Civil Services as a Career Option in India

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Career Options

A Career in the Indian Civil Services is probably one of the most prestigious; the following post explores the domain of Civil Services as a career opportunity. Read on to know more.

Introduction

career in civil services in indiaA civil servant also known as public servant is an individual recruited in either of the following government department—Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police service and Indian Foreign Services. It is a highly esteemed government position related to the Union affairs except posts in the Indian Armed Forces.

Civil servants hold extremely powerful and prestigious administrative posts with high level of responsibility and accountability. And a civil servant cannot be easily dethroned under any circumstances whatsoever. Evidently it is a highly sought after job among all job aspirants throughout the nation. And there is no wonder therefore that the screening process to select the eligible candidate is severely difficult to get through. 

Categories in the Services

The services of civil servants are categorized into two groups namely Central Civil Services and All India Services. In either case the minimum eligibility criteria is university graduate and above and are selected via rigorous examinations process named Civil Service Examination or CSE conducted by Union Public Service Commission. Similarly recruitment in the State Civil Services is done through public service commission of the state government. The civil servant with the highest rank happens to be the Cabinet Secretary.

Civil service in India acts as the spinal column of the administrative system of the nation. It is true that in the Indian democracy the chief responsibility of operating the administration lie on the people’s representatives i.e. the ministers. But it is not possible for these handful ministers to handle myriads of problems faced by the administration system. And that is why the ministry appoints these civil servants to take care of the administration. The executive and operational decisions, required to be taken up for the smooth running of the administration, are made by the civil servants. There are more than 50,000 civil servants working for the government of India. It is Interesting to know that they are colloquially dubbed “Babus” while the bureaucracy is termed as “Babudom.”

Exploring the Job in Detail

A civil servant is supposed to be guided by the qualities such as extreme integrity, commitment to the law and the constitution, patriotism, transparency and impartiality. But it is indeed a matter of regret that the real scenario is quite reverse. According to the report of a survey made by a reputed agency the bureaucracy in India is the worst one in entire Asia with predominance of corruption at every level of civil services. Hundreds of charge sheets and cases are filed against the civil servants and those are being investigated by Central Bureau of Investigation, the prime investigating agency of India.


The constitution provides them with a special protection the existence of which makes it radically difficult to dismiss them from their office. This gives them the supreme constitutional authority and enables them not to succumb to unscrupulous political pressure and encumbrances that they have to face from time to time.

All these are more than enough reasons to opt for the career as a civil servant and that is why the struggle to reach the position is highly difficult and extremely challenging even for a bright student. But this is the one side of the coin and there is another too. The life and career of civil servants is not exactly same as it seems to be from the outside. There are also considerable stress and exhausting toils as opposed to the popular notions regarding such positions. Such a person must possess extreme patience, calm of the mind and insight to accomplish his responsibilities efficiently under various pressure and hindrances. He has to constantly keep in mind that being a public servant they are close to the mass. As such, when they perform well they receive overwhelming public appreciation. But if they fail to do so they have to face brickbats of the public which is a mark of shame and disgrace. So the career as a civil servant is not an unmixed blessing neither a bed of roses as conceived of by many people. However the job has got a distinct honor which is hardly to be found in most of other positions.

Although it is true that the position of a civil servant is a highly prestigious one in the society it is also a fact that today there is a growing trend among the meritorious students to enter the private sector due to highly lucrative packages vis-à-vis the meager government compensation. However there are a large number of job aspirants who are whole heartedly dedicated to attain the civil service jobs for which they seem to have got a fascination as it were.

Author Bio :

A professional writer and an ardent blogger, Sampurna Majumder has been lending her know how to prominent websites like Shiksha.com by penning articles and blog posts on popular courses, educational trends and institutes like these.

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