Looking at data and trend of decades a very few or I should say CAs are not coming to Civil service, I really don’t know what is the reason behind it may be long Journey of CA curriculum, may be need to settle down in life, or lack of awareness about exam among our members or fear of this exam, god know the exact reason. But believe me there is no parallel service in India like civil service. Believe me there is no need to come from a reputed Institute like AIIMS or IITs, IIMs to succeed in the civil services examination, and we must be a ‘topper’ at every stage of our education.

In last five – six year few of our members has scored very good rank in UPSC & doing Marvelous work for society and indeed for nation as well ,namely Sri CA IAS Deepak Singla ji ,Sri CA IAS Namit Mehta ji ,Sri CA IAS Om Prakash Kasera ji (I request all readers please read Kasera ji blog on goggle ,a must read blog) ,Sri CA IAS Nitin Singhania ji,(Nitin ji has wrote a marvelous book on Art & Culture and thousands of aspirant getting benefit out of it.

UPSC conducts civil service exam for nearly 24 posts. All these 24 posts (for list please refer Notification) are civil services. Out of these 24 posts, IAS (Indian administrative service) and IPS (Indian Police service) are called all India services. In all India services, based upon your rank you will be allotted a particular state, called state cadre. Suppose you are allotted a sate cadre, you have to serve that state only till you retire from the service. Your promotion or transfer will be within that state only. In Exceptional circumstances like health reasons, the officers can request for change of cadre. Otherwise once allotted, state cadre cannot be changed. That is you are recruited by the central govt. and works for the state govt. But state govt. cannot dismiss you. To remove IAS/IPS officers from the office ONLY central government has authority.
Other services like Indian Revenue service, Indian Foreign Service etc. are called central services. You are recruited by the central govt. and works for them. You can be posted anywhere in India based on vacancies and you can be transferred to any place in India.

Know your examination:–

UPSC generally issues the notification in the Employment News. The same should also be available on the UPSC website http://www.upsc.gov.in. The complete notification should be studied carefully to understand the structure of the exam and other related information. Plus there is exam calendar is too given on same website.

The competitive examination comprises two successive stages:–

Civil Services (Preliminary) Examinations (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination; and
Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various services and posts.

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

The tentative students apply for exam are more than 12 lakh but it has been seen that less than 50 % that is 6 lakh approx. appeared in exams and ONLY 50,000 to 70,000 are serious candidate. If you are not sure about exam please do not give exam on exam date and your attempt will not be counted by merely filling exam form.

Age Limits and attempts A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years .Maximum 6 attempts allowed. Plus there is relaxation in age & attempt for OBC SC, ST & PH candidate too.

Minimum Educational Qualifications must be graduate at least (B com, BA, BSC B Tech).

Other Important Points to be noted–

The best way to start the preparation is through newspapers. There is no better alternative than newspapers. In fact, newspapers are the single most important source of information that can get you through the exam.

The Hindu (b) Times of India,(c) Economic Times (d) Indian Express

Whether to join coaching or not.

In my conscious opinion, in the initial phases it is always better to go for a certain amount of self-preparation before even thinking of joining any coaching institute. Unless one has some basics about the topics, it would be very tough to comprehend and recollect whatever is being taught in a coaching institute. One good thing with coaching is you will get likeminded people there with whom you may form group for Group discussion, sharing / exchange of Notes, It might happen that someone is good at History someone in Geography and like that.

And at the same time you may exchange / Share FOOD (ha-ha) too because you will get people from PAN India out there. So it is good source of knowing India as well.

Working Aspirants:–

“Catch them young” during British we had ICS (India civil service) and they try to recruit candidate as much young as they can the average age at that time was 18 to 20 years in between ,and after training they young chap come to India and handling district. But now the average age of joining into services also increased progressively over the years to 27.5 years.

And working candidate also getting selected, well, most of it depends on the kind of job (and the job environment) some jobs have a very restrictive work place. If the job environment is not conducive for any study, no other option but to leave, if you are serious about getting into the services. Even if you are outside India, you can prepare for the exam, as effectively as anyone else preparing from within the country.

Here it is advised that you prepare for at least 1 to 2 year then opt for job. In this way your foundation is strong and with short revision and updating current affairs you can give exam, many toppers did the same and succeeded with flying color.

Time management

Gandhi ji had an freedom strategy “Struggle –pause- Struggle’’ it is advised not to be “Devdas” that is preparing / studying in closed room meaning you must have open mind not close mind ,make preparation your passion not burden and during study you should spend time with your friends /relative, it will help you in refreshing your mind and you will get motivation as well.

Smart work:

Though the exam demands hard work from the aspirant, it should be “intelligent hard work”. The most important aspect of the whole preparation is to plan it. Without plan noting happen and it is advised to go for regular revision at frequent interval plus opt for regular test series this will help you to analysis where you are standing.

Few Important Websites

www.worhview.com/foru www.Iaskracker.com www.iaspassion.com www.pmindia.nic.in www.downtoearth.org www.prsindia.org www.ncert.nic.in http://murunal.org vision ias.com.

Do not waste time in unnecessary on searching so many website.

For any query contact ca.vikash.icai@gmail.com 08285226956

CACS Vikas Agarwal

Indian Civil Service (IAS) (An explored carrier option for CAs)