Overview Of Civil Services Examination

 

The Civil Services Examination is considered to be the mother of all competitive examinations in India. Popularly known as the IAS Examination, it is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) every year.

The UPSC conducts the combined civil services examination to recruit officers into Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), etc. The services are divided into All India services and Central services. The Central services are further divided into Group 'A' services and Group 'B' services.

All India service officers i.e., IAS and IPS officers are given state cadres after the selection. The cadre controlling authority of IAS is Ministry of Personnel and Public Grievances, Government of India. The IPS cadre is controlled by Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Overall, the IAS plays a major role in administering the country and runs the governance of the country from the small administrative unit called district to the Centre.

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) offers the widest range of jobs in our country. Due to the importance and nature of such civil/public service jobs, UPSC takes utmost care in selecting the right people.

The candidates are put through three kinds of testing to measure their administrative potential and ensure that the persons selected have the following;

a)    A wide range of general awareness

b)   Analytical ability and content retention capacity, and

c)    Strength of character and a cheerful mental disposition even under stressful conditions.