Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was formerly known as the Imperial Civil Service (ICS) is the Civil Services Examination and one of the toughest competitive exams in India. It is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for the recruitment of officers for the All India Administrative Civil Service.
Founded:
The Indian Administrative Service is the premier administrative civil service of the Government of India. Hierarchy-wise, IAS is the highest administrative post among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc.
Popularly known as the IAS exam, officially it is called as Civil Services Examination (CSE), which is conducted every year by the central recruiting agency, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
IAS is the permanent bureaucracy in India and forms a part of the executive branch. It is one of the three All India Services, its cadre can be employed by both the Union Government, the State Governments and public-sector undertakings.
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has been termed as one of the prestigious services among the 24 government services like IPS, IFS (Foreign), IFS (Forest), IP & TAFS, IAAS, IRS, IDAS, CMSE, IRTS, IRAS, IRPS, ITS, CAPF-AF to name a few.
All these examinations are conducted by UPSC in the form of Civil Services Examination (CSE) for selecting the appropriate candidates for the jobs. Every year lakhs of candidates appear for this examination, testing their lucks and hard work to get through one of these prestigious posts.
It is important to mention that any officer selected into the IAS can be employed by Union government, state governments and/or public-sector undertakings and gets exposure in numerous job roles like the collector, head of public sector units, commissioner, chief secretary, cabinet secretary to name a few.
When on deputation outside India, the IAS officer can be engaged in inter-governmental organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the United Nations (UN), or its agencies and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to name a few.
It is very important for aspirants to know and understand the requirements of the examination such as the UPSC IAS syllabus, pattern, eligibility criteria, application procedure and other such significant details before kick-starting the registrations.
Annually, the UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) to shortlist the candidates for more than 20 services, such as IAS, IPS and IFS. On average, more than eight lakh candidates register for the IAS exam and around five lakh candidates appear for the examination.
The selection of the candidates will be made through the preliminary exam, main examination and an interview/personality test. This year-long selection process will begin in the month of June and conclude in April. The final merit list for the CSE will be released in May.
Exam | Civil Services Examination |
Exam level | National |
Organising body | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) |
Exam type | Pen and paper-based (offline) |
Number of services | 24 |
Number of attempts | 6 attempts |
Number of Vacancies | Approximately 720 |
Admit card | online |
Expected registrations | More than 8 lakh |
The UPSC will be conducting the IAS Prelims 2022 exam in pen and paper mode on June 05. Candidates should note that the UPSC Civil Services 2022 exam date is based on the calendar issued in December.
The UPSC has released the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2022 notification on February 02, 2022. Candidates who are aiming for the All India Services along with other services can apply online between February 02 and 02, 2022. The CSE notification was released for a total of 712 vacancies which include 22 vacancies for persons with benchmark disability category. Aspirants are advised to check the official notification for all the details.
The Civil Services Examination (CSE) notification has released on February 02, 2022. Candidates can apply online until February 22, 2022. The preliminary exam will be held on June 06, 2022 and Main Exam on 16 September, 2022
Civil Services Examination (CSE) notification | February 02, 2022 |
IAS online application form | February 02 to 22, 2022 |
IAS Preliminary admit card | 2nd week of May |
IAS Prelims exam date | June 06, 2022 |
IAS Preliminary result | August 2022 |
IAS Main exam date | September 16, 2022 (5 days) |
IAS Main exam result | Nov / December 2022 |
IAS final result | June 2023 |
The total number of vacancies announced in the official notification is approximately 712, out of which 22 vacancies are reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category. Aspirants should note that the list was prepared based on the previous year. The vacancies will be updated after the official notification.
Total number of vacancies | 796 (including 22 reserved vacancies) |
Total reserved vacancies | 22 |
Blindness and low vision | 5 |
Deaf and hard of hearing | 6 |
Locomotor disability | 6 |
Multiple disabilities | 5 |
Candidates have to note that the final number of vacancies may change after getting the firm number of vacancies from the Cadre Controlling Authorities.
The UPSC will activate the IAS application form 2022 window on February 02, 2022. Interested candidates who meet all the eligibility conditions set by the Commission can register for IAS exam until February 22, 2022.
Aspirants need to complete the application form of IAS with great attention. A single mistake in IAS application form 2021 would lead aspirants to wait for one more year. Hence, we suggest candidates refer our UPSC online application form 2022 page for detailed steps.
UPSC has released the Civil Services Main Exam 2022 dates on its official website. Aspirants who have passed with flying colours in Preliminary Exam 2022, the results of which were declared on August 2022, alone are eligible to appear for the Main Examination. The Commission conducts the Main Examination for a total of five days on 16, 17, 18, 24 & 25 September, 2022. Candidates are advised to explore the Civil Services Main Exam dates 2022.
Date |
Forenoon Session (9.00 AM to 12.00 Noon) |
Afternoon Session (2.00 PM to 5.00 PM) |
September 16, 2022 (Friday) |
Paper-I Essay |
No Paper |
September 17, 2022 (Saturday) |
Paper-II General Studies‐I |
Paper-III General Studies‐II |
September 18, 2022 (Sunday) |
Paper-IV General Studies‐III |
Paper-V General Studies‐IV |
September 24, 2022 (Saturday) |
Paper‐A Indian Language |
Paper‐B English |
September 25, 2022 (Sunday) |
Paper‐VI Optional Paper-I |
Paper‐VII Optional Paper-II |
An IAS officer is given administrative command of an entire district as a District Collector. IAS officers also represent the Government of India at the international level in bilateral and multilateral negotiations.
Given below is the detailed scenario like eligibility criteria, roles & responsibilities, etc. for the upcoming Civil Services Examination 2022:
Candidate applying for the Civil Services 2022 exam is required to fulfil the following criteria:
A candidate should be a minimum of 21 years and maximum 32 years old as on August 01, 2022. But he/she must have been born not earlier than August 02, 1990 and not later than August 02, 2001. Necessary action will take to make corresponding changes in respective Rules/Regulations pertaining to various services.
The upper age limit prescribed above is relaxable for the following candidates:
Restriction on the maximum number of attempts is effective since 1984:
Number of Attempts |
Category to which the Candidate Belongs |
||
SC / ST | OBC | PwBD | |
Unlimited | 09 | 09 for GL / EWS / OBC & Unlimited for SC / ST |
The role of IAS officers is very venerable, demands a great deal of responsibility and reverence. It is also important that an officer is physically and mentally fit and healthy to handle the work pressure without giving in. The following are the roles and responsibilities that an IAS officer is deputed:
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the IAS marksheet 2020. The Commission has released the IAS Marksheet for candidates qualified and not qualified in the written examination (Main).
Earlier, the Commission has released IAS Final result 2020 in the last week of September. Aspirants need to enter their login ID and password to download IAS Main Examination Marksheet.
4 October 2021
The UPSC has released the IAS Preliminary admit card 2021. Candidates who have registered for the written exam can download the IAS Prelims admit card on the official portal. One should take the printout of the IAS admit card and carry the same to the examination centre.
The written exam will be held on October 10 in two shifts - General Studies (morning) and CSAT (afternoon).
17 September 2021
While delivering his speech at LBSNAA, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State PMO (Personnel, Public Grievances) has announced that the curriculum of IAS is being modified keeping in mind the changing needs of India at 75.
The IAS Prelims 2021 Prelims exam will be conducted on October 10. Candidates who qualify in the IAS Preliminary exam 2021 will be eligible for the Mains exam scheduled in December.
26 August 2021
The UPSC has released the Annual Calendar 2022. The IAS Preliminary 2022 will be held on June 5. Aspirants who are aiming for the exam can check the date of notification, last date to receipt of online applications. The Commission has released the tentative dates for all the examinations or recruitment tests in 2022.
Candidates should note that the IAS Prelims 2021 will be conducted on October 10.
16 August 2021
The Uttarakhand Cabinet has proposed to grant Rs 50,000 each to a total of 100 candidates who clear the UPSC IAS Preliminary examinations 2021 under the ''Udayman Chhatra Yojana scheme''.
The decision was taken to encourage the competitive exams and support aspirants in finance. The IAS Prelims 2021 exam is scheduled on October 10.
29 July 2021