The basics:

IAS is the premier administrative civil service of the Government of India. IAS officers hold key and strategic positions in the Union Government, States and public-sector undertakings.

Unlike Candidates selected to other civil services, a person once appointed to Indian Administrative Service or Indian Foreign Service (IFS) becomes ineligible to reappear in Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC.

Why so? Because there are no higher civil services other than these two services under Government of India.

Along with the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service, the IAS is one of the three All India Services.

All India Service, what does it mean? Its cadre can be employed by both the Union Government and the individual States.

What all positions does an IAS hold?

1. Sub-Divisional Magistrate in a sub-division of a district (Entry)/ Section Officer in Central Govt District Magistrate in a district or Joint Secretary in State Government or Under secretary/ Principal Private Secretary in Govt of India
2. District Magistrate in a district or a Deputy Secretary/ Senior Principal Private Secretary (Senior PPS) in the central government
3. Divisional Commissioner/ Special Secretary of state government or a Director/Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of Central Govt
4. Divisional Commissioner in a division or Secretary in state government or position of Joint Secretary to Government of India
5. Principal Secretaries/ Financial Commissioners in states, Additional Secretaries to the Government of India
6. Chief Secretary of State, Union Secretaries in charge of various ministries of Government of India

Career Progression

• Besides, IAS officers can be appointed in autonomous organizations/ sub ordinate organizations/ PSUs/ UN Organizations/ International organizations like World Bank, Asian Development Bank in Various capacities.
• They also serve as Personal Secretaries to Ministers in Central Government.
• There is provision for deputation of IAS officers to private organizations also for a fixed tenure.
• Some of the IAS officers even become governors of states.
• And rest assured all deputations at joint secretary level and above are cornered by IAS officers (perpetual grouse of other services)

And obviously, we know all the famous people like Vinod Rai, T. N. Sheshan, Nripendra Mishra etc.

Recruitment and Training

Along with the selected Civil Service officers, the trainee IAS officers have to undergo 15 weeks training in picturesque hill resort of Mussoorie. You are taken for Bharat Darshan.

Here after they are shifted to the two stages of training before serving the actual service.

In stage I of the training, the officers learn to expand the perfect proficient qualities in managing the huge arrays of tasks which has to be taken up for the first 10 years of service that is for 26 weeks.

Then there is district training for administrative responsibilities of regional sorts, including location study of assignment for the academy.

The duration is of 52 weeks where the officers experiences about the actual execution of the regional administration. The district training aims for the allotment of Cadres for the actual appointment.

In stage II of the training, the officers have to execute the district level tasks experiences acquired in a course of one year onsite training along with the skilled program learned in foundation training.

On successful completion of probation for almost two years, the IAS officers are placed as SDM (Sub Divisional Magistrate also known as District Magistrate or Sub-Collector). There they get to do all sort of awesome stuff. Have you read the story of miracle man Armstrong Pame who built the road without govt help, no? Read here

On this position the IAS officers lead the department with key responsibilities of Revenue, General Administration, Developmental Work, Law and Order as per their work assignment.

Salary Structure

Here comes the most important part

Don’t get fooled by these numbers. You all must have seen the collector’s bungalow of your district. Try calculating it’s market value and you would get the idea of perks they get.

Published with inputs from Swapnil