDIA SERVICES

1. Indian Administrative Service
2. Indian Police Service
3. Indian Forest Services

GROUP A SERVICES

1. Indian Foreign Service
2. Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service
3. Indian Audit and Accounts Service
4. Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)
5. Indian Defense Accounts Service
6. Indian Revenue Service (I.T.)
7. Indian Ordnance Factories Service (Assistant Works Manager, Administration)
8. Indian Postal Service
9. Indian Civil Accounts Service
10. Indian Railway Traffic Service
11. Indian Railway Accounts Service
12. Indian Railway Personnel Service
13. Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in the Railway Protection Force
14. Indian Defense Estates Service
15. Indian Information Service (Junior Grade)
16. Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Gr. III)
17. Indian Corporate Law Service

GROUP B SERVICES

1. Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service (Section Officer’s Grade)
2. Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service
3. Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service
4. Pondicherry Civil Service
5. Pondicherry Police Service

The candidates which are selected by the UPSC are recruited by the Government of India for these various services depending on their rank. The selected candidates are given training of their respective services and then they join their service in any of the states/zones in India, which is assigned to them.

SYLLABUS

There is a common UPSC syllabus pattern for services such as the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) to name a few. However, different stages of the IAS exam have different syllabi. The UPSC Prelims syllabus focuses on general and societal awareness which is tested by objective-type (MCQ) questions. The UPSC Mains syllabus is much more comprehensive as this stage comprises nine theory papers.

The Civil services exam is conducted in three phases:

Phase 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)

Phase 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)

Phase 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)

Phase 1: UPSC Prelims Exam

The Preliminary Examination is composed of two components: