UPSC Civil Services Exam 2020: 886 IAS, IPS, IFS & Other Vacancies, Syllabus for Prelims and Main, Pattern

UPSC Civil Services Exam 2020 | Civil Services (Preliminary) & Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 | IAS, IRS, IFS, IPS & Other Posts | Total Vacancies 886 (Approx) | Last Date 03.03.2020

                               What is IAS Exam?

Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts Civil Services exam to recruit candidates for the three All India Services and Central Civil Services for various departments of the Government of India. The Civil Services Exam is commonly called as the IAS Exam. IAS notification 2020 will start the IAS exam process officially. IAS 2020 Notification will outline the vacancies, timeline of the exam, official IAS syllabus, number of attempts and the likes.

IAS 2020: Union Public Service Commission conducts Civil services examination for various positions like Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Services(IFS), etc. It is a very tough exam in which every year a large number of aspirants appear for just preliminary exams. It is not easy to crack this exam. IAS is one of the toughest and higher administrative jobs. The IAS is the administrative arm of the All India Services. They serve the Government of India as well as the individual states. The exam is conducted in three phases’ Pre, Mains & Interview. The candidate who successfully passes the Pre-exams gives the Mains Exams and after passing mains also is selected for the interview process. Find below more about IAS 2020-21 Exam, Application Form, Exam Dates, Eligibility Criteria, Syllabus, Admit card, etc:

Details of UPSC IAS Exam Notification 2020

Vacancy Details

• As per the notification, overall 886 vacancies are allotted for this recruitment. Exam wise vacancy details are given below

All India Services

• Indian Administrative Services(IAS)
• Indian Police Servies(IPS)
• Indian Forest Services(IFoS) [ Prelims Only]
• • Indian Foreign Services(IFS)
  • Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration).
  • Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’
  • Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Information Service (Junior Grade), Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’.
  • Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade).
  • Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service, Group ‘B’.
  • Delhi, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service, Group ‘B’.
  • Pondicherry Civil Service, Group ‘B’.
  • Pondicherry Police Service, Group ‘B’.

  IAS Exam Highlights

  Exam Name	Civil Services (IAS) Exam 2020
  Conducting Body	Union Public Service Commission
  Exam Level	National
  UPSC Vacancies	796
  Exam Frequency	Once a year
  Exam Mode	Offline – Pen and Paper Mode
  Exam Stages	Prelims – Mains(Written) – Mains(Interview)
  Application Fee	100
  Language	Prelims – English and Hindi
  No. of Test Cities	Test centres across the nation
  Exam Helpdesk No.	011-23098543 / 23385271 / 23381125 / 23098591
  Official Website	https://www.upsc.gov.in/

  UPSC Exam Date 2020:

  Find below the IAS Exam Date 2020, candidates can check here the IAS 2020 Notification Date, Application Form Submission Date, Deadline to submit an application form, etc:

  Events	Exam Dates
  UPSC Official Notification Announced	12th February 2020
  Date of Application Forms Availability	12th February 2020
  Application Form Submit Last date	3rd March 2020
  Admit Card for Preliminary Examinations	June 2020
  UPSC Exam Date 2020 (Preliminary)	31st May 2020 (1 Day)
  UPSC Main Exam Admit card Available	September 2020
  UPSC 2020 (Main Examination)	18 September 2020 (5 Days)
  UPSC main examination Result date announced	Jan 2021

  Eligibility Criteria for IAS, IRS, IFS & Other Services 

  Educational Qualification

  • Applicants must have complete Graduate from recognized university.
  • Check Advertisement for educational qualification.

  Age Limit

  Candidates must be minimum 21 years and maximum 32 years of age as on August 1, 2020. This means that candidates must have born not earlier than August 2, 1988 and not later than August 1, 1999.

  There is also age relaxation of some years for reserved category candidates:

  Category	Age Relaxation
  SC/ ST	5 Years
  OBC	3 Years
  Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof	3 Years
  Ex-servicemen including commissioned officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years of military service as on August 1, 2019 and have been released	5 Years
  PwD [(a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness]	10 Years

  No age relaxation is provided to the Economically Weaker Sections in the UPSC Civil Services Exam.

  Physical Standards

  Candidates must be physically fit according to physical standards given in the Civil Services exam notification.

  Number of Attempts

  • General: 6
  • SC/ST: no limit
  • OBC: 9

• Exam Process

  IAS exam is conducted in two stages – Preliminary (objective-type paper) and Mains (descriptive paper and interview). UPSC IAS Preliminary paper is conducted to select candidates for the Main(written) exam. IAS Prelims is just a screening exam and its marks are not considered for the final merit.
  
  
  
  

  UPSC Civil Services Main Exam, as the name suggests, is the main stage of the IAS Exam Process. The marks of the IAS Main exam is taken into consideration for the IAS Final Result. The final merit list for the UPSC Civil Services Exam provides a rank to the candidates. Based on these ranks, Services are allotted to the candidates.

  Mode of Application

  • Applications via online mode only will be accepted.

  Application Form

  Candidates will be able to fill the application form 2020 in online mode at upsconline.nic.in. Once the application form is filled, candidates also need to pay Civil Services exam application fee in online or offline mode.

  Category	Preliminary Exam Fee	Mains Exam Fee
  General/ EWS/OBC	Rs 100	Rs 200
  Females/ SC/ ST/ Persons with Benchmark Disability	Nil	Nil

  How to apply

  • Open the official website of UPSC: www.upsconline.nic.in
  • Click on notifications and read carefully
  • After that fill the application form with all verified details.
  • Upload the scanned documents.
  • Pay the application fee
  • Submit your application form
  • Take out the print out of the application form

  • APPLY ONLINE REGISTRATION LINK	CLICK HERE
    NOTIFICATION (CIVIL SERVICES)	DOWNLOAD HERE>>
    NOTIFICATION (INDAIN FOREST SERVICE)	DOWNLOAD HERE>>

    Stage I: IAS Exam – UPSC Prelims

    Sl. No.	Name of the Paper	Nature of the Paper	Duration of the Exam	Questions	Marks
    1	IAS Exam Paper – I: General Studies	Merit Ranking Nature	2 Hours	100	200 Marks
    2	IAS Exam Paper – II: General Studies (CSAT)	Qualifying Nature	2 Hours	80	200 Marks

    • The questions in the IAS Exam (Prelims) are of the objective type or Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)
    • There is ‘Negative Marking’ in the IAS Exam for each incorrect answer but only in the Prelims stage. The negative marking for incorrect answers will be 1/3rd (0.66) of the allotted marks of that question.
    • The GS Paper II (CSAT) in IAS exam is of qualifying nature and candidates should score a minimum of 33 per cent in this paper to qualify to the next stage of the IAS exam i.e. the Mains.
    • Blind candidates are given an extra time of 20 minutes for each paper in the IAS Exam (Prelims).
    • It is mandatory for the candidates to appear in both the papers of civil services prelims exam for the evaluation.
    • The marks scored by the candidates in the preliminary examination are not counted for the final score. It is only a screening test where candidates not securing the cut-off marks are eliminated.

    
    
    
    

    IAS Mains Exam

    IAS Main Exam 2020 will commence from September 18. Candidates need to appear for IAS Mains Exam as per the details mentioned on the admit card. IAS Mains exam consists of a total of nine descriptive papers. Out of the Nine, two papers are of qualifying in nature. These IAS Question papers are of General English and General Language paper. There are Four General Studies papers, One Essay Paper and two optional Subject paper. The marks of each paper are assigned as follows.

    Sl.No.	Name of the Paper	Marks allotted
    1	Essay Paper	250
    2	General Studies I	250
    3	General Studies II	250
    4	General Studies III	250
    5	General Studies IV	250
    6	Optional Subject Paper I	250
    7	Optional Subject Paper I	250
    	IAS Main (written)Total	1750
    	IAS Interview	275
    	Total	2025

    IAS Exam Centres

  • IAS exam centres are notified in the IAS notification each year. IAS Preliminary exam is conducted in about 72 cities across India. IAS Mains exam is conducted in a total of 24 cities across India. The IAS Exam Centres for Prelims and Main exam are given below
    

    IAS Preliminary Exam Centres

    Agartala	Ghaziabad	Gautam Buddh Nagar
    Agra	Gorakhpur	Panaji (Goa)
    Ajmer	Gurgaon	Patna
    Ahmedabad	Gwalior	Port Blair
    Aizawl	Hyderabad	Puducherry
    Aligarh	Imphal	Pune
    Allahabad	Indore	Raipur
    Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh)	Itanagar	Rajkot
    Aurangabad	Jabalpur	Ranchi
    Bangalore	Jaipur	Sambalpur
    Bareilly	Jammu	Shillong
    Bhopal	Jodhpur	Shimla
    Bilaspur	Jorhat	Siliguri
    Chandigarh	Kochi	Srinagar
    Chennai	Kohima	Thane
    Coimbatore	Kolkata	Thiruvananthapuram
    Cuttack	Kozhikode (Calicut)	Tiruchirapalli
    Dehradun	Lucknow	Tirupati
    Delhi	Ludhiana	Udaipur
    Dharwad	Madurai	Varanasi
    Dispur	Mumbai	Vellore
    Faridabad	Mysore	Vijayawada
    Gangtok	Nagpur	Vishakhapatnam
    Gaya	Navi Mumbai	Warangal

     Mains Exam Centres

    The number of candidates in the IAS Main Exam is just 15 to 18 times the number of vacancies notified in the official notification. Since the number of candidates is far less in the IAS Main exam hence the number of centres are also less. The IAS Main Exam Centres are given below:

    Ahmedabad	Dehradun	Mumbai
    Aizawl	Delhi	Patna
    Allahabad	Dispur (Guwahati)	Raipur
    Bangaluru	Hyderabad	Ranchi
    Bhopal	Jaipur	Shillong
    Chandigarh	Jammu	Shimla
    Chennai	Kolkata	Thiruvananthapuram
    Cuttack	Lucknow	Vijayawada

    Note: The official website informs that allotment of centres (for both Preliminary and Mains) will be on first-apply-first allot basis. Once the capacity of a particular centre is attained, the same will be frozen and applicants will have to choose a centre from the remaining options. Applicants are, therefore, advised to apply early so that they can get an exam centre of their choice.

    UPSC Syllabus: Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2020

    UPSC releases detail syllabus for Civil Services Examination in its official notification every year. Here is the syllabus for both Prelims and Main Exam.

  • Syllabus For Prelims Exam

    The prelims exam is qualifying in nature and has 2 papers in total: GS and CSAT. In CSAT, an aspirant has to score just 33% marks while in GS, an aspirant has to score atleast upto the cut-off marks. The nature of both Paper 1 and 2 is objective and for every wrong attempts, marks are deducted.

    Paper I: GS (General Studies)

    Total Marks: 200

    Duration: 2 Hours

    Nature: Objective (MCQ)

    • 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 (Aptitude Test)

    Total Marks: 200

    Duration : Two hours

    Nature: 2 Hours

    • 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)

    Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for evaluation. It is also necessary to qualifying both the papers in order to get into the Main Phase of the Exam.

    Syllabus for Main Exam

  • Main exam has 9 subjective papers in total, out of which 2 are qualifying in nature and the other forms the part of merit list. Here is the detail syllabus fir the same.
    

    Qualifying Paper on Indian Language and English

    Paper A: English

    Marks: 300

    The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows :

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

    Paper B: Indian Languages included in the 8th Schedule of the constitution

    Marks: 300

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

    Paper I: Essay

    Marks: 250

    This paper requires a comprehensive understanding on multiple topics. Effective and exact expression will be given credit.

    Paper II (General Studies-I): Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society

    Marks: 250

    1. Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
    2. Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the presentsignificant events, personalities, issues.
    3. The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
    4. Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
    5. 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.
    6. Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
    7. Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.

    
    
    
    

    8. Effects of globalization on Indian society.
    9. Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
    10. Salient features of world’s physical geography.
    11. 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).
    12. 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

    13. PAPER-III (General Studies- II): Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

        Marks: 250

        1. Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
        2. 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.
        3. Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
        4. 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.
        5. 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 polity
        6. Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
        7. Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
           
           
           
           

        8. Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
        9. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
        10. Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
        11. 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.
        12. Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
        13. Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
        14. Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
        15. Role of civil services in a democracy.
        16. India and its neighborhood- relations.
        17. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
        18. Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests,
        19. Indian diaspora.
        20. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
            

            PAPER-IV (General Studies-III): Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management

            Marks: 250

            1. Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
            2. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
            3. Government Budgeting.
            4. 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.
            5. Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issue of buffer stock and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
            6. Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
            7. Land reforms in India.
            8. Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
            9. Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
            10. Investment models.
            11. Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
            12. Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
            13. Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
            14. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
            15. Disaster and disaster management.
            16. Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
            17. Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
            18. Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
            19. Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
            20. Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

            PAPER-V (General Studies- IV): Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

    14. Marks: 250

        Candidates attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and
        conflicts faced by him in dealing with society is tested in this.

        The following broad areas will be covered :

        1. Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of
        2. Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships.
        3. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
        4. Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
        5. Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker section
        6. Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
        7. 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.
        8. 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.
        9. Case Studies on above issues.

        
        
        
        

        PAPER-VI & PAPER VII (Optional Subject)

        Paper VI (Optional 1) Marks: 250

        Paper VII (Optional 2) Marks: 250

        Candidate may choose any optional subject from amongst the List of Optional Subjects:

  • 1. Agriculture
    2. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
    3. Anthropology
    4. Botany
    5. Chemistry
    6. Civil Engineering
    7. Commerce and Accountancy
    8. Economics
    9. Electrical Engineering
    10. Geography
    11. Geology
    12. History
    13. Law
    14. Management
    15. Mathematics
    16. Mechanical Engineering
    17. Medical Science
    18. Philosophy
    19. Physics
    20. Political Science and International Relations
    21. Psychology
    22. Public Administration
    23. Sociology
    24. Statistics
    25. Zoology
    26. 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 and English.

    The optional paper is of 3 hours each and paper VI and VII both has to be from same subjects. It’s syllabus is like the syllabus of graduation. This need knowldege of the examination properly