A mountain is a landform that rises high above the surrounding terrain in a limited area. They are made from rocks and earth. Things you never knew facts about mountains.
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IAS is a hierarchical service and is probably the only service that offers assured career path of IAS officer and the progression in state, central government ministries and departments. Their duties are regulatory in nature like law and order, enforcement of rules and general administration, etc. The variety of experiences that of the IAS undergo during their career may be unmatched in any other career service in the world.
The government of India fixes the salary of all Civil Servants. The salaries depend on the officers rank at which they are posted. Apart from the salary, the officers are entitled to government accommodation and some of them get official transport with driver and other facilities like medical etc. More than the salary, it is perks and the power associated with Civil Servants that attract many of the bright students to it.
The newly recruited IAS trainees are called at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) for training after having successfully negotiated the gruelling Union Public Service Commission recruitment process. It is situated at the hill station Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. Here the career path of IAS starts. The Mussoorie training starts with a foundation course in common with other Central Services. The training is hard. There are studies and physical exercises too. The training ends with a long all-India educational tour called “Bharat darsan”. During this tour the officer trainees see various parts of the country and also how the Army, Navy and Air force of the country work.
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In the career path of IAS, after training, the IAS officers are sent to their cadre regions on probation for a couple of years. When an IAS officer joins the State, he is placed as a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) and it is the 1st posting of an IAS officer after probation period at the Sub-divisional level of a district. The SDM is the administrative head of a sub-division blocks.
In some states this has meant an assignment as Additional Deputy Commissioner/Additional District Magistrate, or Project Director of District Rural Development Agency, or Chief Executive Officer of Zila Parishad. Thereafter,comes one’s first promotion from the junior scale.
In the career path of IAS, the newly recruited IAS officer starts at the Junior Time Scale salary i.e. in the scale of 15600 with Grade Pay 5400. So, the starting basic is 21000. There is also DA (Dearness Allowance) above the Basic Pay which is now 107% of the basic. The officer stays in the Junior Time Scale for 4 years.
After 4 years of service life, the IAS officer is promoted to Senior Time Scale with Grade Pay 6600. The officer gets two extra increments during this scale up gradation. He is given various types of posts like that of the Additional District Magistrate (ADM), CEO, Zilla Parishad or Chief Development Officer at this stage.
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JAG officers get Rs 7600 as grade pay in the scale of Rs 15,600-Rs 39,100. An IAS is promoted to this scale after 9 years of service. He also gets two additional increments.
After serving 2/3 years as the ADM, the officer is selected as the District Magistrate / Collector of a district. The collector looks after the development and law and order of the district. The post has wide visibility, power and status.
Some of the officers are posted as a Joint Secretary of a ministry of the state. The Joint Secretary is a very important position to hold. If an officer goes to central deputation then he is given director post of a department.
The officer again gets two extra increments before being promoted to the next higher scale of pay, Selection Grade (Rs. 37,400-67,000 with GP 8700) after 12 years of service. He or She may remain a DM in the district or can become a Special Secretary of a Government department.
An IAS gets Super Time Scale (Rs. 37,400-67,000 with GP 10000) after 16 years of service. He /She will get the post of an Additional Secretary or Secretary of a department of a State Government. He may also become a divisional commissioner in field posting. In the Central Government, an officer of that seniority can get the post of the Joint Secretary of a ministry of the Government of India.
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With the selection in Higher Administrative Grade or HAG, an officer is entitled to draw a basic in the scale of Rs.67000 to 79000. An officer should have an experience of 25 years to go to this position.
In states, an IAS of this grade can become a Principle Secretary of a department. If the officer works in the Government of India, then the rank will be of an Additional Secretary.
An officer with a minimum experience of 30 years can get the Apex scale i.e. the fixed basic salary of Rs. 80,000. The Secretaries of various departments of the Central Government gets this scale. The Chief Secretary of a state also gets this scale.
The Cabinet Secretary is the highest position of a government employee in India. There is always only one Cabinet Secretary in the Central Government. He draws a fixed basic pay of Rs. 90,000.
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Civil Services Exam is one of the toughest competitive examinations in India. So, if you are aspiring for the Civil Services, you have to be persistent and hard working. There are two things, if you want to clear Civil Services Exam without coaching, you have to understand and follow clearly: the first one is Strategy and the other one is Knowledge. Coaching institutes provide you with guide and study materials. But it is you who do everything.
Coming to whether you should seek coaching or not; time and again, Civil Services aspirants have proved that it is an individual choice. Several Civil Services aspirants have cracked Civil Services Exam without coaching in a single attempt without taking any coaching. It was possible because of their confidence, self-motivation, determination, persistence and, of course, with some luck.
So, if you have a track record of achieving your goals without much external support, you may try taking Civil Services Exam without coaching for which all you need is a smart study in a proper direction since everything that is written in a book is not important. Hard work with active mind will lead you to a right path. In case you fail to clear it or realize that you cannot make it on your own, you can opt for coaching and reappear for the examination.
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First of all, make a determined mindset that you strive for nothing but Civil Services Exam. Prepare full one year study plan before sitting for Civil Services Exam without coaching. You must be familiar and well informed about the content and the topic it covers and also keep yourself updated with changes that UPSC makes. This will help you understand the subjects better and reduce your mental burden. On the other hand, if you are preparing on your own, you have the privilege to study at a time convenient to you. You can schedule your preparation according to your priorities.
Start reading NCERT books. These are basic textbooks which will give you the gist of the subject and then you can go deeper and deeper into that subject. For example, in History, you should start reading India’s Ancient Past, then Medieval India by Satish Chandra and then India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra. Then you can refer textbooks which go deeper in the subject.
Cultivate a habit of reading newspaper, try to finish it off in 2 hours. Start reading newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express. They are very good and read them religiously. Once you get comfortable reading newspapers start making notes out of important events. Make 8 divisions, namely, International Relations(Middle East and Asia), International Relations(Americas and remaining world), Government Policies and schemes, Personalities and Awards and Sports, International Organisations, Social Issues, Economic Policies, Defence and classify all news in these categories.
Read especially editorial sections and expert opinion articles, by reading these you can score well in the exams especially the questions which are related to current affairs.These will help as a ready- reckoner while you are revising for the general studies syllabus.
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It has been truly said that you require smart hard work to crack Civil Services Exam without coaching. This is where the importance of your thorough insight of the question papers creeps in. You must go through the question papers of past 10 years as it will help you identify the pattern and frequently asked topics. Also, it will make your preparation process easier and boost your confidence level. Practising with model question papers will help you pick up speed.
To move in the right direction, you have to select a standard book for each topic or subject rather than referring to multiple books for each topic. Collect standard study materials and make your own study plan. This not only saves your time, but will help you get the right guidance.
To make it easy for your own on the eve of examination, making notes of the topics is undoubtedly a wise move. This solves two purposes – one, it gives you an insight of the topics as you go through the syllabus and two, it saves goo amount of time during exam as you’ll not have to refer again and again to the same thing.
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Make use of the Internet. Don’t restrict your reading to only books. They provide you with knowledge which can’t be gained by reading books. Watch documentaries like BBC’s Days that shook the World which will increase your knowledge base. Whenever any current issue comes up, look up all the details on the internet, including the history of the issue in question. Keep in mind that they tend to be a bit biased though. Visit the websites of government ministries whenever a new bill is introduced. It will help you see the government point of view on the bill.
Read at least 4 of the following magazines: Frontline, Civil Services Chronicle, Economic and Political Weekly, India Today, The Economist, Yojana, Kurukshetra. You should read magazines that can help you improve your knowledge and aptitude.
Decide your optional fast and then look online for the recommended reading list for that optional.
When you find yourself free go for visiting different sites of current affairs, it will start bringing you on track. And to improve and increase your vocabulary mark new words, see them in dictionary, find their synonym and antonym side by side; it certainly is going to improve your mental skills to read more and understand which would be beneficial for time management during exam in paper II. By this your current affairs and English preparation for paper II would run simultaneously. Give it a try.
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