Road to probably the most prestigious job in India and one of the toughest exams in the world with a success rate of 0.1-0.3% among 5,00,000 applicants , Indian Civil Services examination is conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) every year. The examination schedule is announced during January - February. Candidates are filtered in 3 stages through a process of elimination.

The competitive examination comprises of three successive stages :

1.Civil Services Preliminary Examination - Objective Type (Screening)
2.Civil Services Main Examination - Written Test
3.Interview / Personality Test

The Prelims are held in May-June and the results are announced in July-August. The Main examination is held in October-November and the candidates who qualify at this stage are invited to the interview in March-April next.

1.The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of objective type (MCQ) and carry a maximum of 400 marks. This examination is for screening only.

Candidates qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year will be eligible for admission to the Main Examination of that year provided they are otherwise eligible for admission to the Main Examination.
The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.

2.The Main Examination will consist of 9 papers in total comprising of conventional essay type questions.

Candidates who obtain minimum qualifying marks in the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be called by them for an interview.

3.The Interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).
Marks thus obtained by the candidates (in the Main Examination as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.
Candidates will be posted to various services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and Posts.

MAINS (WRITTEN-1750 marks INTERVIEW-275 marks)

Paper 1 & 2 are qualifying papers

Paper 1 - (One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution). 300 Marks

LANGUAGE       SCRIPT
Assamese    Assamese
Bengali       Bengali
Gujarati       Gujarati
Hindi       Devanagari
Kannada       Kannada
Kashmiri       Persian
Konkani       Devanagari
Malayalam    Malayalam
Manipuri       Bengali
Marathi       Devanagari
Nepali       Devanagari
Oriya       Oriya
Punjabi       Gurumukhi
Sanskrit       Devanagari
Sindhi       Devanagari or Arabic
Tamil       Tamil
Telugu       Telugu
Urdu       Persian
Bodo       Devanagari
Dogri       Devanagari
Maithilli       Devanagari
Santhali       Devanagari or Olchiki


Paper 2- English 300 Marks

The pattern of questions asked :-
Comprehension of given passages.
Precis Writing.
Usage and Vocabulary.
Short Essay.

Papers to be counted for merit

Paper 3 - Essay(250 marks)

Paper 4,5,6,7-General Studies(250 marks each)

paper 4-Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society
paper 5-Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
paper 6-Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
paper 7-Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude

Paper 8 & 9-Optional Subject

list of optional subjects-
Agriculture
Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
Anthropology
Botany
Chemistry
Civil Engineering
Commerce and Accountancy
Economics
Electrical Engineering
Geography
Geology
History
Law
Management
Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering
Medical Science
Philosophy
Physics
Political Science and International Relations
Psychology
Public Administration
Sociology
Statistics
Zoology
Literature of any one of the following languages:
Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English.

ELIGIBILITY

1.Indian Citizen for IAS and IPS
For other services, a candidate must be either :—
a)a citizen of India, or
b)a subject of Nepal, or
c)a subject of Bhutan, or
d)a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
e)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.
 
2.AGE LIMIT-   21-30 years on 1st August of the year of examination ( this time upper limit is 32 years)
relaxation of upper age limit for-

a)upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe (ST).
b)upto a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBC) who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
c)upto a maximum of five years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from the 1st January, 1980 to the 31st day of December, 1989.
d)upto 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.
e)upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs / SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2011 and have been released
on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August of the year of examination) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or
on invalidment.
f)upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs / SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years Military Service as on 1st August of the year of examination and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
g)upto a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically handicapped persons. 

3.MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

-Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the Commission's examination but have not been informed of the results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination.
-All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination with their application for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. The applications for the Main Examination will be called sometime in the month of July / August.
-In exceptional cases, the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who has not any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he / she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his / her admission to the examination.
-Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognised by Government as equivalent to professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.
-Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University / Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination. In such cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University / Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of internship) for the award of the Degree.

4.NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS
a)Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted four attempts at the examination(this time it is 6).
b)This restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible.
c)The number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible shall be seven.(this time it is 9)
d)The relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
e)A physically handicapped will get as many attempts as are available to other non-physically handicapped candidates of his or her community, subject to the condition that a physically handicapped candidate belonging to the General Category shall be eligible for seven attempts.(this time it is 9)
f)The relaxation will be available to the physically handicapped candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

INDIAN ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES

To become an IAS officer is dream for millions in India.The sheer prestige,respect and royal aura makes them one of the top most services in India ,in which a person can get all the oppurtunities he needs to serve the nation.They are the policy makers,policy executors and advisors to the ministers.They enjoy permanent administrative positions in Union Government,States and PSUs. IAS is the first preference of majority of the selected candidates in Civil Services and very few vacancies,which makes the competition cut-throat in one of the world's toughest exams.
Training of the candidates take place in Mussoorie,Uttarakhand-Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration(LBSNAA).
controlling authority is Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
 

DESIGNATIONS OF IAS Officer-

1.Sub-Divisional Magistrate
2.Chief Development Officer in District or Joint Secretary in State or Under Secretary in Central government
3.District collector or the Municipal Commissioner or a Deputy Secretary in the central government   
4.District collector or Special Secretary in the state government or a Director in the central government   
5.Secretary in state government or position of Joint Secretary to Government of India or Divisional Commissioners
6.Principal Secretaries/Financial Commissioners in states, Additional Secretaries to the Government of India   
7.Chief Secretary of States, Union Secretaries in charge of various ministries of Government of India
8.Cabinet Secretary of India(top-most post of an IAS officer)

   

Government has urged UPSC to postpone the preliminary round of Civil Services examination, which was to be held on 24 August 2014 ,until the syllabus and exam pattern are clear.

Good work. 

thank you sir