Indian
Administrative Service is the administrative civil service
of the Indian government. One of the three All India Services
(along with the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest
Service), the IAS plays a major role in managing the bureaucracy
of both the Union Government (Central Government) and the
state governments, with its officers holding strategic posts
across the country. Civil service, the backbone of the Indian
government machinery constitutes all the departments which
run the State administration. A highly competitive and challenging
area, it involves a variety of jobs in different departments.
Compared to private sector jobs this profession has job security.
The prestige and power that comes along with these top-notch
jobs is a definite reason for anybody to join this profession.
The salary, allowances and facilities like healthcare, housing,
conveyance etc. also make it a lucrative profession.
Entry into the IAS, IPS and the Central Services, Group A
and Group B is through the All India Combined Competitive
Examination for the Civil Services conducted by the Union
Public Service Commission (UPSC) in different centers spread
all over the country. However, recruitment to the Indian Forest
Service is through a different procedure. Entry into the State
Civil Services is through a competitive examination conducted
by every state public service commission. Anyone thinking
of taking up civil service should have an idea how difficult
it is to get in as lakhs of candidates apply for the 400 to
500 vacancies that may arise. So once you decide to appear
in civil service exam, one should be prepared to slog endlessly.
The career path of IAS officers is well defined. About 60
to 90 officers are inducted every year from about 300,000
applicants based on the results of a competitive civil service
examination.
HISTORY
The precursor of the IAS was the Indian Civil Service (ICS)
during the British Raj era. ICS officers (known as "Collectors"),
were generally held in high regard as incorruptible and good
administrators. There were critics, however; Jawaharlal Nehru
recounted a popular saying that the ICS was "neither
Indian, nor civil, nor a service" in his Discovery of
India. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George referred
to the colonial ICS as the "steel frame" of the
British Raj for its role in influencing and implementing government
policies and decisions.
Upon independence, the new Republic of India accepted the
then serving Indian Civil Service officers who chose to stay
on rather than leave for the UK, and renamed the service the
Indian Administrative Service.
Selection Process, Cadre Allocation and Federalism
of IAS
The officials of the Indian Administrative Service are involved
in civil administration and policy-making. Like many other
civil services bodies, officers of the IAS are selected by
the Civil Services Examination, a three-stage a competitive
selection process consisting of a preliminary exam, a main
exam, and an interview. This Civil Services Examination is
administered by the Union Public Service Commission once a
year.
After being selected for the IAS, candidates are allocated
to "cadres." There is one cadre in each Indian state,
except for three joint cadres: Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura,
and Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT).
The "insider-outsider ratio" (ratio of officers
who are posted in their home states) is maintained as 1:2.
as 'insiders'. The rest are posted as 'outsiders' according
to the 'roster' in states other than their home states. Till
2008 there was no choice for any state cadre and the candidates,
if not placed in the insider vacancy of their home states,
were allotted to different states in alphabetic order of the
roster, beginning with the letters A, H, M, and T for that
particular year. For example if in a particular year the roster
begins from 'A', which means the first candidate in the roster
will go to the Andhra Pradesh state cadre of IAS, the next
one to Bihar, and subsequently to Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and
so on in alphabetical order. The next year the roster starts
from 'H', for either Haryana or Himachal Pradesh. (If it has
started from Haryana in the previous occasion when it all
started from 'H', then this time it would start from Himachal
Pradesh). This highly intricate system has on one hand ensured
that officers from different states are placed all over India,
it has also resulted in wide disparities in the kind of professional
exposure for officers, when we compare officers in small and
big & also developed and backward state, since the system
ensures that the officers are permanently placed to one state
cadre. The only way the allotted state cadre can be changed
is by marriage to an officer of another state cadre of IAS/IPS/IFS.
One can even go to his home state cadre on deputation for
a limited period, after which one has to invariably return
to the cadre allotted to him or her.
The centralizing effect of these measures was considered extremely
important by the system's framers, but has received increasing
criticism over the years. In his keynote address at the 50th
anniversary of the Service in Mussoorie, Cabinet Secretary
Nirmal Mukarji argued that separate central, state and local
bureaucracies should eventually replace the IAS as an aid
to efficiency. There are also concerns that without such reform,
the IAS will be unable to "move from a command and control
strategy to a more interactive, interdependent system
Freedom to an IAS Officer
IAS officers are appointed by the President of India. The
Constituent Assembly of India intended that the bureaucracy
should be able to speak out freely, without fear of persecution
or financial insecurity as an essential element in unifying
the nation. The IAS officers are recruited by the Union government
on the recommendation of the Union Public Service Commission
(UPSC) and posted under various State governments. While the
respective State Governments have control over them they can
not censure or take disciplinary action against IAS and other
All India Services officers without consulting the Union Government
and the UPSC. This independence has been sometimes severely
criticized by many quarters of civil society. However there
is no considered consensus about the need for such an elite
corps of the bureaucracy. In response to the questionnaire
of the Sixth Pay Commission under Justice Sri Krishna in March
2008 overwhelmingly those who replied opted for a Unified
Civil Service in its place. Such an elite service as the IAS
has a built in bias to occupy policy making positions regardless
of their domain knowledge training and experience. As a corollary
they seem to spend very little time in the areas of governance
involving the vast majority of people living below the poverty
line, disadvantaged groups.
Designation
The State Governments however have a kind of leverage to post
these officers. Normally when an IAS officer joins the State,
he is placed as a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM). Ideally
he is to be made in charge of a District after completing
9 years of service and entering the Junior Administrative
Grade but in certain States, even younger IAS officers are
made in charge of Districts (Known as District Magistrates
(DM), Deputy Commissioners or Collectors, Secretary (Government
of India) and Cabinet Secretary.
Responsibility of IAS officer
The IAS Officers handle affairs of the government. At the
central level, this involves the framing and implementation
of policy. They also represent the government in other countries
and in International forums. They are even authorized to sign
agreements on behalf of the government. At the district level,
it is concerned with district affairs, including development
functions. At the divisional level, the IAS officers look
after law and order, general administration and development
work. In IAS cadre you can be sub-magistrate, district magistrate,
joint secretary, deputy secretary etc.
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