Indian Civil Service Complete Details

I N D I A N   A D M I N I S T R A T I V E   S E R V I C E S

In the Government of India (i.e.. in the ministries) you will deal with the formulation of policies and supervise their implementation. In each Ministry you will supervise the allotment and utilization of funds by the field officers in your Ministry.

You will also be asked to furnish information to the Parliament in response to queries relating to your Ministry. You will have to work late into the night and under much pressure when Parliament is in session. Sometimes, your work will entail visits to the States. Depending on your rank, you might even be the government nominee on the Board of Directors of some Public Sector Corporation. You will also at times be nominated to independently represent India at International forums or accompany the Minister for such meetings. From the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, you can sign international agreements on behalf of the Government of India.

However, more than half your career life will be spent in the State you are allocated, where you will look after law and order, general administration, revenue work and developmental functions. During the course of your two year probation you will be attached to various training schools, to the Secretariat and field offices and to a district collector's office. Here you will do the work of a sub magistrate. On completion of your two year's probation you will be appointed as a Sub Divisional Magistrate(SDM). As S.D.M. you will look after law and order, general administration, revenue work and such developmental work as may be assigned to you. In the next three scales i.e.. Senior Scale, Junior Administrative Grade and Selection Grade you will serve as District Magistrate, Chief Development Officer, Director of a department, Managing Director of a Public Sector Unit or a Senior officer in the State Secretariat. In other words, you could be a District Magistrate in your fifth year of service and remain a D.M. till you are promoted to the Super Time Scale in the 17th year of your service.

What your rank in the State Secretariat will be varies widely from State to State,. For example, in Jammu and Kashmir, young I.A.S. officers in the Junior Administrative Grade become Secretaries. In most States, however, I.A.S. Officers become Secretaries to the State Government when they reach the Selection Grade. In all States, supertime scale officers are Secretaries or Divisional Commissioners. Following this there are promotions in scale to the ranks of Principal Secretary and additional Chief Secretary. The highest post in the State is that of the Chief Secretary.

I N D I A N   F O R E I G N   S E R V I C E S

After the training at Mussoorie, the I.F.S. probationers are attached to the Ministry of External Affairs and have to become conversant in a major foreign language. During the second year they are appointed as Third Secretaries in and Indian Embassy/High Commission where that language is spoken. They spend another two years in the same Embassy as Second Secretaries. After two postings abroad, the I.F.S. Officers are posted in India in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) (Eg. Passport office or Indian Council for Cultural Relations or elsewhere in the Government of India). In the MEA, you will look after India's political, economic and commercial work. In the Senior Scale and the Junior Administrative Grade the I.F.S. Officers are appointed as First Secretaries. In the Selection Grade I.F.S. Officers serve as Counsellors. In very small countries the Indian Ambassador would be in that grade.

In the supertime scale, many I.F.S. Officers become Ambassadors of medium sized countries while others are appointed as Ministers in the large embassies like Washington and Moscow. In the AdditionalSecretaries Grade, I.F.S. Officers are made ambassadors in relatively big embassies of Deputy High Commissioner in London. The biggest Indian Embassies / High Commissions like Moscow, Washington and London are headed by Ambassadors of the rank of Secretary. At this level, some Ambassadors are non I.F.S. Officers like politicians, retired or serving I.A.S. Officers or retired Defence Chief. There are four to five Secretary level officers in the MEA - the senior most being the Foreign Secretary.

The content of an I.F.S. Officer's work has improved immensely. The is considerable economic work to be done to promote trade and commerce. The career development in the service is extremely professional.

I N D I A N   P O L I C E   S E R V I C E S

During the probation period you will undergo a year's on the job training in the office of a Superintendent of Police of a district in the State you have been allocated .On completing your two year probation, you will be confirmed as a three star Assistant Superintendent of Police (A.S.P.). You will then in all probability be posted as the Police Officer of a sub-division (SDPO) for two years till you are promoted to the Senior Scale.

As the SDPO, Superintendent of Police, Senior Superintendent of Police of a District and as Deputy Inspector General of a Range (group of districts), you will be exclusively responsible for the prevention and detection of crime. However, the law and order duties will be shared with your I.A.S. counterpart.

In cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the law and order duties are the exclusive responsibility of the police force. In these cities the ASP, SP, and the DIG are called Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACPO), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) and Commissioner of Police (CP). On being promoted to the Senior Scale you could serve as ASP of a larger district for the first two years or SP of a small district. You are likely to spend about thirteen years covering the Senior Scale, Junior Administrative Grade and Selection Grade as SP / SSP of a district, SP (Crime), SP (CID), S.P. (Home Guards), the head of some police battalion, S.P. (Traffic) and so on. Outside the districts, the most satisfying jobs are in the intelligence agencies of the Government of India specially in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). There are many other Central agencies to which the IPS Officers may be sent on deputation at every stage of their career, except in the Junior Scale. Some of these are the Cabinet Secretariat, the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force. Unlike I.A.S. Officers who cannot permanently serve the central government, some IPS dominated central agencies absorb the IPS Officers till they retire. The senior posts in the IPS are those of the Deputy Inspector General, Inspector General, Additional D.G. and Director General. These days many states have more than one IG and DG. However, there is only one Director General of Police (DG), who heads the police force of the State.

I N D I A N   R E V E N U E   S E R V I C E S

In the Indian Revenue Service you earn money for the exchequer and therefore, as Usha Gupta, Additional Commissioner Income Tax points out you have to keep departmental expenses to the minimum! The job according to her is “officer oriented” as you are involved in all the processes from investigation to decisions and policy planning. As you will deal with the fiscal policy and budget, aptitude for accounts as well as a legal aptitude is useful. She states that you “wield a lot of power” and whereas the law abiding citizen “need not fear us, the white collar criminal better watch out”!

Your professional training will be conducted in the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur and you will also receive on-the-job training at an Assistant Commissioner’s office for sometime. Following this you will serve as an Assistant Commissioner for about eight years. You will examine cases in which the tax assessed is more than the prescribed figure. Assistant Commissioners deal with income and losses between Rs. 2 - 5 lakhs.

In the Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) and Selection Grade you would be a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax or Deputy Director (Investigation). Deputy Commissioners (Assessment) handle cases above Rs.5 lakhs. In the Senior Administrative Grade you could be a Commissioner of Income Tax in a metropolitan town or one of the state capitals or a Director of Income Tax. Some of these Commissioners are designated Chief - Commissioners of Income Tax and are in a scale similar to that of Additional Secretaries.

The Director General of Income Tax is also in this scale.

The head of the Income Tax hierarchy is the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and is assisted by six members.

I N D I A N   R A I L W A Y   S E R V I C E S

The Indian Railways virtually form the life line of the country catering to its need for large scale movement of traffic both freight and passenger thereby contributing to economic growth and also promoting national integration.

The Indian Railways are now Asia's largest and world's second largest railway system under a single management. At the top of the railway hierarchy is the Chairman of the Railway Board. He gets a salary equal to that of the Cabinet Secretary and for all purposes he is the Secretary of his Department. The Railway Board has several members of Secretary rank.

There is one member for each wing of the railways eg. Member (Mechanical), Member (Engineering), Member (Traffic), Member (Staff) etc.

Heading each zone is a General Manager who is incharge of all the railway operations in that zone. His rank is between that of an Additional Secretary and Secretary to the Government of India. He belongs to any one of the various railway services.

Each Division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), who can be from any railway service. He is one of the senior officers of the Senior Administrative Grade which corresponds to the Super Time Scale of the IAS. The post of the Additional Divisional Railway manager is now an important one. He belongs to the Senior Administrative Grade. He is responsible for all railway work in his division.

As a probationer of the railway services you will receive your training at the Railway Staff College, Vadodara followed by a year's on-the-job training at a division of the 'zone' you have been allocated. There are nine zones- North, South, East, North-East, West, South-East, South-East, South-Central, Central and North Frontier. According to Nitesh Srivastava (IRTS), "Railways belong to one of the select few organizations where decision has to be taken on the spot. This is precisely the challenge for a railway officer".

I N D I A N   R A I L W A Y   T R A F F I C   S E R V I C E S

This service looks after commercial (goods and passengers) and operational (movement of trains) functions with an emphasis on safety.

In the Junior Scale you will serve as either Assistant Commercial Manager or Assistant Operating Manager and posted at the Divisional Headquarters. If posted at a very big railway station you may be designated as Assistant Transport Manager. Within four years of service you are likely to get the senior scale and posted at divisional headquarters as Divisional.

Commercial Manager or Divisional Operating Manager or Divisional Safety Officer. Most of the branch officers like the Senior Divisional Commercial Manager or Senior Divisional Operating Manager are in the JAG.

At the zonal level the hierarchy is as follows :

On the Commercial side the structure is headed by the Chief Commercial Manager (who is in the pay scale of the Additional Secretary to the Government of India) followed by the Additional Chief Commercial Manager and the Deputy Chief Commercial Manager.

On the operations side the Chief Operations Manager is at the head, followed by the Additional Chief Operations Manager, Chief Freight Traffic Manager, Chief Passenger Traffic Manager and the Deputy Chief Operations Manager.

According to Saurabh Singh (IRTS), "Traditionally, operations were given more importance in Railways than the commercial aspect. However, today commercial activity is gaining importance because of consumer awareness. Thus it is imperative that IRTS officers hone up their managerial skill".

I N D I A N   R A I L W A Y   A C C O U N T S & P E R S O N N E L   S E R V I C E S

INDIAN RAILWAY ACCOUNTS SERVICE (IRAS)

This service monitors all the income and expenditure of the vast railway network. In the Junior Scale as an IRAS officer you will be posted to divisional headquarters as Assistant Accounts Officers. On being promoted to the senior scale you will become a Divisional Accounts Officer and in the JAG you will be designated as Senior Divisional Accounts Officer. In the Senior Administrative Grade you are promoted to the coveted position of Financial Advisor-cum-Chief Accounts Officer of a zone. Dakshita Dass, Senior Divisional Accounts Officer points out that owing to the commercial nature of the organization, work in the railways is "result oriented" and the environment is conducive to quick decisions. You are constantly in a "state of motion". "A career in the Indian Railway Accounts Service has contributed to her personal growth and enabled her to deal with tough and demanding situations".

INDIAN RAILWAY PERSONNEL SERVICE (IRPS)

As an officer in this service you will deal with recruitment, promotions, in service training and welfare of the employees. You will be interested to know that IRPS officers get the equivalent of the Supertime Scale before any other service of the Government of India.

The postings are as follows :

In the junior scale you will be designated Assistant Personnel Officer and posted at Divisional Headquarters. Following this you will become a Divisional Personnel Officer in the Senior Scale and Senior Divisional Personnel Officer of Deputy Chief Planning Officer in the JAG.

You will be made Additional Chief Planning Officer once you get the selection grade. In the Senior Administrative Grade you will be designated Chief Personnel Officer and serve at Zonal Headquarters.

At a non divisional set-up there are commensurate posts for officers belonging to all the railway services.

R A I L W A Y   P R O T E C T I O N   F O R C E

This force protects one of the biggest railway networks in the world. Your training will be at Vadodra and Lucknow. The Junior and Senior scales are similar to the other railway services. There is no equivalent of JAG or S.G. Instead, you have the grades of Senior Commandant, Head Quarters and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) respectively which is much better than the corresponding grades for even the IAS and IFS.

The Inspector General's grade is the same as the IAS supertime scale or the IPS IGP's scale. The final promotion is as the Director General of the Force. So far, the Director General of the R.P.F. has been an I.P.S. officer. However, it is expected that once the officers of the R.P.F. attain the required seniority it will be headed by one of them.

I N D I A N   C U S T O M S   A N D   C E N T R A L   E X C I S E   S E R V I C E S

Customs

Parveen Talha, Competent Authority and Administrator for Forfeiture of Property points out there is "job variety" in this service. You could be dealing with customs, excise or narcotics related matters.

What is more "being a uniformed service there is glamour attached to it".

She comments "the service has given me confidence and tremendous opportunities for growth".

Custom Officers are not only posted in important coastal and border towns or in towns with international airports, they can be posted anywhere.

Your probation will be either in Madras, Bombay, Calcutta or Delhi and in the Junior and Senior scales you will be designated Assistant Commissioner of Customs. As Deputy Commissioner in the JAG you will move to much bigger towns. In this grade of JAG you could later become Additional Commissioner of Customs.

Central Excise

Your probation will be in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay or Madras and you will be posted in industrial townships to begin with and then in big cities. In the Junior Scale you could serve as Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise. You can hold the latter rank in the Senior scale also. In the JAG you could be a Deputy or Additional Commissioner of Central Excise. Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise are officers in the Senior Administrative Grade. They wield enormous power and the jurisdiction of each normally extends over several states.

Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise are placed in the next higher grade which is similar to that of Additional Secretaries.

After that you can aspire to become a member of the Central Board of Excise and Customs and later even its Chairman. While both IRS and IC and CES Officers upto the rank of Assistant Commissioner are officially entitled to a substantial share of all the concealed wealth they locate and seize during their raids, the latter have traditionally received much bigger awards of this kind from the government.

The Central Bureau of Narcotics is located in Gwalior and headed by a Commissioner. Senior positions in the narcotics department are held by officers of the IC and CES.

I N D I A N   A U D I T A N D   A C C O U N T S   S E R V I C E S

This service audits the accounts of all central and state government departments, P & T departments, defence, public sector organizations, railways, etc. It functions within the federal structure and coordinates effectively between the centre and the states. As the head of the organization, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is a constitutional authority with a fixed tenure, "the entire department functions free from interference", states Rekha Gupta, Accountant General.

During your career you can go on deputation's to various ministries, state governments, autonomous bodies, public sector organizations etc. You can also be posted at one of the two audit offices abroad - Washington or London. Presently India is one of the three countries auditing the accounts of the United Nations and a Director General of the service is based at New York for this purpose.

Officers selected to this service undergo training in Shimla. They serve either in accounts offices in Central or State Governments or in Statutory Audit Offices under the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). In the Junior Scale you will be posted as an Assistant A.G. in the office of an Accountant General (AG). (The offices of most AGs are in State capitals).You will be posted in similar offices throughout your career; only your designation and responsibilities will keep changing. For example as Assistant A.G. you will function as a "branch officer" but as Deputy A.G. who will function as a "group officer" and direct the work of thirty to forty persons. In the senior scale you will be a Deputy AG, in the JAG and Selection Grade a Senior DAG and in the Senior Administrative Grade a full fledged AG.

At the next rung is the Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General. Above this is the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General of India, who gets a Secretary's salary. At the very top of the accounts/audit hierarchy is a constitutional authority, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. (Other Constitutional authorities in India include the Chairman of UPSC and the Chief Election Commissioner).

"I really enjoy being a part of this service" concludes Rekha Gupta.

I N D I A N   P O S T A L   S E R V I C E S

According to V. S. Saxena, former Chief PMG, the Indian Postal Service is unique as there is "maximum job satisfaction". The first posting is as the head of a division where you are in touch with the "cutting edge" the people as well as staff and the results are "immediate". Moreover, it is the only service from which you can go on a deputation to the army and serve from Captain to Major General. An attractive aspect of a career in the Indian Postal Service is that there is job mobility as well as variety.

You can serve in any ministry at an level depending on your seniority and aptitude. Officers are also sent on deputation to the Universal Postal Union at Berne, Switzerland or on assignments to other countries.

Your professional course will be at the Postal Staff College, Ghaziabad. During your probation you will be "attached" to "field" offices of the department, where you will work in various capacities (e.g. Inspector or Postmaster). You will serve in divisional headquarters (e.g. Pune, Agra, Chandigarh) as Senior Superintendent of Post Office (SSPO) or Senior Superintendent Railway Mail (SSRM) in your Junior scale as well as in the first 2-3 years of your senior scale. Only personnel from the Indian Postal Service go on deputation to the Army Postal Service.

Later in the Senior Scale you will be promoted to the rank of Assistant PMG (Post Master General) or Assistant Director General at the Directorate. In the JAG you will be made a Director. In the selection grade you will remain a Director. You can be promoted to the Senior most level of PMG of a "Circle" (or equivalent - e.g.. the post of Deputy Director General). Postal Services is one of the most challenging, satisfying and gratifying job for people who have an interest in human relations. This service offers an opportunity to serve the people from all walks of life directly", says Mr. A.K.Gupta, Director, Postal Services, Lucknow. According to him, in the Senior Administrative Grade there are two scales namely Rs.18,400 - 22400 and 22,400 - 24,500.

Promotions after that are to the posts of : a) Additional Secretary in a ministry b) One of the members of the Postal Services Board c) Chief PMG or rather HAG i.e. Higher Administrative Grade. At present there are ten posts of Chief PMG out of which seven are field posts . d) Secretary, Department of Post who is also ex officio DG and Chairman of the Postal Services Board.

P & T   F I N A N C E   A N D   A C C O U N T S   S E R V I C E S

As in the case of the Indian Railways there is a separate P & T Finance and Accounts Service. Here you work for the Postal & Telecom departments.You are posted in major cities and as this is a comparatively new service (established 1974) the promotions are fast. Within 17 years you can be a Joint Secretary (SAG) which corresponds with the Super Time Scale of the I.A.S. According to Gita Rao, General Manager, Finance "the work is satisfying and there is job variety. Apart from dealing withaccounts - debits and credits you are also involved with general administration and public relations, etc." You start your career as the Assistant Chief Accounts Officer. Within two years you are the Chief Accounts Officer.

After six years you become the Director Finance and Accounts in the Junior Administrative Grade. In another eleven years you enter the SAG as G.M.

Finance which is a field posting or as Deputy Director General at the Directorate. Following this promotions to the higher posts are limited as there is just one member Finance and one Senior DDG, Finance. However, you can go on deputation to other ministries or to the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) as Director Finance. With privatization of the telecom sector each circle will have one private company working alongside the government set-up. While this may limit the number of posts in the service you may have attractive job opportunities in the private sector owing to your wide experience in the service.

I N D I A N   I N F O R M T I O N   S E R V I C E S   A N D   I N D I A N   D E F E N C E   A C C O U N T S   S E R V I C E S

The Indian Information Services (IIS)

This was initially called the Central Information Service (CIS) which was constituted as late as 1960. As it is a comparatively new and expanding service there is scope for quicker promotions. The information and media convergence has not only made the job a challenging one but it has opened vast opportunities for you to branch out into the private sector if you so desire.

You can join the Junior Grade of the IIS through Civil Services Examination, even though 50 percent of officers in this grade are directly recruited.

The scales in this service are exactly the same as in the other services, till the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG). At the top is a grade which is called Selection Grade (not to be confused with the Selection Grade which most services give their officers in their 14th year) and has a fixed salary, equal to what the senior most Additional Secretary would get.

Training during probation is at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. An IIS Officer can be posted in organizations dealing with print media (e.g. Employment News) in the electronic media (e.g. AIR, Doordarshan, Films Division) or in an advertising agency (the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity is the Country's biggest advertisement agency).

In short, IIS Officers can be posted to any of the several organizations that are controlled by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting or the Ministry of Defence (Directorate of Public Relations).

The Indian Defence Accounts Services (IDAS)

You will start off, after your probation, as an Assistant CDA (Controller of Defence Accounts) in the Junior Scale, and will work in cantonment towns. In the next three scales you will be a Deputy CDA, posted at State capitals (or bigger towns).

In the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) you will become a full-fledged CDA and will be posted at places where headquarters of defence 'commands' are located.

In the Additional Secretaries' Scale IDAS Officer's are made Additional CGDAs (Controller General of Defence Accounts) incharge of Audit or Inspection. They could also be posted as Controller of Accounts (Factories), Calcutta. There are also some equipment posts in this scale.

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I N D I A N   O R D I N A N C E & F A C T O R I E S   S E R V I C E S A N D I N D I A N   C I V I L   A C C O U N T S   S E R V I C E S

The Indian Ordinance And Factories Services (IOFS)

You will be required to serve mostly where ordinance factories (i.e. factories that make equipment including sleeping bags and tents, for the defence services) are located e.g. Jabalpur. During the first 10 years in the Service, you could even be asked to serve for upto 4 years, as a Commissioned Officer in the Armed Forces.

The promotions upto the Senior Administrative Grade are standard Central Service Promotions. In the Additional Secretaries' Grade you would most probably be made a General Manager. After that there is a scale which begins at the AS level. In this scale are the Members of the OFS (ordinance Factories Board) / the Additional DGOF (Director General Ordinance Factories).

The head of the service is the chairman of the OFB / DGOF, who has the same fixed salary as the Secretaries.

The Indian Civil Accounts Services (ICAS)

The Junior Scale : Your training will be in the office of the CGA (Controller General of Accounts), Department of Expenditure (Ministry of Finance) Delhi and in the offices of the Chief Controller of Accounts in the various ministries of Govt.of India.

Your first posting will be as Assistant Controller of Accounts in some ministry of the Govt.of India. In the Senior Scale you will become the Deputy Controller of Accounts. In the Senior Administrative Grade you will be made Chief Controller of Accounts. You can also hope to become Additional Controller General of Accounts in the Additional Secretaries Grade. The highest career post for an ICAS officer is Controller General of Accounts and has a salary fixed higher than that of the Additional Secretaries' Scale.

I N D I A N   D E F E N C E   E S T A T E S   S E R V I C E S   A N D   C E N T R A L   I N D U S T R I A L   S E C U R I T Y   F O R C E

The Indian Defence Estates Services (IDES)

This service deals entirely with spacious, well planned, green, landscaped cantonments. In this service you will begin your career in the junior scale, as an Executive Officer in a Class I or a Class II Cantonment. In the Senior Scale you would normally be sent to a Class I Cantonment as an Executive Officer of Asstt. Director or Deputy Asstt. Director General or Defence Estate Officer.

Your next promotion in the "Ordinary Grade" (similar to the JAG) will be as Joint Director which designation you will retain in the Selection Grade as well.

After the Selection Grade the IDES Officers are first promoted as Directors (Level I) before they are made Directors (Level III). The latter post is in the Senior Administrative Grade. The top officer is the Director General Defence Estates.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

This force has been created for the protection of India's very extensive industrial infrastructure, especially the Public Sector Units. The training is conducted in Hyderabad. Officers join as Assistant Commandants in the Junior Scale. Thereafter, a few years later they are eligible for promotion to the rank of Deputy Commandant, which is in the Senior Scale. After that CISF officers can hope to become Commandants or Additional Inspector General.

Your Responsibilities

Much of the work is administrative in nature and involves planning, resource management, policy formulation, implementation of policies and programmes, supervision and monitoring. There is considerable interaction with people at all levels. Responsible decision making is a vital aspect of the job as your action impacts the lives of lakhs of people. Perhaps the most appealing factor is that at a young age you are given tremendous responsibility. What is more you are exposed to a wide spectrum of issues from law and order to poverty alleviation. The desirable characteristics of the candidates include : # Ability to organize time and resources effectively # Ability to communicate and interact with all kinds of people # Communicate clearly, orally and in writing # Empathize with the under privileged # Hold and delegate authority # Enjoy responsibility # Great personal integrity

Your Working Conditions

The atmosphere in the individual offices differs and depends on the person incharge as it does in any department in any corporate orgnisation. The civil servants do work under pressure but not the kind as many people in the corporate sector do. The work, however, is equally difficult and challenging.

Your Future Prospects

The civil servants gain time-scale promotions with proportionate increase in priveleges. The service facilities are excellent and there are very good social welfare facilities extended post retirement. Civil Servants are entitled to subsidised accommodation, telephone and transport facilities. They receive unparalled social status.

Your Remuneration

The Junior Scale is Rs.8000-275-13500 for almost all Group A services. After completing four years of service you are promoted to the Senior Scale of your service. At this stage, the I.A.S. / I.F.S.officers have an edge of about over the central service officers.

The senior scale is 10650-325-15850 for the I.A.S. / I.F.S and 10000-325-15200 for the central services. After completing nine years of service you will be promoted to the Junior Administrative Grade which is 12750-375-16500 for the I.A.S / I.F.S and Rs.12000-375-16500 for the other services. You will be considered for the coveted Selection grade in the fourteenth year of your service.

The selection grade is Rs. 15100-400-18300 for the I.A.S / I.F.S and Rs. 14300-400-18300 for the others. The best officers are eligible for the next promotion i.e.. the Senior Administrative Grade. This is Rs. 18400-500-22400 for almost all the services. Following this your promotion to the Higher Administrative grade will depend on your performance which is reflected in the Annual Confidential Report (ARC).

 However, the mandatory eligibility is a minimum of 25 years of service. About two out of ten IAS officers became Additional Secretaries with a basic scale of RS. 22400-525-24500. The next promotion is Secretary to Government of India who having put in about 30 years of service has a basic salary of Rs. 26,000 (fixed).

A large number of Secretaries from the other services has risen considerably in recent years. There are alternative avenues of promotion as well.

In the State cadres and in the Central Services there are several officers who draw the salary of Secretary to the Government of India, for example the Chief Secretaries to state governments, the Members of the Railway Board, the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the Chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs, the Chief Economic Advisor, the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force, the Financial Advisor in Ministry of Defence and the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Railway Board have higher salaries. The highest rank is that of the Union Cabinet Secretary and he is the head of all the Civil Services. He is India’s senior most government servant and so far only ICS / IAS officers have held this post.

The Cabinet Secretary has a basic salary of Rs. 30,000/-(fixed). It is essential to make a realistic assessment of your potential otherwise the optimal years of your life are lost in chasing an elusive target.

 If you have had a consistently good academic record and desire to appear you must start preparing during your graduation years by identifying the optional subjects you feel most comfortable with and familiarizing yourself with the syllabus and pattern of examination. It is best to take these examinations as soon as you are eligible. Once you decide to opt for this career it is essential to consider alternative careers as a safety net and avoid the dilemma of being 30 years old and taking your fourth attempt without any other job in hand.