Everything you must know about Civil Services Prelims 2021

Plan of Examination:

The Civil Services Examination will consist of two successive stages (vide Appendix I Section-I)

(i) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective type) for the selection of candidates for the Main Examination; and

(ii) Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts noted above.

Applications are now invited for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination only. The Candidates who are declared by the Commission to have qualified for admission to the Civil Services (Main) Examination will have to apply online again and submit on-line Detailed Application Form-I [DAF-I] along with scanned documents/certificates in support of date of birth, category {viz. SC/ST/ OBC (without OBC Annexure) /EWS [Economically Weaker Sections] (without EWS Annexure) /PwBD / Ex-Serviceman} and educational qualification with required Examination Fee.

The candidates who are declared to have qualified Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to mandatorily indicate order of preferences only for those services participating in the Civil Services Examination for the year, for which he is interested to be allocated to, in the on-line Detailed Application Form-II [DAF-II], before the commencement of Personality Tests (Interview) of the examination. Further, the candidates who wish to indicate IAS/IPS as their Service preference are advised to indicate all the Zones and Cadres in the order of preference in their on-line DAF-II as per the extant Cadre Allocation Policy applicable for the Civil Services Examination, 2020. With this DAF-II, a candidate will also be required to upload documents/certificates for higher education, achievements in different fields, service experience, OBC Annexure (for OBC category only), EWS Annexure [for EWS Category only], etc.

Eligibility Conditions:

(I) Nationality:

(1) For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.

(2) For other services, a candidate must be either :-

(a) a citizen of India, or

(b) a subject of Nepal, or

(c) a subject of Bhutan, or

(d) 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, Sri Lanka, 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 of India.

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/her 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 32 years on the date mentioned in official notification

(b) The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable :-

(i) up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;

(ii) up to 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) up to 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;

(iv) up to 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

Minimum Educational Qualifications

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

Note I: 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 (i.e. Detailed Application Form-I) for the Main Examination, failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. Such proof of passing the requisite examination should be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of Detailed Application Form-I of the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

Note II: In exceptional cases the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who does not have any of the

foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his/her admission to the examination.

Note III:�Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognised by the Government as

equivalent to professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.

Note IV: Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University/Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination. In such cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University/Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of intern ship) for the award of the Degree.

Number of attempts

Every candidate appearing at the examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six attempts at the examination:

Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible :

Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible, shall be nine. The relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable tosuch candidates :

Provided further that candidates of Persons with Benchmark Disability will get as many attempts as are available to other candidates who do not belong to Persons with Benchmark Disability of his or her community, subject to the condition that a candidate of Persons with Benchmark Disability belonging to the General and EWS Category shall be eligible for nine attempts. Necessary action to make corresponding changes in respective Rules/regulations pertaining to various services is being taken separately. The relaxation will be available to the candidates of Persons with Benchmark Disability who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.