Opportunities for IAS

   In the Government of India (i.e.. in the ministries) you will deal with the formulation of policies and supervise their implementation. In each Ministry you will supervise the allotment and utilization of funds by the field officers in your Ministry.

  You will also be asked to furnish information to the Parliament in response to queries relating to your Ministry. You will have    to work late into the night and under much pressure when Parliament is in session. Sometimes, your work will entail visits to    the States. Depending on your rank, you might  even be the government nominee on the Board of Directors of some Public    Sector Corporation. You will also at times be nominated to independently  represent  India  at International forums or    accompany the Minister for such meetings. From the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India, you can sign    international agreements on behalf of the Government of India.

   However, more than half your career life will be spent in the State you are allocated, where you will look after law and order,    general administration, revenue work and developmental functions. During   the course of your two year probation you will be    attached to various training schools, to the Secretariat and field offices and to a district collector's office. Here you will do the    work of a sub magistrate. On completion of your two year's probation you will be appointed as a Sub Divisional Magistrate    (SDM). As S.D.M. you will look after law and order, general administration, revenue work and  such developmental work as    may be assigned to you. In the next three  scales i.e.. Senior Scale, Junior Administrative Grade and Selection Grade you    will serve as District  Magistrate, Chief Development Officer, Director of a department, Managing Director of a Public Sector    Unit or a Senior officer in  the State Secretariat. In other words, you could be a District Magistrate  in your fifth year of service    and remain a D.M. till you are promoted to the Super Time Scale in the 17th year of your service.

   What your rank in the State Secretariat will be  varies widely  from State to State,. For  example, in Jammu and Kashmir,    young I.A.S. officers in the Junior Administrative Grade become Secretaries. In most States, however, I.A.S. Officers become    Secretaries to the State Government when they reach the Selection Grade. In all States, supertime scale officers are    Secretaries or Divisional Commissioners. Following this there are promotions in scale to the ranks of Principal Secretary and    additional Chief Secretary. The highest post in the State is that of the Chief Secretary.

   After the training at Mussoorie, the I.F.S. probationers are attached to the Ministry of External Affairs and have to become    conversant in a major foreign language. During the second year they are appointed as Third Secretaries in and Indian    Embassy/High Commission where that language is spoken. They spend another two years in the same Embassy as Second    Secretaries. After two postings abroad, the I.F.S. Officers are posted in India in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) (Eg.    Passport office or Indian Council for Cultural Relations or elsewhere in the Government of India). In the MEA, you will look    after India's political, economic and commercial work. In the Senior Scale and the Junior Administrative Grade the I.F.S.    Officers are appointed as First Secretaries. In the Selection Grade I.F.S. Officers serve as Counsellors. In very small    countries the Indian Ambassador would be in that grade.

   In the supertime scale, many I.F.S. Officers become Ambassadors of medium sized countries while others are appointed as    Ministers in the large embassies like Washington and  Moscow. In the Additional Secretaries Grade, I.F.S. Officers are made    ambassadors in relatively big embassies of Deputy High Commissioner in London. The biggest Indian Embassies / High    Commissions like Moscow, Washington and London are headed by Ambassadors of the rank of Secretary. At this level,    some Ambassadors are non I.F.S. Officers like politicians, retired or serving I.A.S. Officers or retired Defence Chief. There are    four to five Secretary level officers in the MEA - the senior most being the Foreign Secretary.

   The content of an I.F.S. Officer's work has improved immensely. The is considerable economic work to be done to promote    trade and commerce. The career development in the service is extremely professional.

   During the probation period you will undergo a year's on the job training in the office of a Superintendent of Police of a district    in the State you have been allocated .On completing your two year probation, you will be confirmed as a three star Assistant    Superintendent of Police (A.S.P.). You will then in all probability be posted as  the Police Officer of a sub-division (SDPO) for    two years  till you are promoted to the Senior Scale.

   As the SDPO, Superintendent of   Police, Senior Superintendent of Police of a District and as Deputy Inspector General of a    Range (group of districts), you will be exclusively responsible for the prevention and  detection of crime. However, the law and    order duties will  be  shared with your I.A.S. counterpart.

   In cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, the law and order duties are the exclusive responsibility of the police force. In    these cities the ASP, SP, and the DIG are called Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACPO), Deputy Commissioner of Police    (DCP) and Commissioner of Police (CP). On being promoted to the Senior Scale you could serve as ASP of a larger district    for the first two years or SP of a small district. You are likely to spend about thirteen years covering the Senior Scale, Junior    Administrative Grade and Selection Grade as SP / SSP of a district, SP (Crime), SP (CID), S.P. (Home Guards), the head of    some police battalion, S.P. (Traffic) and so on. Outside the districts, the most satisfying jobs are in the intelligence agencies    of the Government of India specially in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). There are    many other Central agencies to which the IPS Officers may be sent on deputation at every stage of their career, except in the    Junior Scale. Some of these are the Cabinet Secretariat, the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and    the Central Industrial Security Force. Unlike I.A.S. Officers who cannot permanently serve the central government, some IPS    dominated central agencies absorb the IPS Officers till they retire. The senior posts in the IPS are those of the Deputy    Inspector General, Inspector General, Additional D.G. and Director General. These days many states have more than one IG    and DG. However, there is only one Director General of Police (DG), who heads the police force of the State.

   In the Indian Revenue Service you earn money for the exchequer and therefore, as Usha Gupta, Additional Commissioner    Income Tax points out you have to keep departmental expenses to the minimum! The job according to her is “officer oriented”    as you are involved in all the processes from investigation to decisions and policy planning. As you will deal with the fiscal    policy and budget, aptitude for accounts as well as a legal aptitude is useful. She states that you “wield a lot of power” and    whereas the law abiding citizen “need not fear us, the white collar criminal better watch out” !

   Your professional training will be conducted in the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur and you will also receive    on-the-job training at an Assistant Commissioner’s office for sometime. Following this you will serve as an Assistant    Commissioner for about eight years. You will examine cases in which the tax assessed is more than the prescribed figure.    Assistant Commissioners deal with income and losses between Rs. 2 - 5 lakhs.

   In the Junior Administrative Grade (JAG) and Selection Grade you would be a Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax or Deputy    Director (Investigation). Deputy Commissioners (Assessment) handle cases above Rs.5 lakhs. In the Senior Administrative    Grade you could be a Commissioner of Income Tax in a metropolitan town or one of the state capitals or a Director of  Income    Tax. Some of these Commissioners are designated Chief - Commissioners of Income Tax and are in a scale similar to that of    Additional Secretaries.

   The Director General of Income Tax is also in this scale.

   The head of the Income Tax hierarchy is the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and is assisted by six members.

   The Indian Railways are now Asia's largest and world's second largest railway system under a single management. At the    top of the railway hierarchy is the Chairman of the Railway Board. He gets a salary equal to that of the Cabinet Secretary and    for all purposes he is the Secretary of his Department. The Railway Board has several members of Secretary rank.

   There is one member for each wing of the railways eg. Member (Mechanical), Member (Engineering), Member (Traffic),    Member (Staff) etc.

   Heading each zone is a General Manager who is incharge of all the railway operations in that zone. His rank is between that    of an Additional Secretary and Secretary to the Government of India. He belongs to any one of the various railway services.

   Each Division is headed by a Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), who can be from any railway service. He is one of the senior    officers of the Senior Administrative Grade which corresponds to the Super Time Scale of the IAS. The post of the Additional    Divisional Railway manager is now an important one. He belongs to the Senior Administrative Grade. He is responsible for all    railway work in his division.

   As a probationer of the railway services you will receive your training at the Railway Staff College, Vadodara followed by a    year's on-the-job training at a division of the 'zone' you have been allocated. There are nine zones- North, South, East,    North-East, West, South-East, South-East, South-Central, Central and North Frontier. According to Nitesh Srivastava (IRTS),    "Railways belong to one of the select few organizations where decision has to be taken on the spot. This is precisely the    challenge for a railway officer".

   This service looks after commercial (goods and passengers) and operational (movement of trains) functions with an emphasis    on safety.

   In the Junior Scale you will serve as either Assistant Commercial Manager or Assistant Operating Manager and posted at the    Divisional Headquarters. If posted at a very big railway station you may be designated as Assistant Transport Manager. Within    four years of service you are likely to get the senior scale and posted at divisional headquarters as Divisional.

   Commercial Manager or Divisional Operating Manager or Divisional Safety Officer. Most of the branch officers like the Senior    Divisional Commercial Manager or Senior Divisional Operating Manager are in the JAG.

   At the zonal level the hierarchy is as follows  :

   On the Commercial side the structure is headed by the Chief Commercial Manager (who is in the pay scale of the Additional    Secretary to the Government of India) followed by the Additional Chief Commercial Manager and the Deputy Chief Commercial    Manager.

   On the operations side the Chief Operations Manager is at the head, followed by the Additional Chief Operations Manager,    Chief Freight Traffic Manager, Chief Passenger Traffic Manager and the Deputy Chief Operations Manager.

   According to Saurabh Singh (IRTS), "Traditionally, operations were given more importance in Railways than the commercial    aspect. However, today commercial activity is gaining importance because of consumer awareness. Thus it is imperative that    IRTS officers hone up their managerial skill".

INDIAN RAILWAY ACCOUNTS SERVICE (IRAS)

   This service monitors all the income and expenditure of the vast railway network.         In the Junior Scale as an IRAS officer you will be posted to divisional headquarters as Assistant Accounts Officers. On being     promoted to the senior scale you will become a Divisional Accounts Officer and in the JAG you will be designated as Senior    Divisional Accounts Officer. In the Senior Administrative Grade you are promoted to the coveted position of Financial    Advisor-cum-Chief   Accounts Officer of a zone. Dakshita Dass, Senior Divisional Accounts Officer points out that owing to    the commercial nature of the organization, work in the railways is "result oriented" and the environment is conducive to quick    decisions. You are constantly in a "state of motion". "A career in the Indian Railway Accounts Service has contributed to her    personal growth and enabled her to deal with tough  and demanding situations".

INDIAN RAILWAY PERSONNEL SERVICE (IRPS)

   As an officer in this service you will deal with recruitment, promotions, in service training and welfare of the employees. You    will be interested to know that IRPS officers get the equivalent of the Supertime Scale before any other service of the    Government of India.

   The postings are as follows  :

   In the junior scale you will be designated Assistant Personnel Officer and posted at Divisional Headquarters. Following this    you will become a Divisional Personnel Officer in the Senior Scale and Senior Divisional Personnel Officer of Deputy Chief    Planning Officer in the JAG.

   You will be made Additional Chief Planning Officer once you get  the selection grade. In the Senior Administrative Grade you    will be designated Chief Personnel Officer and serve at Zonal Headquarters.

   At a non divisional set-up there are commensurate posts for officers belonging to all the railway services.

   This force protects one of the biggest railway networks in the world. Your training will be at Vadodra and Lucknow. The Junior    and Senior scales are similar to the other railway services. There is no equivalent of JAG or S.G. Instead, you have the grades    of Senior Commandant, Head Quarters and Deputy Inspector General (DIG) respectively which is much better than the    corresponding grades for even the IAS and IFS.

   The Inspector General's grade is the same as the IAS supertime scale or the IPS IGP's scale. The final promotion is as the    Director General of the Force. So far, the Director General of the R.P.F. has been an I.P.S. officer. However, it is expected    that once the officers of the R.P.F. attain the required seniority it  will be headed by one of them.

Customs

   Parveen Talha, Competent Authority and Administrator for Forfeiture of Property points out there is "job variety" in this service.    You could be dealing with customs, excise or narcotics related matters.

   What is more "being a uniformed service there is glamour attached to it".

   She comments "the service has given me confidence and tremendous opportunities for growth".

   Custom Officers are not only posted in important coastal and border towns or in towns with international airports, they can be    posted anywhere.

   Your probation will be either in Madras, Bombay, Calcutta or Delhi and in the Junior and Senior scales you will be designated    Assistant Commissioner of Customs. As Deputy Commissioner in the JAG you will move to much bigger towns. In this grade    of JAG you could later become Additional Commissioner of Customs.

Central Excise

   Your probation will be in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay or Madras and you will be posted in industrial townships to begin with and    then in big cities. In the Junior Scale you could serve as Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise. You can hold the latter    rank in the Senior scale also. In the JAG you could be a Deputy or Additional Commissioner of Central Excise.    Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise are officers in the Senior Administrative Grade. They wield enormous power    and the jurisdiction of each normally extends over several states.

   Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise are placed in the next higher grade which is similar to that of Additional    Secretaries.

   After that you can aspire to become a member of the Central Board of Excise and Customs and later even its Chairman.    While both IRS and IC and CES Officers upto the rank of Assistant Commissioner are officially entitled to a substantial share    of all the concealed wealth they locate and seize during their raids, the latter have traditionally received much bigger awards    of this kind from the government.

   The Central Bureau of Narcotics is located in Gwalior and headed by a Commissioner. Senior positions in the narcotics    department are held by officers of the IC and CES.

   This service audits the accounts of all central and state government departments, P & T departments, defence, public sector    organizations, railways, etc. It functions within the federal structure and coordinates effectively between the centre and the    states. As the head of the organization, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is a constitutional  authority with a fixed    tenure, "the entire department functions free from interference", states Rekha Gupta, Accountant General.

   During your career you can go on deputation's to various ministries, state governments, autonomous bodies, public sector    organizations etc. You can also be posted at one of the two audit offices abroad - Washington or London. Presently India is    one of the three countries auditing the accounts of the United Nations and a Director General of the service is based at New    York for this purpose.

   Officers selected to this service undergo training in Shimla. They serve either in accounts offices in Central or State    Governments or in Statutory Audit Offices under the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). In the Junior Scale you will be    posted as an Assistant A.G. in the office of an Accountant General (AG). (The offices of most AGs are in State capitals).You    will be posted in similar offices throughout your career; only your designation and responsibilities will keep changing. For    example as Assistant A.G. you will function as a "branch officer" but as Deputy A.G. who will function as a "group officer"    and direct the work of thirty to forty persons. In the senior scale you will be a Deputy AG, in the JAG and Selection Grade a    Senior DAG and in the Senior Administrative Grade a full fledged AG.

   At the next rung is the Additional Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General. Above this is the Deputy Comptroller and Auditor    General of India, who gets a Secretary's salary. At the very top of the accounts/audit hierarchy is a constitutional authority,    the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. (Other Constitutional authorities in India include the Chairman of UPSC and the    Chief Election Commissioner).

   "I really enjoy being a part of this service" concludes Rekha Gupta.

   According to V. S. Saxena, former Chief PMG, the Indian Postal Service is unique as there is "maximum job satisfaction".    The first posting is as the head of a division where you are in touch with the "cutting edge" the people as well as staff and the    results are "immediate". Moreover, it is the only service from which you can go on a deputation to the army and serve from    Captain to Major General. An attractive aspect of a career in the Indian Postal Service is that there is job mobility as well as    variety.

   You can serve in any ministry at an level depending on your seniority and aptitude. Officers are also sent on deputation to the    Universal Postal Union at Berne, Switzerland or on assignments to other countries.

   Your professional course will be at the Postal Staff College, Ghaziabad. During your probation you will be "attached" to "field"    offices of the department, where you will work in various capacities (e.g. Inspector or Postmaster). You will serve in divisional    headquarters (e.g. Pune, Agra, Chandigarh) as Senior Superintendent of Post Office (SSPO) or Senior Superintendent    Railway Mail (SSRM) in your Junior scale as well as in the first 2-3 years of your senior scale. Only personnel from the Indian    Postal Service go on deputation to the Army Postal Service.

   Later in the Senior Scale you will be promoted to the rank of Assistant PMG (Post Master General) or Assistant Director    General at the Directorate. In the JAG you will be made a Director. In the selection grade you will remain a Director. You can    be promoted to the Senior most level  of  PMG  of  a "Circle" (or equivalent - e.g.. the post of Deputy Director General). Postal    Services is one of the most challenging, satisfying and gratifying job for people who have an interest in human relations. This    service offers an opportunity to serve the people from all walks of life directly", says Mr. A.K.Gupta, Director, Postal Services,    Lucknow. According to him, in the Senior Administrative Grade there are two scales namely Rs.18,400 - 22400 and 22,400 -    24,500.

   Promotions after that are to the posts of :      a)  Additional Secretary in a ministry      b)  One of the members of the Postal Services Board      c)  Chief PMG or rather HAG i.e. Higher Administrative Grade. At present there are ten posts of Chief PMG out of which           seven are field posts .      d)  Secretary, Department of Post who is also ex officio DG and Chairman of the Postal Services Board.

   As in the case of the Indian Railways there is a separate P & T Finance and Accounts Service. Here you work for the Postal    & Telecom departments.You are posted in major cities and as this is a comparatively new service (established 1974) the    promotions are fast. Within 17 years you can be a Joint Secretary (SAG) which corresponds with the Super Time Scale of the    I.A.S. According to Gita Rao, General Manager, Finance "the work is satisfying and there is job variety. Apart from dealing            with accounts - debits and credits you are also involved with general administration and public relations, etc." You start your    career as the Assistant Chief Accounts Officer. Within two years you are the Chief Accounts Officer.

   After six years you become the Director Finance and Accounts in the Junior Administrative Grade. In another eleven years    you enter the SAG as G.M.

   Finance which is a field posting or as Deputy Director General at the Directorate. Following this promotions to the higher    posts are limited as there is just one member Finance and one Senior DDG, Finance. However, you can go on deputation to    other ministries or to the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) or Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) as Director    Finance. With privatization of the telecom sector each circle will have one private company working alongside the government    set-up. While this may limit the number of posts in the service you may have attractive job opportunities in the private sector    owing to your wide experience in the service.

The Indian Information Services (IIS)

   This was initially called the Central Information Service (CIS) which was constituted as late as 1960. As it is a comparatively    new and expanding service there is scope for quicker promotions. The information and media convergence has not only made    the job a challenging one but it has opened vast opportunities for you to branch out into the private sector if you so desire.

   You can join the Junior Grade of the IIS through Civil Services Examination, even though 50 percent of officers in this grade are    directly recruited.

   The scales in this service are exactly the same as in the other services, till the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG). At the top    is a grade which is called Selection Grade (not to be confused with the Selection Grade which most services give their officers    in their 14th year) and has a fixed salary, equal to what the senior most Additional Secretary would get.

   Training during probation is at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi. An IIS Officer can be posted in    organizations dealing with print media (e.g. Employment News) in the electronic media (e.g. AIR, Doordarshan, Films Division)    or in an advertising agency (the Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity is the Country's biggest advertisement agency).

   In short, IIS Officers can be posted to any of the several organizations that are controlled by the Ministry of Information and    Broadcasting or the Ministry of Defence (Directorate of Public Relations).

The Indian Defence Accounts Services (IDAS)

   You will start off, after your probation, as an Assistant CDA (Controller of Defence Accounts) in the Junior Scale, and will work    in cantonment towns. In the next three scales you will be a Deputy CDA, posted at State capitals (or bigger towns).

   In the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) you will become a full-fledged CDA and will be posted at places where headquarters    of defence 'commands' are located.

   In the Additional Secretaries' Scale IDAS Officer's are made Additional CGDAs (Controller General of Defence Accounts)    incharge of Audit or Inspection. They could also be posted as Controller of Accounts (Factories), Calcutta. There are also    some equipment posts in this scale.

The Indian Ordinance And Factories Services (IOFS)

   You will be required to serve mostly where ordinance factories (i.e. factories that make equipment including sleeping bags and    tents, for the defence services) are located e.g. Jabalpur. During the first 10 years in the Service, you could even be asked to    serve for upto 4 years, as a Commissioned Officer in the Armed Forces.

   The promotions upto the Senior Administrative Grade are standard Central Service Promotions. In the Additional Secretaries'    Grade you would most probably be made a General Manager. After that there is a scale which begins at the AS level. In this    scale are the Members of the OFS (ordinance Factories Board) / the Additional DGOF (Director General Ordinance Factories).

   The head of the service is the chairman of the OFB / DGOF, who has the same fixed salary as the Secretaries.

The Indian Civil Accounts Services (ICAS)

   The Junior Scale : Your training will be in the office of the CGA (Controller General of Accounts), Department of Expenditure    (Ministry of Finance) Delhi and in the offices of the Chief Controller of   Accounts in the various ministries of Govt.of India.

   Your first posting will be as Assistant Controller of Accounts in some ministry of the Govt.of India. In the Senior Scale you will    become the Deputy Controller of Accounts. In the Senior Administrative Grade you will be made Chief Controller of Accounts.    You can also hope to become Additional Controller General of Accounts in the Additional Secretaries Grade. The highest    career post for an ICAS officer is Controller General of Accounts and has a salary fixed higher than that of the Additional    Secretaries' Scale.

The Indian Defence Estates Services (IDES)

   This service deals entirely with spacious, well planned, green, landscaped cantonments. In this service you will begin your    career in the junior scale, as an Executive Officer in a Class I or a Class II Cantonment. In the Senior Scale you would    normally be sent to a Class I Cantonment as an Executive Officer of Asstt. Director or Deputy Asstt. Director General or    Defence Estate Officer.

   Your next promotion in the "Ordinary Grade" (similar to the JAG) will be as Joint Director which designation you will retain in    the Selection Grade  as well.

   After the Selection Grade the IDES Officers are first promoted as Directors (Level I) before they are made Directors (Level III).    The latter post is in the Senior Administrative Grade. The top officer is the Director General Defence Estates.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

   This force has been created for the protection of India's very extensive industrial infrastructure, especially the Public Sector    Units. The training is conducted in Hyderabad. Officers join as Assistant Commandants in the Junior Scale. Thereafter, a few    years later they are eligible for promotion to the rank of Deputy Commandant, which is in the Senior Scale. After that CISF    officers can hope to become Commandants or Additional Inspector General.