THE STRUCTURE AND PROCESS OF RECRUITMENT OF CIVIL SERVANTS - Anagha Kamath

The All India Services Act, 1951 provides that the Central Government may make rules for regulating the recruitment and the conditions of service of persons appointed to the All India Services.

Recruitment to these services is made under the corresponding AIS Recruitment Rules and may be done by-

·         Direct Recruitment (through Competitive Examinations)

·         By promotion from the State Service (through a Committee convened by the UPSC).

Under Article 320 of the Constitution of India, the Commission are required to be consulted on all matters relating to recruitment to civil services and posts.

DIRECT RECRUITMENT

The competitive examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for direct recruitment to the All India Services is known as the ‘Civil Service Examination’.

-Application Procedure-

The Application Procedure for the Civil Services Examination has been completely digitized at the preliminary level and applications can be made only online. No more the forms that need to filled and posted to UPSC. Even admit cards will be issued online and candidates are expected to download their copies between fixed days. 

Candidates are required to apply Online by using the website http://www.upsconline.nic.in

-Eligibility Conditions for Civil Service Examination-

(i)                 Academic Eligibility-

·                    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,

·                    Posses an equivalent qualification

(ii)               Nationality:

1. For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
2. 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.

Candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India. Candidates belonging to categories (b), (c) and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service.

(iii)             Age Limits:

1. A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 30 years on 1st August that year.
2. The upper age limit prescribed above is relaxable under certain circumstances, some of which are-

·         upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.

·         upto a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

(iv)             No. of Attempts:

A maximum of 4 attempts is permitted to every candidate and 7 to those belonging to Other Backward Classes. There is no restriction on the number of attempts in the case of SC/ST candidates. All this, provided you are still under the age limit. A physically handicapped person will get as many attempts as any other non-handicapped candidate of his/her community, but if they are from the general category they will get 7 attempts. If you do qualify you may want to attempt again to improve your ranking and therefore your service allotment. 

It must be noted that:

(i) An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination. 
(ii) If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination. 
(iii) Notwithstanding the disqualification/ cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt. 

-Stages of the Examination-
The successive stages of examination are: 

·         Preliminary Examination for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination

·         Main Examination (Written) for the selection of candidates for interview for a Personality Test.

·         Interview (Personality Test)

 

(i)                 Preliminary Examination:

 

This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only and the marks obtained in the Preliminary 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. The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year in the various Services and Posts. Only those candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified in the Preliminary Examination in the year are eligible for writing the Main Examination of that year.

Papers	No. of questions	Marks	Duration
Paper I General Studies	150	200	2 hours
Paper II General Aptitude	120	200	2 hours
Total	270	400

 

The CSAT is the second paper of General Studies that was introduced in 2011. With the introduction of the CSAT, the UPSC now intends to choose Civil Servants who not only have the knowledge but also the aptitude for reasoning and analytical brain.

(ii)               Main Examination-

The Civil Services Main examination is designed to test the academic talent of the aspirant, also his/her ability to present his/ her knowledge in a clear and coherent manner. The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.

The UPSC has revised the pattern of Civil Services Main examination from 2013.

 

Summary of the Latest Pattern of Civil Services (Mains) Examination

Paper1 Essay - 250 Marks Can be written in the medium or language of the candidate's choice

Paper - II Language -300 Marks   Candidate can take any Modern Indian language but this paper is of qualifying nature

Paper - III English -300 Marks This paper is of qualifying nature

Paper-IV General Studies-I 250 Marks (Indian Heritage and Culture,  History and Geography of the World and Society)

Paper-V General Studies -II: 250 Marks  (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations)

Paper-VI General Studies -III 250 Marks   (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)

Paper-VII General Studies -IV 250 Marks  (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) Marks carried by General Studies was 4X 250=1000

Paper-VIII Optional Subject - Paper 1 -250 Marks

Paper-IX Optional Subject - Paper II -250 Marks Candidate is allowed to take up literature as an optional subject without the conditionality of having to do his/her graduation in that language's literature

Sub Total (Written test) 2350 Marks Marks of English and Language will not be counted so total marks for Written exam will be 2350- 600 = 1750 Marks

Interview/Personality Test - 275 marks

Grand Total - 2025 Marks

A candidate is allowed to use any one language from the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution or English as the medium of writing the examination.

(iii)             Interview:

Even though the interview carries 275 marks with no minimum qualifying marks, it is the deciding factor at many times of a candidate being within the services or out of it and in the least matters in which service a candidate gets. However since the interview is so personal and variable it is most desirable to do very well in the written mains. But an Interview can make or break a candidate so take personality development rather seriously and one could also attend some mock interviews at leading institutes. 

Questions-

Interview questions range from questions about your choice of subject to why you want to join the civil services. It is good to answer honestly but at the same time avoid cliches like wanting to do service to the nation etc. Questions on your hobbies are imperative so prepare well as they expect some indepth knowledge on that. Questions relating to your name, your college or school name are also a big possibility. If someone well-know shares one of these names please also prepare on that. Also learn up about important events on the year or date of your birth. As you can see, UPSC Interview questions are mainly from what you have filled in your form including your subject but here it is more a test of logic and presentation and awareness rather than pure subject knowledge. In the UPSC interview many questions are situational like what will you do if a Tsunami strikes your district and you are the DM/Collector/SP. Questions on your choice of service preference also need to be prepared. Current affairs analysis is important too.

(Above is a picture of a mock interview in progress)

PROMOTION

The Personnel Ministry had in May 2013 written to all states seeking their views to make changes in existing rules to select officers from states for three All India Services - IAS, IPS and IFoS. Till now, the selection of state services officers into the three All India Services (Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service) was being done on the basis of review of their seniority and Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs).
The Ministry of Personnel recently changed the rules for promotion from state services. State civil services officers will now have to face a Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) test and interview for their promotion to the three All India Services. The move has come on the recommendation of Administrative Reforms Commission and the UPSC which suggested changes in the existing system.

The selection to IAS, IPS and IFoS from states' services will be made through a 1000 marks four-stage process including a written exam and interview. As per new norms, a state civil service officer will have to face the written examination comprising two papers –

·         Paper I on Aptitude test

·         Paper II on General Studies and state specific questions.

·         An interview

·         Assessment of ACR by a board for such officers.

There will be a third written paper on essay, comprehension and precise type only for non state civil services officers in addition to two papers. A final merit list shall be prepared taking into account all the marks obtained in four components.

The weightage of-

·         Written examination– 30%

·         Length of service- 25%

·         ACR- 25%

·         Interview- 20%

An officer should have eight years of a 'Group A' service in a state for all categories (IAS, IPS and IFoS) and must be less than 54 years of age. However, there has not been any cap on the number of attempts. The rule also leaves to the discretion of authorities to consider bringing down the maximum age for taking the examination by interested candidates. "The scheme could be reviewed after its implementation for three years," the rules said.

-