Pathfinder – UPSC CSE

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a constitutional body which conducts the recruitment exams for the prestigious Civil Services, Defense Services and other Government Services. The Commission was established in 1926 based on the recommendations of the Lee Commission (Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India) and was renamed as Federal Public Service Commission in 1937 under the provisions of the Government of India Act, 1935. Post Independence, the Federal Public Service Commission came to be known as the Union Public Service Commission, with the enforcement of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950. Since then UPSC has been tasked with selecting ideal candidates for the Civil Services in India.

UPSC conducts the Civil Service Exam every year to select the candidates for these Services. The recruitment to these services is a challenging task as it is very difficult to select the best candidates from a vast pool of aspirants. Consequently, the selection process has been designed in a manner that tests knowledge as well as personality traits of the candidates in an objective manner. The Civil Service Examination (CSE) is conducted by UPSC for induction of suitable candidates in posts which are very important and necessary for the overall administration of the country. These posts include IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IFS (Indian Foreign Service), IPS (Indian Police Service), IRS (Indian Revenue Service) and other Central Services like the Audits and Accounts, Railway Technical Services etc..

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is conducted in three stages namely Preliminary, Mains, and Personality test. The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers in an objective format and it is the first and the most important screening test of the selection process. In the second stage, qualified candidates appear in Mains Examination which is in subjective format with descriptive answers and consists of 9 papers which include one Essay paper, 4 General Studies papers, Optional subject (paper 1 & paper 2), one English paper and one Indian Language Paper. In the last stage, the candidates qualifying the Mains Examination are called for a Personality Test. This stage is mainly for testing the suitability for the job and overall personality of the candidate by a group of experts.

The competition for the CSE is becoming fiercer every year. Over the last 3-4 years the number of applicants has hovered around 1,000,000 out of which approximately 500,000 appear for the Preliminary Exam. On an average 10,000 candidates qualify for the Mains Examination and less than 2,500 are called for the Personality Test. Finally, only about 1,000 or less candidates qualify to be part of the Services.