UPSC SYLLABUS AND EXAM PATTERN

EXAM PATTERN

The Civil Services competitive examination comprises two successive stages:

• Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type) for the selection of candidates for Main Examination
• Civil Services (Main) Examination (Written and Interview) for the selection of candidates for the various Services and posts.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

• The Preliminary Examination comprises of two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each.
• Both the question papers are of the objective type (multiple choice questions) and each has a two hours duration.

• There is negative marking for incorrect answers. For each wrong answer one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question are deducted
• The marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidates who are declared qualified for admission to the Main Examination will not be counted for determining their final order of merit.
• The number of candidates to be admitted to the Main Examination will be about twelve to thirteen times the total approximate number of vacancies to be filled in the year through this examination.
• The Commission will draw a list of qualified candidates for Civil Services (Main) Examination based on the criterion of total qualifying marks of General Studies Paper-I of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination as determined by the Commission.
• The General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

SYLLABUS FOR PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION

Paper I – General Studies

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

Paper II – CSAT

• Comprehension;
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability;
• Decision making and problem solving;
• General mental ability;
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X level);

MAIN EXAMINATION

The Main Examination will consist of

1. Written examination and
2. An interview test.

Written Examination:

• The written examination consists of 9 papers out of which two papers are of qualifying in nature.
• The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.
• Each paper will be of three hours duration.
• Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying Language Papers, Paper-A and Paper-B, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India or in English.

Qualifying Papers:

• The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only.
• The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
• The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language

Papers to be counted for merit

Personality Test

• The number of candidates to be summoned for interview will be about twice of the number of vacancies to be filled. The interview will carry 275 marks (with no minimum qualifying marks).

Final merit list

• Marks thus obtained by the candidates in the Main Examination (written part as well as interview) would determine their final ranking.
• Each candidate will be marked from a grand total of 2025 marks (written- 1750 + interview-275)
• Candidates are allotted to the various Services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preferences expressed by them for the various Services and posts.

SYLLABUS FOR MAINS EXAM

QUALIFYING PAPERS ON INDIAN LANGUAGES AND ENGLISH

The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows:

English

• Comprehension of given passages.
• Précis Writing.
• Usage and Vocabulary.
• Short Essays.

Indian Language

• Comprehension of given passages.
• Précis Writing.
• Usage and Vocabulary.
• Short Essays.
• Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa.

PAPER-I ESSAY

• Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics.
• They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely.
• Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

PAPER-II General Studies-I

• Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.
• Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
• Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
• The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
• Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
• History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.
• Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
• Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
• Effects of globalization on Indian society.
• Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
• Salient features of world’s physical geography.
• Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
• Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

PAPER-III General Studies- II

• Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
• Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
• Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
• Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
• Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.
• Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
• Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
• Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
• Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
• Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governanceapplications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• Role of civil services in a democracy.
• India and its neighborhood- relations.
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
• Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

PAPER-IV General Studies-III

• Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management
• Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
• Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
• Government Budgeting.
• Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
• Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
• Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
• Land reforms in India.
• Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
• Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
• Investment models.
• Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
• Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
• Disaster and disaster management.
• Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
• Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; moneylaundering and its prevention.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

PAPER-V General Studies- IV:

• Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of Family society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
• Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
• Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and nonpartisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
• Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
• Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
• Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
• Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
• Case Studies on above issues.

Paper VI and VII OPTIONAL

• The scope of the syllabus for optional subject papers (Paper VI and Paper VII) for the examination is broadly of the honours degree 1evel i.e. a level higher than the bachelors’ degree and lower than the masters’ degree.
• In the case of Engineering, Medical Science and law, the level corresponds to the bachelors’ degree.

List of optional subjects for Main Examination

• Agriculture
• Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
• Anthropology
• Botany
• Chemistry
• Civil Engineering
• Commerce and Accountancy
• Economics
• Electrical Engineering
• Geography
• Geology
• History
• Law
• Management
• Mathematics
• Mechanical Engineering
• Medical Science
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Political Science and International Relations
• Psychology
• Public Administration
• Sociology
• Statistics
• Zoology
• Literature of any one of the following languages:
  • Assamese,
  • Bengali,
  • Bodo,
  • Dogri,
  • Gujarati,
  • Hindi,
  • Kannada,
  • Kashmiri,
  • Konkani,
  • Maithili,
  • Malayalam,
  • Manipuri,
  • Marathi,
  • Nepali,
  • Odia,
  • Punjabi,
  • Sanskrit,
  • Santhali,
  • Sindhi,
  • Tamil,
  • Telugu,
  • Urdu