In India, the Civil
Service is defined as "appointive positions by the Government in
connection with the affairs of the Union and includes a civilian in a Defence
Service, except positions in the Indian Armed Forces." The members of
civil service serve at the pleasure of the President of India and Article 311 of the constitution protects them from politically
motivated or vindictive action.
The Civil Services of India can be classified into two types -
the All India Services and the Central Civil Services (Group A and B). The recruits are
university graduates (or above) selected through a rigorous system of
examinations, called the Civil Services Examination(CSE) and its
technical counterpart known as the Engineering Services Examination (ESE) both conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The selection process of
getting into the civil services is consists of three stages. (i) Preliminary
examination (CSAT), that serves as a screening test and consists of two papers
General Studies and CSAT (ii) The mains consist of subjective/ essay type
papers on English Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject to be chosen out
of the list of 23 subjects, and (iii) Interview cum Personality Test. The successful
candidates based on their performance in the mains examinations and the
interview are allotted various services as per the ranking and the choice as
opted by the candidates.
The entry into the State
Civil Services is through a competitive examination conducted by every state
public service commission. Each state has its own method of making appointments.