How to become an IAS officer

 How does one become an IAS Officer?

 

IAS Exam Syllabus & Pattern

To become an IAS Officer, you need to qualify the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Exam (CSE). The exam itself is conducted as a means to recruit civil servants to one of the 25 services that comprise of the All India Services (IPA, IFS and IAS), Central Services (IRS, Railways, etc) and Group B services.

The exam is considered to be among the toughest in the country, if not in the world. Among the lakhs of candidates who apply for the exam, only a thousand some manage to break it into the Indian bureaucracy. The success rate of the UPSC Civil Service Exam (CSE) is thus less than 1%.

The exam itself is structured into three parts – the Preliminary (Civil Services Aptitude Test – CSAT), Main Exam, and finally the Interview.

The table below shows the statistics of the number of candidates going in between 2013 and 2015, compared to the number that finally qualified (Source).

 

Year Applications Number appearing for Preliminary

2013 7,76,604 3,24,279

2014 9,47,428 4,46,623

2015 9,39,763 4,65,882

 

Candidates, finally selected, were only of the order of a thousand. Staggeringly steep, the competition requires some serious preparation, often for years. You can apply online on the UPSC website. The instructions are also available on the UPSC website, or at various Post Offices across the country.

The application deadline is usually around February/March. The table below lays out the format and syllabus for the three stages of the CSE.

 

Paper Exam Schedule Syllabus Marks Time

Preliminary- Paper I May/June General Studies: Current Topics, History, Geography, Politics, etc 200 2 Hrs

Preliminary- Paper II May/June Comprehension and Analytical Ability 200 2 Hrs

 

Prelims Paper I is counted for merit rank while Paper II is simply qualifying by nature. The results are announced after, upon which qualified candidates appear for the CSE Main Examination in October.

 

Paper Syllabus Marks

Paper A Indian Language from among languages in Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Not compulsory for candidates from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim 300

Paper B English 300

Paper I Essay 250

Paper II – IV General Studies: Indian Heritage, History, Geography, Politics, International Relations, Technology, Economy, Environment, Ethics, Aptitude, etc. 250 x 4

Paper VI – VII Optional Subject 250 x 2

 

Qualifying candidates are shortlisted for a Personality Interview for 275 marks.

 

Preparatory Material and Sample questions

The market is teeming with IAS preparatory material and books. While it is humanly impossible to cover all, there are certain well-known books that are useful in making a headway towards qualifying the exam.

Some of the books and associated topics include NCERT preparatory books for UPSC exam, India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra, Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh, Essays for Civil Services by Pulkit Khare, India Year Book for current affairs, Pax Indica by Shashi Tharoor, and more.

The details of syllabus coverage are shared in the Appendix of the UPSC Examination Notice (page: 124-196).

Here’s a snippet of the type of questions to be expected at the Civil Services Main examination (as gathered from 2017 UPSC CSE).

 

General Studies Paper I

Clarify how mid-eighteenth century India was beset with the spectre of a fragmented polity (150 words)

How does the Juno Mission of NASA help to understand the origin and evolution of the Earth? (150 words)

 

General Studies Paper II

Simultaneous election to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies will limit the amount of time and money spent in electioneering but it will reduce the government’s accountability the people. (Discuss in 150 words)

Examine the scope of Fundamental Rights in the light of the latest judgement of the Supreme Court on Right to Privacy (250 words)

 

General Studies Paper III

India has achieved remarkable successes in unmanned space missions including the Chandrayaan and Mars Orbitter Mission, but has not ventured into manned space missions. What are the main obstacles to launching a manned space mission, both in terms of technology and logistics? (150 words)

How do subsidies affect the cropping pattern, crop diversity and economy of farmers? What is the significance of crop insurance, minimum support price and food processing for small and marginal farmers? (250 words)

 

General Studies Paper IV

Increased national wealth did not result in equitable distribution of its benefits. It has created only some “enclaves of modernity and prosperity for a small minority at the cost of the majority”. Justify (150 words)

You are the head of Human Resources. A worker has died and the family is demanding compensation. Investigation has revealed that the worker was drunk at the time of accident and the company is refusing to pay compensation. The workers have gone on strike and the company Chairman wants your recommendation to manage the crisis. What will be your recommendation? Discuss merits and demerits of each. (250 words)

 

Language Paper

Write a 600-word essay on one of the following – “Recent Economic Reforms in India”, “Threats to the Environment”, “Uses and Abuses of Social Networking “, and “Caring for the Aged”.

Sentence reconstruction, sentence formation, passage comprehension and analysis, and more.

 

Clearly, the road to success is filled with extreme hard work, tremendous dedication, and almost super-human reasoning, memorizing, and analytical abilities. Becoming an IAS officer thus entails almost miraculous capabilities garnering them the nickname of being heaven-born. But maybe it has also got to do with the fact that they shoulder the responsibility of making our society better for all of us.

So, if you think you have it in you, give it a shot (or about as much as 5 more!) and maybe you will get a chance to become the next Magistrate Madam cutting the ribbon to a new hospital you championed in your district.