CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION Section

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RAU’S IAS—UPSC Syllabus for Civil Services Exam u

CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION
Section - I Plan of Exam

The Civil Services Examination comprises two successive stages :

(i)

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations (Objective Type) for the selection

of candidates for Main Examination; and

(ii)

Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of

candidates for the various services and posts.
The Preliminary Examination will consist of two papers of Objective type (multiple choice questions) and carry a maximum of 450 marks [ General Studies - 150 marks and any one optional subject (out of 23 subjects) – 300 marks] in the subjects mentioned in Section II. There are four alternatives for the answer to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one- third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty. This examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; 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 a 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 Main Examination will consist of a written examination and an interview test. The written examination will consist of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects mentioned in Section II. Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the written part of the Main Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion, shall be summoned by them for an Interview for a Personality Test. However, the papers on Indian Languages and English will be of qualifying nature. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking. The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 300 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks). Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking. Candidates will be allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.

1.

Services / Posts :

Services/posts to which recruitment is to be made through the Examination are :

i)

Indian Administrative Service.

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ii)

Indian Foreign Service.

iii) iv) v)
Indian Police Service. Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’. Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. Indian Customs and Central Excise Services Group ‘A’ Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. Indian Revenue Service, Group ‘A’. vi) vii) viii)

ix)

Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager,

Non-technical)

x)

Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’.

xi)

Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.

xii) xiii) xiv) xv) xvi) xvii) xviii) xix) xx)
Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’. Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’. Post of Assistant Security Officer, Group ‘A’ in Railway Protection Force. Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’. IndianInformationService(JuniorGrade), Group‘A’. Indian Trade Service, Group “A” (Grade-III) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade) Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’.

xxi)

Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra

& Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’.

Eligibility Conditions : 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) (b) (c) (d)
A citizen of India, or a subject of Nepal, or a subject of Bhutan, or 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,

Srilanka, 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.
Provided that a 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 ofIndia.

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Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (b), (c) and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service. A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him by the Government of India.

Age Limits

(a)

A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have

attained the age of 30 years on 1st August of the year in which he/she is appearing for the Preliminary Examination (e.g., a candidate appearing for the preliminary examination of the year 2009 should be between 21-30 years of age as on 01st, August 2009) i.e. he/she must have been born not earlier than 02nd Augustn 1979 and not later than 01st, August, 1988.

(b)

The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable:

(i)

upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled

Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe (ST).

(ii)

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.
(iii)

(iv) (v) 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. 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: 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, 2008 and have been released (i) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, 2008) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or (ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or (iii) on invalidment.

(vi)

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, 2008 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 month’s notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.

(vii)

upto a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and

Orthopaedicallyhandicappedpersons.

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Educational Qualification :

A candidate must hold a degree of any of the Universities incorporate by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of amendment or declared to deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 or possess an equivalent qualification. Note: 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 result 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 along with their application for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination.

Number of attempts :

Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible shall be permitted four attempts at the examination. Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to other Backward Classes who are otherwise eligible shall be seven.

Notes:

i)

An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt

at the Examination. ii)

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

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SECTION - II
Scheme and subjects for the Preliminary and Main Examinations.
A. Preliminary Examination

The examination will consist of two papers.

Paper I General Studies Paper II One subject to be selected from the

list of optional subjects given below

Total :

150 marks 300 marks 450 marks

List of optional subjects for Preliminary Examination.

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Agriculture

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Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Chemistry

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Botany

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CivilEngineering Economics Geography IndianHistory
Commerce Electrical Engineering Geology Law

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Mathematics Medical Science Physics

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Mechanical Engineering Philosophy Political Science PublicAdministration Statistics
Psychology Sociology Zoology

B. Main Examination

The written examination will consist of the following papers :
One of the Indian languages to be selected

Paper I

by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Scheduled to the Constitution. English Essay
300 marks 300 marks 200 marks 300 marks

Paper II Paper III Papers IV & V

General Studies for each paper

Papers VI, VII,

Any two subjects to be selected from the list of the optional subjects given below. Each subject will have two papers.

VIII and IX

300 marks for each paper

Interview Test will carry 300 marks.

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Note:

i)

The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation

or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature the marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

ii)

The papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subjects of

only such candidates will be evaluated as attain such minimum standard as may be fixed by the Commission in their discretion for the qualifying papers on Indian Language and English. iii)

iv)
The paper-Ion Indian Languages will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing from the North-Eastern States of Arunachanl Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland and also for candidates hailing from the State of Sikkim. For the Language papers, the script to be used by the candidates will be as under:

Language

Assamese Bengali Gujarati Hindi

Script

Assamese Bengali Gujarati Devanagari

Kannada

Kashmiri Konkani Malayalam Manipuri Marathi Nepali
Persian Devanagari Malayalam Bengali Devanagari Devanagari

Oriya

Punjabi Sanskrit Santhali Sindhi
Gurmukhi Devanagari Devanagari or olchiki Devanagari or Arabic

Tamil

Telugu

Urdu

Persian

List of optional subjects for Main Examination :

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Agriculture

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Animal Husbandry & Veterinary

Science

Anthropology

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Botany

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Chemistry

CivilEngineering

CommerceandAccountancy

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Economics Geography History

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Electrical Engineering Geology Law

Management

Mathematics

Medical Science Physics
Mechanical Engineering Philosophy Political Science and International Relations Psychology Sociology Zoology

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PublicAdministration Statistics

Literature of one of the following languages : Arabic, Assamese, Bodo, Bengali, Dogri, Chinese, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. Notes: (i) Candidates will not be allowed to offer the following combinations of subjects :–

(a)

Political Science & International Relations and

PublicAdministration;
(b) (c) (d) (e)
Commerce & Accountancy and Management; Anthropology and Sociology; Mathematics and Statistics; Agriculture and Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.

(f)

Management and Public Administration;

(g)

OftheEngineeringsubjects, viz., CivilEngineering,

Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering–not more than one subject.

(h)

Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science and

Medical Science.

(ii)

The question papers for the examination will be of

conventional(essay)type.

(iii)

Each pap er will be of three hours duration. Blind candidates

will, however be allowed an extra time of thirty minutes at eachpaper.

(iv)

Candidates will have the option to answer all the question

papers, exceptthelanguagepapersviz. PapersIandIIabove in anyone of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule

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to the Constitution or in English.

(v)

Candidates exercising the option to answer papers III to IX

in anyone of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution may, if they so desire, give English version within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version in the language opted by them. Candidates should, however. note that if they misuse the above rule, a deduction will be made on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to them and in extreme cases, their script(s) will not be valued for being in anunauthorisedmedium.

(vi)

The question papers other than language papers will be set

both in Hindi and English.

(vii)

The details of the syllabi are mentioned in Section III.

C. Interview test

1.

The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a

record of his career. He will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interest in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity. The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. The interview test is- not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers.
2. 3. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state- or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth.

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SECTION - III
SYLLABI FOR THE PRELIMINARY AND MAIN EXAMINATIONS COMPULSORY SUBJECT - GENERAL STUDIES OF PART A PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF CIVIL SERVICESEXAM

General Science

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Current events of national and international importance History of India and Indian National Movement Indian and World Geography Indian Polity and Economy General Mental Ability
Questions on General Science will cover general appreciation and understanding of science including matters of everyday observation and experience, as may be expected of a well educated person who has not made a special study of any particular scientific discipline. In current events, knowledge of significant national and international events will be tested. In History of India, emphasis will be on broad general understanding of the subject in its social, economic and political aspects. Questions on the Indian National Movement will relate to the nature and character of the nineteenth century resurgence, growth of nationalism and attainment of Independence. In Geography, emphasis will be on Geography of India. Questions on the Geography of India will relate to physical, social and economic Geography of the country, including the main features of Indian agricultural and natural resources. Questions on Indian Polity and Economy will test knowledge of the country’s political system and Constitution of India, Panchayati Raj, Social Systems and economic developments in India. On general mental ability, the candidates will be tested on reasoning and analytical abilities.

GENERAL STUDIES - COMPULSORY OF PART B MAIN EXAMINATION OF CIVIL SERVICES EXAM

General Guidelines:

The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers will be such that a well-educated person will be able to answer them without any specialized study. The questions will be such as to test a candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects, which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services. The questions are likely to test the candidate’s basic understanding of all relevant issues, and ability to analyze, and take a view on conflicting socio-economic goals, objectives and demands. The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.