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Eligibility Conditions for Civil Services Exam

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eligibility upsc

Nationality

(1) For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.

(2) For other services, a candidate must be either:—

  1. a citizen of India, or
  2. a subject of Nepal, or
  3. a subject of Bhutan, or
  4. a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
  5. a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (b), (c) and (d) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service.

A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him/her by the Government of India.

Age Limits

(a) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on 1st August of a given year.

(b) The upper age limit prescribed above will be relaxable :

  1. upto a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe.
  2. upto a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.
  3. upto a maximum of five years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from the 1st January 1980 to the 31st day of December 1989.
  4. upto a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof.
  5. upto a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commission Officers and ECOs/ SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2013 and have been released (i) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, 2013) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or (ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or (iii) on invalidment. (vi) Upto a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2013 and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
  6. upto a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute, and orthopaedically handicapped persons.

NOTE I : Candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes who are also covered under any other clauses of para 3(ii)(b) above, viz. those coming under the category of Ex-servicemen, persons domiciled in the State of J & K, blind, deaf-mute and orthopedically handicapped etc. will be eligible for grant of cumulative age-relaxation under both the categories.

NOTE II: The term ex-servicemen will apply to the persons who are defined as ex-servicemen in the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, as amended from time to time.

NOTE III: The age concession under para 3(ii)(b)(v) and (vi) will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including ECOs/SSCOs who are released on own request.

NOTE IV: Notwithstanding the provision of age-relaxation under para 3 (ii) (b) (vii) above, a physically disabled candidate will be considered to be eligible for appointment only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Government or appointing authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/posts to be allocated to the physically disabled candidates by the Government.
AS PROVIDED ABOVE THE AGE LIMITS PRESCRIBED CAN IN NO CASE BE RELAXED. 

The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a University, which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination certificate.

These certificates are required to be submitted only at the time of applying for the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

No other document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation, service records and the like will be accepted.

The expression Matriculation/Secondary Examination Certificate in this part of the instruction includes the alternative certificates mentioned above.

NOTE 1: Candidates should note that only the Date of Birth as recorded in the Matriculation/Secondary Examination Certificate or an equivalent certificate as on the date of submission of applications will be accepted by the Commission and no subsequent request for its change will be considered or granted.

NOTE 2:  Candidates should also note that once a Date of Birth has been claimed by them and entered in the records of the Commission for the purpose of admission to an examination, no change will be allowed subsequently (or at any other examination of the Commission) on any grounds whatsoever.

NOTE 3: The candidate should exercise due care while entering their date of birth in column 3 of the Application Form for the Preliminary Examination. If on verification at any subsequent stage, any variation is found in their date of birth from the one entered in their matriculation or equivalent Examination certificate, disciplinary action will be taken against them by the Commission under the Rules.

Minimum Educational Qualifications

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.

NOTE I: Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the Commission’s examination but have not been informed of the results as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination with their application for the Main Examination failing which such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. The applications for the Main Examination will be called sometime in the month of August/September 2013.

NOTE II: In exceptional cases, the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who has not any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his/her admission to the examination.

NOTE III: Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognised by Government as equivalent to the professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.

NOTE IV: Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University/ Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination. In such cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University/Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of internship) for the award of the Degree.

The number of attempts:

Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible shall be permitted 6 attempts at the examination.

Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible. Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible shall be seven. The relaxation will be available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

Provided further that a physically handicapped will get as many attempts as are available to other nonphysically handicapped candidates of his or her community, subject to the condition that a physically handicapped candidate belonging to the General Category shall be eligible for seven attempts. The relaxation will be available to the physically handicapped candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

NOTE :

(i) An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination.

(ii) If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.

(iii) Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.

Restrictions on applying for the examination :

A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination.

Today in History – 2 February

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1788

Pitt’s Regulatory Act was introduced to To modify the Indian Administration and put further controls on Government of British India after the 1784 Bill.

Earlier, in 1784, Pitt’s India Act was was enacted under the name East India Company Act 1784. This act came after the Regulating Act of 1773, it brought the company’s rule in India under government’s control by appointing the Board of Control and gave provision of joint government of British India by both Company and Crown but the apex authority remained in the hands of British Government.

1814

Calcutta Museum was established. It was a part of the Asiatic Society at a suggestion of a Danish surgeon Dr. Nathaniel Wallich, who was its first Director also.

1835

Thomas Babington Macaulay westernises education in India. English is made official government and court language and as medium of instruction.

1949

Press Trust of India’ was established.

1957 and 1958

In 1987 for the first time Indira Gandhi was elected the president Congress Party. In 1958 again she did it but this time thereby Congress faced an spilt, because of her leftist inclination and congress was truing into more socialist. Under C. Rajagopalachari they formed Swantantra Party.

1977

Jagjivan Ram, Cabinet member of 30 years, resigns to protest emergency rule causing minor split in Congress party.

1978

Mahakavi G. Shankar Kurup, Malayalam poet, the first receipent of “Gyanpeeth Puraskar (Award), and many other awards, passed away.

2006

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 earlier know as NREGA implemented. It was flagged off from Bandlapalli village of Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh on this day.

Functions and Service Hierarchy of an IAS Officers

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The most preferred service in India is Indian Administrative Service that is one of the most desirable jobs in India. The IAS Officers deal with the significant task of administering public offices as well as carry high respect and stature in the society.

The two cliched quote for an IAS Officers are:

“Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people”- Henry Clay

“With great power comes great responsibility”- Benjamin Parker

For an IAS officer these two quotes stands true as they have to look after administrative functions and implement developmental policies as well as personal supervision regarding the policy for the central government. The powers of an IAS officer are in proportion to responsibilities adhered to them. Therefore in their career as an IAS officer grows the responsibilities and powers required to fulfill them also grow accordingly.

Must Read: Career Path of IAS Officers

Functions of an IAS Officers:

For maintenance of law and order, revenue administration and general administration in the area IAS officer is responsible for that. Functions of an IAS officers broadly include:

  • By consulting the concerned Minister the IAS Officers handle affairs of government, which involve the framing and implementation of policy.
  • IAS Officers supervise the implementation of policies introduced and also go for supervision where policies are supposed to be implemented. He also travels consistently to the places where the decisions taken are being implemented to check whether everything is being done smoothly.
  • Implementation entails disbursement of funds, which calls for personal supervision regarding the status of implementation of the policy.
  • IAS officer ensures that the public fund is being utilised properly. In case of any irregularities occur the IAS officers are answerable to the Parliament and State Legislatures.
  • At different points of his/her career the functions and responsibilities of an IAS officer changes .
  • IAS officers join the state administration at the sub-divisional level, as a sub-divisional magistrate at the beginning of their career. They have to look after law and order, general administration and development work in the area allotted under their developmental.

Also Read: How to Crack IAS Exam? 10 Tips for IAS Preparation

  • The most prestigious and identifiable post held by the members of the service is the post of the District Officer variously known as District Magistrate, district Collector or Deputy Commissioner. At the district level, responsibilities of IAS officers are mainly concerned with district affairs, which include implementation of developmental programs and supervision of developmental work.
  • The officers also serve in the State Secretariat or as Heads of Departments or in Public Sector Undertakings during the normal course of a career.
  •  Under deputation, IAS Officers may move from positions at the State, to the Centre and back again.
  • The apex of the hierarchy of IAS officers at the Centre is the Cabinet Secretary followed by Secretary/Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Director, Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary. These posts are filled according to seniority.
  • The Centre, involves formulation and implementation of policies pertaining to a particular area or ministries like finance, commerce, defense etc. are the main responsibility of an IAS officers.
  • IAS officers at various levels like joint secretary, deputy secretary make their contributions in the process of policy formulation and decision making, but the final shape to the policy is given by the minister concerned or the cabinet with the concurrence of the issue depending upon the gravity.

You May Also Love to Read: Career Path of an IPS Officer

Service Hierarchy of an IAS Officers

 Grade Pay scales Designation in field Designation in
State Government
Designations in
Government of India
Junior Time Scale Rs 15,600-39,100 Grade Pay Rs 5,400 Sub-Divisional Magistrate Under Secretary
Senior Time Scale Rs 15,600-39,100 Grade Pay Rs 6,600 Additional District Magistrate Deputy Secretary Under Secretary
Junior Administrative Grade Rs 15,600-39,100 Grade Pay Rs 7,600 Sr. Deputy Accountant General Joint Secretary Deputy Secretary
Selection Grade Rs 37,400-67,000 Grade Pay Rs 8,700 District Magistrate / Collector Additional Secretary Director
Super-Time Scale Rs 37,400-67,000 Grade Pay Rs 10,000 Divisional Commissioner Secretary Joint Secretary
Above Super-Time Scale  – Financial/Special Commissioner
(Some States)
Principal Secretary, Chief Secretary Additional Secretary, Secretary, Cabinet Secretary

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The Circulatory System: Carrier of Life

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circulatory system

The Circulatory System is built of the heart and blood vessels comprising of arteries, veins and capillaries. The principal function of the of the heart, the main organ in the circulatory system, is to push blood throughout the body. The work of the arteries is to carry blood away from the heart.

Veins carry blood back to the heart that is a hollow, muscular pump. A network of minute capillaries links the arteries and veins. The capillaries, though very small, are one of the most important parts of the circulatory system because they deliver nutrients and oxygen to the cells. In addition, these capillaries also remove waste products such as carbon dioxide.

Must Read: BLOOD CIRCULATION

The Functions of the Circulatory System

In humans, the principal function of the Circulatory System includes:

  • To deliver oxygen and nutrients to all parts of the body;
  • To enable respiration; and
  • To remove wastes.

The Circulatory System is composed of three separate system that function together; these three systems are- the heart, the lungs and the blood vessels. The circulatory system consists of the pulmonary circulation, a ‘loop’ between the heart and the lungs, in which blood is made oxygen rich (the process is known as oxygenated). It also ensembles the systematic circulation that moves through the rest of the body to cater oxygenated blood to the different parts of the body.

When alien substances and organisms attack and enter the body, it is swiftly informed to the disease fighting white blood cells and antibodies by the circulatory system that conveys them to the regions under attack.

It is important to mention here the Unique Vein. The veins are blood vessels that carry de-oxygenated blood. The only vein in the human body that carries oxygenated blood is the pulmonary vein that is, thus, considered to be unique.

Also Read: BLOOD AND ITS CIRCULATION

Function of Blood

Blood, a transport system that conveys oxygen and the essential chemicals to where they are required in the body, fights disease and repairs damage done to the human body. And not only this blood, after picking up the waste that are no longer needed by different parts of the body, delivers that waste to parts responsible to get rid of it.

Further, blood transports heat around human bodies, to keep their fingers and toes warm and checks human brains from overheating. More than half of blood is plasma, a clear pale yellow liquid, that transports all the blood cells and platelets and chemicals like hormones and glucose.

The solid part of blood is composed of the red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets. The brute fact is that blood is so necessary to our bodies that it is often termed the “river of life”.

Read Also: RESPIRATORY SYSTEM

Red Corpuscles

Red Corpuscles or red blood cells, as they are also pronounced, are red coloured cells in blood that has their colour from a chemical termed Haemoglobin that has its presence in each and every cell of the body.

This chemical Haemoglobin, containing iron, transport oxygen from the lungs to all of the body, and gets rid of the carbon dioxide that the body does not require by getting it back to the lungs. In one small drop of blood there remain millions of red corpuscles.

Red corpuscles have the shape of a disc, concave at each side. They do not have a cell nucleus to accommodate maximum space for haemoglobin. They are made in the bone marrow inside many bones of the body and live for about four months, and then, are broken up and with much of the context new blood cells are made. More than nine-tenth of the blood comprises red blood cells that are also called erythrocytes.

Must Read: Iron Deficiency Diseases

While Blood Cells: the fighters

As they fight against harmful bacteria that provokes disease and function as the defenders of the body against germs of alien bodies like splinters. The Blood Cells function with antibodies (special proteins) that also moves in the blood, to protect us, the human begins, against diseases. These Cells have no specified shape and they move about by changing their shape.

Some while cells extinguish bacteria by surrounding and digesting them, while others produce antibodies whose work is to destroy bacteria, viruses and other invaders. White blood cells, also called leucocytes, are generally larger, and fewer in number than red blood cells.

For approximately every 1000 red cells, there remains only one while cell. In one milliliter of blood there are normally around 5,000 to 7,000 white cells.

Must Read: The Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Platelets

These are sticky little cells that marches around in blood until a blood vessel gets injured in some way and due to which bleeding begins. When a blood vessel is cut, platelets stick to its edges and to one another making a plug. These platelets stick together with he help of a protein called fibrinogen to form a sort of web, and make a clot that prevents the flow of blood out of a blood vessel.

Platelets, also called thrombocytes, are shaped like discs and are the smallest kind of blood cell. The normal amount of platelets in a human body is between 150,000 and 300,000.

Movement of the Blood

The movement of blood from the heart to every part of the body and back through the arteries and veins takes less than a minute. The right side of our heart, sort of two pumps in one, gets blood from the body and pumps it to the lungs, whereas the left side of the heart does the exact opposite and gets blood from the lungs and pumps it out to the body.

When the heart pumps, the left side of our body transports oxygen-rich blood to the body that takes the oxygen out of the blood and uses it in our body’s cells. The cells, when they use the oxygen, make carbon dioxide and other stuff that is carried away by the blood. The returning blood makes its entry to the right side of the heart. The right ventricle pumps the blood to lungs to freshen it up. In the lungs, in this process, carbon-dioxide is extricated from the blood, and transported out of the body when we exhale; and always remember that it all happens in about only one minute!

Read Also: NERVOUS SYSTEM

Tiger Project; National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA)

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tiger reserve

The Centrally administered scheme Project Tiger was launched in April, 1973 with the objective “to ensure maintenance of a viable population of Tigers in India for scientific, economic, aesthetic, cultural and ecological values, and to preserve to all times, areas of biological importance as a national heritage for the benefit, education and enjoyment of the people”.

  •  Amendment of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 for providing enabling provisions for constitution of the ‘ National Tiger Conservation Authority ’ and the ‘Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime Control Bureau’.
  • Enhancement of punishment in case of an offence relating to a tiger reserve or its core area. Strengthening of anti-poaching activities, including the special strategy for monsoon patrolling, by providing funding support to the Tiger Reserve States, as proposed by them, for deployment of anti-poaching squads involving ex-army personnel/home guards, apart from workforce comprising of the local people, in addition to strengthening of communication/wireless facilities.
  • Constitution of the National Tiger Conservation Authority with effect from 4 September 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation by, inter alia, ensuring normative standards in tiger reserve management, preparation of reserve specific tiger conservation plan, laying down annual audit report before Parliament, constituting State level Steering Committees under the Chairmanship of Chief Ministers and establishment of Tiger Conservation Foundation.
  • Constitution of a multidisciplinary Tiger and Other Endangered Species Crime control Bureau (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau) with effect from 6 June 2007 to effectively control illegal trade in wildlife.

Read Also: World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

The “in-principle” approval has been accorded by the National Tiger Conservation Authority for creation of new tiger reserves, and sites are:
  • Biligiri Ranganatha Swami Temple Sanctuary (Karnataka)
  • Pilibhit (Uttar Pradesh)
  • Ratapani (Madhya Pradesh)
  • Sunabeda (Odisha) and
  • Mukundara Hills (including Darrah, Jawahar Sagar, and Chambal wildlife Sanctuaries)(Rajasthan)
Besides this states have been advised to send proposal for declaring following areas as Tiger Reserves:
  • Bor (Maharashtra)
  • Suhelwa (Uttar Pradesh)
  • Nagzira-Navegaon (Maharashtra) and
  • Satyamangalam (Tamil Nadu)

Don’t Miss: Project Tiger & Government’s effort to protect tigers in India

The revised project tiger guidelines by National Tiger Conservation Authority have been issued to States for strengthening tiger conservation, which apart from on-going activities, inter alia, including funding support to states for enhanced village relocation/rehabilitation package for people living in core or critical tiger habitats (from One lakh/family to Ten lakh/family), rehabilitation/resettlement of communities involved in traditional hunting, mainstreaming livelihood and wildlife concern in forests outside tiger reserves and fostering corridor conservation through restorative strategy to arrest habitat fragmentation.
A scientific methodology of estimating tiger (including co-predator, pray animals and assessment of habitat status) has been evolved and mainstreamed. The findings of this estimation/assessment have been the benchmark for future tiger conservation strategy. An area of 31,407.11 sq. km. has been notified by 16 Tiger States (out of 17) as core or critical tiger habitat under section 38V of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006 (Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal). The State of Bihar has taken a decision for notifying the or critical tiger habitat in its newly constituted tiger reserve (Sanjay National Park and Sanjay Dubri Wildlife Sanctuary).
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