Civil Services in India

Indian Administrative Service

History
•Civil Services Examination is also popularly known as IAS Examination
•It was founded in 1858 as Imperial Civil Service (ICS).
•Named as Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on January 26, 1950
 
About IAS
•The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the considered the premier civil service of India.
•The IAS is one of the three All India Services (AIS) along with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service (IFS).
•Members of AIS are allotted a cadre and they serve the Government of India as well as the individual states.
•IAS officers may also be deployed to various public sector undertakings.
 
History 
•During the occupation of India by the East India Company, the civil services were classified into three – covenanted, uncovenanted and special civil services.
•The covenanted civil service, or the Honourable East India Company's Civil Service (HEICCS) largely comprised British civil servants occupying the senior posts in the government.
•The uncovenanted civil service was introduced solely to facilitate the entry of Indians onto the lower rung of the administration.
•The special service comprised specialised departments, such as the Indian Forest Service, the Imperial Police and the Indian Political Service, whose ranks were drawn from either the covenanted civil service or the British Indian Army.
 
Creation of IAS
•In 1858 the HEICCS was replaced by the Imperial Civil Service
•After 1893 an annual exam was used to select its officers.
•By Government of India Act 1919, the Indian civil services were split into two arms, the All India Services and the Central Services.
•The Indian Civil Service (ICS) was one of the ten All India Services.
•In 1947, the Indian Civil Service was divided between India and Pakistan.
•The Indian remnant of the ICS was named the Indian Administrative Service, while the Pakistani remnant was named the Pakistan Administrative Service.
•The modern Indian Administrative Service was created under Article 312(2) in part XIV of the Constitution of India, and the All India Services Act, 1951.
 
Cadre allocation for AIS
•The central government announced a new cadre allocation policy for the All India Services in August 2017.
•The existing twenty-six cadres were to be divided into five zones
•A candidate first selects their zones of preference, in descending order, then indicates a cadre preference from each preferred zone.
•The preference for the zones and cadres remains in the same order and no change is permitted.
•Officers remain in their allocated cadre or are deputed to the Government of India.
 
Zones under the current cadre allocation policy
Zone
States
Zone-I
AGMUT (Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territories), Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana
Zone-II
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha
Zone-III
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
Zone-IV
West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland
Zone-V
Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
 
Field Responsibilities 
•To collect revenue and function as court officials in matters of revenue and crime (for the revenue courts and criminal courts of executive magistrates),
•to maintain law and order,
•to implement union and state government policies at the grass-roots level when posted to field positions i.e. as sub-divisional magistrates, additional district magistrates, district magistrates and divisional commissioners, and
•to act as an agent of the government in the field, i.e. to act as an intermediary between the public and the government.
 
Secretariat Functioning
•To handle the administration and daily proceedings of the government, including the formulation and implementation of policy in consultation with the minister-in-charge of a specific ministry or department.
•To contribute to policy formulation, and to make a final decision in certain matters, with the agreement of the minister concerned or the council of ministers at the higher ranks  
 
Career Progression of IAS officers
•Field Postings
     •SDO/SDM/Joint Collector/ Chief Development Officer (CDO) (Under Secretary)
     •District Magistrate/District Collector/Deputy Commissioner
     •Divisional Commissioner
•Secretariat Postings in State
     •Under Secretary, Joint Secretary, Special Secretary-cum-Director, Secretary-cum-Commissioner, Principle Secretary, Chief-Secretary
•Secretariat Postings in Centre
     •Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary, Secretary, Cabinet Secretary
•Joint Secretary of Centre is equivalent to Secretary in State
 
Performance Assessment, promotion and posting
•IAS officers get time scale upto the rank of Commissioner (Super Time Scale)
•The performance of IAS officers is assessed through an Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR).
•APAR is initiated by the officers, then assessed by the reporting officer and then modified and commented on by the reviewing officer, usually the superior of the reporting officer.
•Reports are forwarded by the reviewing officer to the accepting authority, who conducts a final review of the report.
 
Post Retirement Posts
•Upon retirement, high ranking IAS officers have occupied constitutional posts such as the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, and the chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
•They have also become members of administrative tribunals, such as the National Green Tribunal and the Central Administrative Tribunal, as well as chiefs of regulators including the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India,[69] the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and the Reserve Bank of India.
•If a serving IAS officer is appointed to a constitutional post, he or she is deemed to have retired from service.
 



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