IAS Officer - An Overview of Different Positions and Roles of an IAS Officer

The IAS 2021 Prelims examination will be conducted in June 2021. The results would be declared within 45 days from the date of the examination. One can tentatively expect the results in August 2021.  After the completion of UPSC Mains examination, the UPSC Mains Result can be found in the official website of the UPSC. In the mains stage of civil service examination, two papers are dedicated for optional subjects.

The optional subjects are Geology, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Agriculture, History, Medical Science, Public Administration, Sociology, Philosophy, Physics, Statistics, Law, Economics, Anthropology, Botany, Electrical Engineering, Management, Zoology, Political Science & International Relations, Commerce & Accountancy, Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science.

The primary duties of Indian Administrative Service (IAS Officer) are policy formulation, policy implementation, public administration, bureaucratic governance, secretarial assistance (Central and State). An IAS Officer is provided training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. The Department that controls the administrative service is the Department of Personnel and Training under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The current cadre strength of Indian Administrative Service is 4,926 members. Out of these, 3,511 officers were directly recruited by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and 1,415 officers were promoted from State Civil Services.

UPSC Admit Card 2021 for Civil Services examination is expected to be released 3 weeks before the date of examination. Candidates can download the UPSC Admit Card 2021 by visiting the official website (www.upsc.gov.in). Once the candidates visit the website, the link for admit card will be available on the home page. To download the admit card, a candidate needs to provide his date of birth and registration ID or roll number.

The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services. It is considered as the premier civil service of India.IAS officers serve the Government of India as well as the state governments. An IAS officer also gets posted in top positions of various Public Sector Undertakings. Once an IAS officer climbs the ladder, the IAS Officer gets the opportunity to lead various Government ministries and departments. 

They are also responsible for conducting elections in India as mandated by Election Commission of India. A Senior IAS Officer also gets opportunity to work in various international organisations like United Nations, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF). The modern Indian Administrative Service was created under Article 312(2) in part XIV of the Constitution of India, and the All India Services Act, 1951.

The different field postings available for an IAS officer are Sub-divisional Magistrate, Additional District Magistrate, District Magistrate, Divisional Commissioner. The different positions held by an IAS officer in State Governments are as follows: Under Secretary, Deputy secretary, Joint secretary, Special secretary-cum-director, Secretary-cum-commissioner, Principal secretary, Chief secretary. The different positions held by IAS officers when they are posted with the Central Government are as follows: Assistant secretary, Under Secretary, Deputy secretary, Director, Joint secretary, Additional secretary, Secretary, and Cabinet Secretary.

Overall in the Mains stage of the UPSC Examination, the candidates will be assessed for a maximum score of 1750 marks. The duration of all the nine papers in the Civil Service Mains Examination are for a duration of 3 hours. Paper A and B are of 300 marks each and Papers I to VII are of 250 marks each.