NDIAN CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION - SOME USEFUL INFORMATION

                Indian Civil Services

Civil  Service  Examination  2012  result  has  been  announced  First rank  holder  from  Kerala To  see the  list  of  winners Please  click  List
A  Real  picture  of Civil   Service  Exam  from  2007 to  2011
Year/Details	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Prelims Applied	333680	325433	409110	497187
Prelims Appeared	161469	167035	193091	NA
Mains applied	9158	11669	11894	11984
Interviewed	1883	2136	2281	NA
Selected	638	791	875	920
Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) which involves 1 paper on general studies and 1 paper on aptitude test
Main test which has 9 papers, followed by an interview.
The Civil Services Exam is conducted for the recruitment of various administrative services of the government including Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and more.
must be a minimum of 21 years of age or maximum of 30 years of age on the first august of the year of the examination. The age restrictions on the Civil Services Exams may be relaxed for students from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, disabled Defence personnel, and a few more.
Minimum educational qualification  ----------------    must hold a degree from any recognised state, central or deemed university
If you   would like  to  appear for  civil  service exam   -  please click   Question  Bank     to  get question  paper  for  previous   year  examination  of   Civil  service  exam
Stage I: Preliminary examination - This is qualifying test held in May/June every year. Notification for this is published in December/January. Results are published in the first half of August. Stage II: Main examination - This is the main test, held in October/November every year. Results are usually published in the second week of March. Stage III: Personality Test (Interview) - It is the final test and is held in April/May every year. Final results are usually announced a few days before the next preliminary examination.
If you  want to  know  the real  position  of  civil  service  examination  2013  Please  click     CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION 2013
Courtesy :   http://Postalguide100.blogspot.in  & http://sapost.blogspot.in/

Important Highlights of Civil Services Examination, 2012

The UPSC has declared the final results of Civil Services Examination, 2012 on Friday, the 3^rd May, 2013. The following are the important highlights of the results :

 

·        The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2012 was conducted on 20^th May, 2012. A record number of 5,36,506 candidates applied for this examination, out of which 2,71,422 candidates have actually appeared.

·        13,092 candidates were declared qualified for the Main written examination held in October, 2012 out of which 2674 candidates were selected for the Personality Test conducted in March-April, 2012.  Finally 998 candidates (753 Male & 245 Female) have been recommended for appointment to the IAS, IFS, IPS and other Central Services against 1091 reported vacancies.  Vacancies unfilled presently are on account of 92 reserved community candidates qualifying on general standards. Depending on the options exercised by these candidates for service allocation, these vacancies will be filled by candidates recommended from the Reserve List that is maintained by the Commission.

·        TOP position has been taken by Female candidate, Ms.Haritha V. Kumar (Roll No.075502). She has doneB.Tech (E&C) from Kerala University.  This is her 4^thattempt.

·        2^nd rank is of Shri V. Sriram (Roll No.494891). He has done MBBS from Kerala University. This is his 2^nd Attempt.

·        3^rd position is bagged by another Female candidate Ms. Stuti Charan (Roll No.038970). She has done B.Scfrom Jodhpur University and PG Diploma in Personnel & Marketing Management from IIPM, Delhi. This  is  her  3^rd attempt.

·        TOP position in GENERAL, ST and SC categories have been secured by Female candidates. Amongst top 25 candidates there are 13 Male and 12 Female candidates. 

·        The result also showcases the pan-India distribution of successful candidates of this Examination. Amongst the top 25 candidates, there  are candidates claiming domicile from as many as 12 States/UTs                 i.e.Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan,Tamilnadu, & Uttar Pradesh.

·        The family background of top 25 candidates shows diverse representation from all walks of life with their parents being Farmer, Teacher, Businessman, Govt. servant, Doctor, Advocate, Professor  & Civil servant.

·        Amongst top 25 candidates 6 have made to the merit list in their 1^st attempt; 9 in 2^nd attempt;  8in 3^rd attempt; and 01 each in 4^th & 6^th attempts. As many as 04 have already been recommended to services other than IAS on the basis of Civil Services Examinations of previous years.

·        Of the top 25 candidates - 12 appeared from Delhi; 4 from Thiruvanathapuram, 2 each from Chennai & Hyderabad; and 1 each from Jammu, Mumbai, Jaipur,Chandigarh and Allahabad Centres.

Click here for the full list

Source : PIB

The Process Involved in becoming an IAS Officer

In this article we will talk about the process involved in becoming an IAS or (Indian Administrative Services) officer!

IAS officer the designated name of the post is enough to raise the hackles of any Indian young aspirant who wants to start his/her career with a boom. The prestige associated with these three latter profession is unimaginable. One who is aspiring to be an IAS officer is well aware of the position he is dreaming of, but to full fill such dreams and handle the responsibilities one will have to shoulder after reaching the coveted post is easier said than done. 

To reach at that spot one has to run a breath taking race with at least three hundred fifty thousand competitors in the form of an exam taken by UPSC every year. But once you have done this you are at the apex of public services system in India. You can claim to be one of the very best even by the tag of IAS officer with you. But before competing in civil service one should be well aware of the fact that a rose is accompanied by hundred thorns. Objective behind this practical truth - importance and responsibility are two sides of the same coin-is just to aware the aspirants of Indian Administrative Services about the hardships thereby preparing them to mentally tough for the post selection responsibilities.  

For reaching to that coveted position one has to really work hard for nearly 2  to 2-1/2 years and pass through an absorbing  test comprises of  written tests followed by interview spreading  a time span  of almost a year. To remain focused for such a long time one should be full of qualities like self-discipline, patience, punctuality, commitment self-confidence and an endless desire of being one of the best among the contestants. 

IAS officer is such a person which cannot get relaxed  after getting the post infect he have to work  diligently after attaining this position of high prestige and responsibility. To handle his work in the democratic setup  where an IAS officers decision and their implementation effects the life of hundreds of people directly and indirectly on has to  be full of stamina, alertness of mind, adaptability to follow difficult time schedules along with good team spirit. This is such a career in which you are supposed to work with people of different thoughts and mindsets   so it is you who have to make your team to work hard for the society you have vowed to serve while joining this high profile career.

Eligibility to become an IAS Officer

Educational Qualification

To be eligible for becoming an IAS officer the candidate must possess a degree from an Indian University or an equivalent qualification. Those in the final year of a degree course can also appear in the Preliminary Examination.

Age

The candidate must have attained the age of 21 years on 1st August the year of examination and must not have attained 30 years of age on that date.

The upper age limit will be relaxed by 3 years for OBC candidates and 5 years for SC/ST candidates. 

The upper age limit is also relaxed in favor of certain categories of civil servants working under the Government of India and Defense Services Personnel.

Other Eligibility Conditions:

Since these services involves decision making at the upper end of Government hierarchy. So taking into account the sensitivity of the job the aspirants have to be eligible under certain specific conditions as given ahead.

For the IAS and the IPS, the candidate must be a citizen of India.

For the other services, a candidate must be either:

• a citizen of India, or
• a subject of Nepal, or
• a subject of Bhutan, or
• a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before January 1, 1962, with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
• a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Process to become an IAS Officer

 To be an IAS officer one has to follow the below given steps:-

Step 1

As a first step the aspirant has to procure the  UPSC's Civil Services exam “Application Form” along with “Information Brochure” from any of the “Head Post Offices or Post Offices” spread throughout the country and sent the filled Application form to: 

The Secretary, 

Union Public Service Commission, 

Dholpur House, 

New Delhi - 110011.

Step 2

  

In the month of May or June the aspirants have to take the Indian Civil Services “Preliminary examinations” renamed as Civil Services Apptitue Test i.e CSAT Consisting of two papers. The papers are on:

  

Paper	Marks	Time
1. General Knowledge	200	2 Hr.
2. Comprehension and logical reasoning	200	2 Hr.

Note: CSAT is just a qualifying exam for the Final exam and scores obtained in this exam are not added to make the final result. 

  

Step 3

Those candidates who are declared qualified in the “Civil Services Apptitude Test" are supposed to take the final exam (normally held in the month of October) having following papers

1 Essay type Indian Language Qualifying Paper	(300 marks)
1 English Qualifying Paper	(300 marks)
1 General Essay type paper	(200 marks)
2 General Studies papers	(300 marks each)
4 Optional subjects papers	(300 marks each)

  

Step 4

Once you are through the final stage is the interview. The aspirants are grilled in the interview to test their personality and mental ability. Then the final list of the successful candidates is prepared and the candidates who have secured very good rank out of 400-450(approx.) selected candidates are admitted to National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie (now renamed as Lal Bahadur Sastri National Academy Of Administration, LBSNAA) to impart training to IAS probationers. After completion of their training in various fields of administrative importance they are posted as per requirements of the Central and State Governments. 

Being All India Services the new  IAS incumbant's  services are alloted to various state  cadre under Cadre System. The Cadre system is  alloted  on  a basis of lottery and the topper of each state may get a chance to get their home state if he had applied for one. 

IAS Officer Salary

 The IAS or the Indian Administrative Services officers are suppose to handles affairs of the government at the various level in its capacity. At the central level, this involves the framing and implementation of policy of the apex government. At the district level, it is concerned with affairs of the district concerned, including development functions. At the divisional level, the IAS officers look after law and order, general administration and development work of the division they are handling. Members of the Indian Administrative Service hold various administrative posts like District Collector, Heads of Departments, and Heads of Public Enterprises at the state level etc. They can also be posted on deputation to the Central Government to various posts.

Remunerations

The Government of India has fixed salary grades for Civil Servants. Although keep on changing with new pay commission presently the range of salaries drawn at various levels is as follows:

Junior Officers	Rs. 8000-275-13500
Senior Officers	Rs. 10650-325-15200
Junior Administrative Grade	Rs. 12,750-375-16,500
Selection Grade	Rs. 15,100-400-18,300
Additional Secretary	Rs. 22400-525-24500
Secretary/Cabinet Secretary	Rs. 26,000/30,000

Note:- The above scales only provide an idea of the pay scales. Different branches of the service have different scales of pay. Even personnel of same branches may have different pay according to their area of posting and responsibility they are holding at a particular time. 

  

In addition to the salary civil servants receive various types of allowances such as Dearness Allowance, City compensatory Allowance, Leave Travel Allowance, Medical and subsidized housing.

Duties and Responsibilites of an IAS Officer 

 Being on the highest level of administrative services in both the State and Central Government  the various  level of IAS officers have  almost similar duties with increasing responsibility as level increases from a Junior Officers to a much Senior of the level of  Under Secretary, District Magistrates, Directors of public enterprises and Directors of government departments to  the Secretary. Their duties involves

1.     Planning in their district, making decisions on action to be taken. 

Making plans on drawing board  and modifying them as and when required.

2.     It is the IAS Officer's responsibility to implement the policies made in best possible way and ensure rules and regulations are followed.

3.     IAS Officers must also supervise the progress of projects in a wide range, from the public to the corporate sectors.

4.     IAS officers  is also responsible to monitor funds allocation and proper utilization for various projects, assuring that the funds are used for the intended purposes.

5.     IAS officers must assess projects, make recommendations and provide relevant information about projects, especially to parliament as and when called for.

6.     Besides all these routine responsibilities IAS Officers will represent the government of India via boards of public corporations or institutions at national or international forums.

IAS officer Career prospects

Hierarchy in the Indian Administrative Services at the Central level.

Designation	Time in Service
Under Secretary	4 years
Deputy Secretary	9 Years
Director	12 Years
Joint Secretary	20 Years
Additional Secretary	30 Years
Secretary	34 Years

Cabinet Secretary (TOP MOST POST)- This is the apex of the administrative setup in India.

Hierarchy of the Indian Administrative Services at the State level.

Designation	Time in Service
Under Secretary	4 years
Deputy Secretary	9 Years
Director	12 Years
Joint Secretary	20 Years
Additional Secretary	30 Years
Secretary	34 Years

There is no equivalent post of Cabinet Secretary in the State Administration. 

1.     The time span given above is the time period to reach to the designation given against it. But surely this is not the only criteria to reach at a particular designation. 

2.     To reach at an equivalent position in the Central administration takes longer then in the State administration because there are lesser vacancies at the central level then at the state level.

Courtesy : : http://iastoppersstory.blogspot.com/ & http://rmssa.blogspot.in

How to crack Civil Services Exams (IAS,IPS,IFS) in first attempt...!

How to crack civil services exams(IAS,IPS,IFS) in first attempt...!

The IAS Exam in 2012 will be special .Not only will it feature the new CSAT syllabus introduced from 2011 onwards but also the pattern will be different from the 2011 IAS exam. This hub explains all the details relating to the 2012 IAS Exam including the procedure, syllabus, possible exam pattern, books to refer, and tips to crack the 2012 IAS exam.

IAS Exam 2012: The Basics

The IAS Exam will consist of three stages: Prelims, Mains, and Interview (Personality Test). While the Preliminary exam will be objective in nature, the mains will be written while the personality test is verbal.
You have to clear the preceding stage to reach the next stage of IAS 2012 Exam. For instance you will need to first crack the IAS prelims, then appear for the mains, and based on the marks obtained you may be called for the IAS interview, the final frontier.

APPLYING FOR THE 2012 IAS EXAM

To appear for the IAS exam you will first need to apply for it. All the three stages of the IAS exam are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), a Constitutional body answerable to the Union Parliament.
The notification for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination (or just IAS prelims) will appear in the Employment News and on UPSC's website on 04-02-2012 and you can apply either online or through application forms available at the Head Post Offices throughout cities in India.
Remember: You cannot directly appear for the Mains or Interview. Rather you have to first apply for the Preliminary examination conducted by UPSC before proceeding to the next stage.
The last date of receipt of your application is 05-03-2012. At this stage you don't have to send any documents about your age or educational qualifications. They will be required at the time of filling the IAS Mains form.
The Preliminary exam or the first stage of the IAS Exam 2012 will be held on 20-05-2012.

The 2012 IAS Prelims: What You Need to Know

Here is some basic and important information about the Prelims if you intend to appear for the ias exam in 2012.

• The IAS Prelims will be objective in nature and consist of two papers compulsoryto all
• Most questions carry a negative penalty or negative marking of 0.33 marks for each wrong answer
• Each paper will of 200 marks each and 2 hours in duration. The number of questions in each paper is not fixed and can vary every year
• You have to appear for both papers, held on the same day, for your papers to be checked
• Even if you appear for one paper, your attempt is counted
• If you merely apply for the Prelims but do not appear for the exam then your attempt is not counted

2012 Prelims Syllabus

As already mentioned, the Prelims is objective in nature and each question carries four choices out of which the candidate has to select one right option. The new CSAT or Prelims syllabus was introduced from the 2011 exam and is as follows.

(Paper 1) (200 marks) - Duration : Two hrs

• 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 donot require subject specialization
• General science.

(Paper II) (200 marks) Duration : Two hrs

• Comprehension
• 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)
• English language comprehension skills (Class X level)
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

How You Cracked the Prelims in First Attempt

Many IAS exam aspirants want to know whether they can clear the IAS exam 2012 prelims in their very first attempt? Yes it's entirely possible! Let me explain briefly how you clear the prelims in first attempt itself without any coaching and very little guidance.

• Read one good newspaper and two magazines for current affairs apart from Manorama Year Book for GK and Current Events.

Instead of referring multiple magazines and newspapers, I suggest you just read one good newspaper and one or two magazines for current affairs. The Hindu is very reputed English daily and if you can get hold of it, go for it otherwise read The Indian Express/TIMES OF INDIA.

As far as magazines are concerned, Civil Services Chronicle or civil services Times are both good magazines for current affairs and reading one will be enough. But you should surely read Manorama Year Book for not just current affairs but more importantly to build your General Knowledge.

• Read the past 5 years solved question papers before and after reading a topic.

The best way to track your progress is to refer the past five years questions whenever you start a new topic. This way you know what's important and should be stressed upon. After you finish reading that topic refer the questions from that topic again and check if you can answer all of them or not.

This way you know if you have left out some important points in the first reading and can attempt course correction immediately instead of waiting till the fag end of your preparation for IAS Exam in 2012.

• covered the scoring topics early

You shouldn't just study the first topic that you come across. Rather, prioritize and plan. Topics like GK, Polity, Maps can be prepared quickly and fetch easy marks. Tackle them early to pocket 30-40 marks even before you step into the exam hall.

• make micro notes that you could go through quickly before the prelims

Aspirants planning to prepare for the 2012 IAS Exam should make it a habit of writing important current event and GK snippets in a diary, register or flip cards on a daily basis which you can go through 15 or 20 days before the Prelims.

IAS 2012 Mains Examination Details

The Civil Services (Main) Examination 2012 will commence from 5-10-2012 and continue for 21 days. The first paper will be GS or General Studies followed by Essay and English (Compulsory). The third day will be the Indian Language paper and this will be followed by various optional papers on different days.

In all the 2012 IAS Mains exam will consist of 2000 marks ( GS paper of 600 marks, 2 optional papers of 600 marks each, essay paper of 200 marks) and students securing more than 940 marks (general category) can expect an Interview call from the UPSC.

Each paper of the 2012 IAS Mains exam will be of 3 hours duration and there will be 3 hours break between two papers held on the same day. For instance, GS paper 1 will be held in the morning and paper 2 in the afternoon.

Approximately 13 times the total number of seats qualify the prelims and appear for the mains exam. So if the total number of seats announced in the 2012 prelims notification is 900, about 10,700 candidates will clear the prelims and write the mains exam.

Finally, about 2.5 time the total vacancies are called for the IAS interview. So out of 10,700 candidates writing the 2012 IAS Mains exam, about 2250 candidates will qualify for the IAS Interview.

ALL THE BEST IAS ASPIRANTS.

COMPILED BY AN IAS ASPIRANT