Career In Civil Services

People in the civil services weild power, have authority and work for governance. The role requires the ability to solve problems, good organisational skills, qualities of leadership, concern for national, regional and local issues and good communication skills.
Civil servants are selected through a stiff 3 tier examination system. Aspirants require to make planned and concerted efforts to qualify these. The selection of subjects for taking the examination has proved critical for success besides obviously the mental acumen and preparation.

Introduction 

Civil Services is one of the most coveted services with a legacy dating back to the era before 1919. These services have enjoyed a place of eminence in the Indian society right from the time of the British. In the present social structure civil servants continue to be the power weilding lot.
Young aspirants, generally the brighter lot steer themselves to the prestigious services seeking 'power' and 'authority' from their profession. Administration of a town, or an appointment to work for energy conservation, wasteland development, water resources, etc., gives an opportunity to make vital decisions. In other words, the profession offers scope for dynamism and actually seeing things work the way one thinks best. India is facing a challenge of development and the All India Services have a significant role to play in leading the country to success. The services need individuals with an intense liking for field work and an aptitude for dealing with the common man.


Nature of Work

All India Services(AIS)
The IAS, IFS and IPS are three All India Services subdivided into state cadres. There are 21 State Cadres and only one cadre for all Union territories. The All India Service (AIS) Officers are allocated their states while on probation. Officers of AIS working with the Central Government are posted on deputation for some years. It is only for a period of 3-5 years that they move to the centre on a tenure and then return to their state cadre.
The AIS officers in a State cadre may be original residents of that State but almost 2/3rd of all officers are from outside the state. The AIS officer cannot demand his home State cadre but may put in request for being considered for the home cadre. Generally once allotted to a State, an officer for his whole service stays with that State cadre.

The Hierarchy
The hierarchy is common to all services. Selected candidates undergo a period of probation of 2 years. They are in the Junior scale and they work in their states. The next promotion is to the Senior scale when officers serve as Under Secretaries generally in their states.
Junior Administrative Grade - JAG officers are Deputy Secretaries at this level. In the Selection Grade are Directors and Deputy secretaries who are at the same level and handle similar responsibilities.
Senior Administrative Grad - The appointment at this grade is as Joint Secretaries. This is followed by promotion as Additional Secretary, Secretary, Cabinet Secretary.

Responsibilities of Civil servants

The responsibilities of Civil servants falls in the following categories:
* Policy formulation
* Policy Implementation
* Supervision
* Touring
* Carrying out responsibilities of the post

Indian Administrative Service (IAS)

IAS Officers are assigned to deal with policy matters pertaining to their allotted domain. Policy matters are formulated, restructured, interpreted in consultation with the Minister and measures for implementation decided. The implementation process involves supervision and touring. The allocation of enormous funds to and by the field officers calls for supervision and the officials concerned have to reply to queries made in the Parliament for which they must remain well informed.
The civil servant has also to represent the Government in another country or in International forums. At the level of Deputy Secretary, he is even authorized to sign agreements on behalf of the Government.
Powers and jurisdiction of the civil servant in the State - A civil servant is responsible for the law and order and general administration in the area under his charge.
Chief Secretary in the State is high ranking civil servant. In the District, the Senior most person is the Collector or Deputy Commissioner or District Magistrate who responsibility pertains to the affairs of the district including development activities. The job involves touring all rural sectors, inspecting ongoing projects, selling issues concerning disputed sites and looking into the problems of the common man.
At the divisional level the charge is handled by the Divisional Commissioner who oversees governance at the divisional level- law and order, general administration, developmental work.

Indian Police Service (IPS)
The Indian Police Services maintain internal security, public safety and law and order. It has various departments - the crime branch, the investigation department (CID), Home guards and Traffic Police.
After probation of 2 years the IPS officers are appointed as Assistant Superintendent of Police of a sub-division. This tenure is normally for 2 years. The next appointment is that of Superintendent of Police and then of DIG. The Inspector General of Police is the head of the entire police force of the state and the Director General at the head of the entire police force.
IPS officers are also given appointment in the Intelligence Bureau and placed in the Cabinet Secretariat. They may serve in Protective Services such as the Border Security Force the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force, etc.

Indian Forest Service
This is an All India Service created in 1966 for better and integrated forest management and has a separate selection test. Those entering this Service must have a keen interest in the forest wealth, management and conservation. They are placed in command of the forest resources both for supply and protection. The diverse nature of this responsibility makes this service very challenging. Probation of forest officer is for 2 years followed by allocation to the State cadre. The selection exams for forest officers is different in format (discussed later).


Central Services (Group A)
Central services has two cadres, Group A and Group B
The Central Group A services are

(i) Indian Foreign Service; (ii) Indian Posts and Telegraphs Service; (iii) Indian Audit and Accounts Service; (iv) Indian Customs and Central Excise Service; (v) Indian Revenue Service; (vi) Indian Ordianance Factories Services; (vii) Indian Postal Service; (viii) Indian Civil Accounts Service, (ix) Indian Railway Traffic Service; (x) Indian Railway Personnel Service; (xi) Posts of Assistants Security Officer in Rail Protection Service; (xii) Indian Defence Estates Service; (xiii) Indian Information Service; (xiv) Central Trade Service and (xv) Posts of Assistant Commandant in the Central Industrial Security Force, etc.

Indian Foreign Service

IFS probationers are attached to the Ministry of External Afffairs to a particular country desk.. They are required to be thoroughly acquainted with the culture, political status and language of that country as they have to spend most of their time in that country in the first year. In the second year of probation they live in that country as Third Secretaries in the Indian Embassy. They become Second Secretary in the next 2 years. They are posted back home for 2 years before another assignment abroad and generally during this time they are working in the Ministry of External Affairs. Here their job is to look after relations with a group of countries or are placed in the Indian Council of Cultural Relations or the Passport office or in a similar office. As First Secretary they develop international understanding, particularly in capitals of backward countries. IFS officeres go as Ambassadors when they get Selection Grade .

Indian Railway Services (IRS)
At the head of each zone is General Manager who takes care of all the railway operations in that zone. A Divisional Railway Manager looks after the division. Central Services Officers are seconded to the Railways.

Indian Railway Traffic Services (IRTS) - IRTS looks after two functions
(a) Commercial i.e. transportation of objects
(b) Operations i.e. the movement of trains
Officers of IRTS, in commercial and operations department, begin as Assistant Superintendents

Indian Railway Accounts Service ('IRAS')- The accounts of the railways, i.e., income, expenditures, etc is managed by IRAS officers. The IRAS officers begin at Divisional Headquarters as Assistant Accounts Officers

Railway Police Service ('RPF') -Security in the railways of its tracks, personnel and equipment is the responsibility of the RPF.

Indian Railway Personnel Service - This is the personnel branch responsible for recruitment, planning, promotions, postings, training and welfare.

Indian Postal Service
The Officers work with field officers Post Offices or Railway Mail in large district towns and Divisional Headquarters.

Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS) The Comptroller and Auditor General is responsible for maintenance of accounts in the states as well as Audit of Accounts of the Union as well as the State Governments. The Indian Audit and Accounts service is under the Control of the C&AG.
IA&AS officers serve State Governments as Financial Advisors, Chief Accounts Officers, Chief Internal Audit Officers and so on.

Indian Defense Accounts Service (IDAS)
The Indian Defense Accounts Service (IDAS) maintains the complete accounts of the Defense Services.

Indian Defense Estate Service
The management of cantonments is under the care of Defense Estate Service.

Indian Civil Accounts Services
This is the Indian Civil Accounts cadre, which is concerned with accounts and not audits.

Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service

Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)
The Indian Revenue Service has two wings- Income tax and Customs and Central Exercise.
Custom Officer's levy customs duty on goods which are brought into the country and are liable to duty.
Customs & Excise Cadres are not water tight compartments. Officers are liable to transfer from one to another. The head of the administration is the Chairman Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Indian Ordinance Factories Services (IOFs)
Ordinance Factories manufacture equipment for the Defense Services. The IOFS officers serve in these factories.

Indian Information Services
IIS officials carry out media and PR functions. They constitute an official press team, organize press conferences, monitor official media reports, organize festivals (national and international), manage Government's print media, electronic media, advertising agency, Union Ministries news desk. Press advisors are drawn generally from the Indian Information Service.
Previous experience of work in a newspaper or news agency or ad agency is required to join the service.

Central Trade Services
Personnel from the Central Trade Services work with the Ministry of Commerce and with other Ministries or public sector undertakings.

Central Industrial Security Force ('CISF')
The protection of Industries and the large network of Public Sector Undertakings is managed by the CISF. The job is to head the infrastructural set up of security staff to man the industries.



Group B Services

Central Services (Group B) on the other hand include (I) Central Secretariat Service; (ii) Railway Board Secretariat Service; (iii) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service; (iv) Customs Appraisers Service; (v) Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Island Civil Service ; and (vi) Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service.

Central Secretariat Service (CSS)
Candidates selected for this service are appointed as Section Officers/Selection Grade (SG) Officers/Grade I posts. Ministry of personnel places the SG and Grade I Officers.

Armed Forces Headquarters Civilian Staff
Civilian staff responsible for office administration in Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force) Headquarters and other inter Service bodies are from this service.

Railway Board Secretariat Service
This cadre is the general administration staff in the Railway Ministry.

Customs Appraisers Service
Officers in charge of assessment and evaluation of imported goods in custom houses and custom departments are appointed in this service.

Central Administered Union Territories
Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi Police Service are centrally administered. Selected officers are appointed to police departments of union territories and also to Pondicherry Civil Services.

Personal Qualities
* Good academic ability * Ability to solve problems
* Leadership qualities
* Analytical mind
* Good organisational skills
* Concern for national, regional and local issues
* Good communication skills

Entry routes
Who's eligible?
Aspirants must be Indian citizens between the ages of 21 and 30. They must be graduates from a recognised Indian university or deemed university or must possess an equivalent qualification. Candidates are allowed to take the Civil Services Examination four times - and even dropping out in the middle of an examination is considered as appearing for these once.

Preliminary examination - The Prelims consist of
* 2 objective-type multiple choice question papers(450 marks)
* The first paper is on General Studies of 150 marks.
* The second paper is on any one of the following subjects (300 marks): Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, Indian History, Law, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics and Zoology.
* The language of the question papers is Hindi and English
* Duration is two hours
* The optional subject is of the degree level.

Main examination - The Written Examination consists of eight papers of the subjective (essay) type questions each carrying 300 marks.
Paper I - An Indian language (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.)
Paper II - English
Paper III Essay
Papers IV and V - General Studies
Paper VI, VII, VIII and IX - Any two subjects : Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce and Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Literature of any one of these languages - Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Malayalam, Oriya, Pali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Arabic, Manipuri, Nepali, Konkani, Assamese, Persian, German, French, Russian and English, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science and International Relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics and Zoology.

Combinations not allowed by UPSC for Mains are-
Commerce, Accountancy and Management/ Anthropology and Sociology/ Political Science and Public Administration/ Mathematics and Statistics / Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science/ Management and Public Administration /Engineering Subjects, Civil, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.
The papers on Indian languages and English (I and II) are only for qualifying and the marks obtained in these are not counted for the ranking. Their standard is of Matriculation level. It is to be noted that the papers on General Studies and the optional subjects (Papers III - VIII) are evaluated only if candidates attain a certain minimum standard in the qualifying papers of Indian languages and English.
There is no compulsion to offer the subjects studied at the graduate level for the Prelims or Mains examination
Interview - Interview is for 250 marks. The candidates are expected to show understanding of national and international affairs, trends, currents of thought, new discoveries, etc., besides a firm grasp of the subjects of academic study.
Written Examination for the Indian Forest Service - The details are as follows:
Eligibility - Age 21-28 years. Graduates with at least one of these subjects-Botany/ Chemistry/ Zoology/ Physics/ Statistics/Geology/ Agriculture/Forestry/ Engineering.
Compulsory papers are, General English and General Knowledge. Optional papers are : Agriculture or Agricultural Engineering, Botany, Chemistry or Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Geology, Mathematics or Statistics, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Zoology and Forestry.
Test - The test is of the objective type test. Candidates qualifying the objective type test go through a rigorous medical and physical fitness test.