IAS Full Form Name: IAS Meaning
Full Form of IAS :
Indian Administrative Service
IAS Full Form is Indian
Administrative Service. IAS is one of the leading administrative civil
services in India. Officers with IAS, hold strategic and key positions in public-sector
undertakings, states, as well as Union Governments. An IAS officer can be
appointed as commissioner, collector, chief secretary, public sector head, the
cabinet secretary, and more. With extensive challenges and experience, an IAS
officer has the power to bring a positive change in the society.
To become an IAS officer one has
to clear the IAS or otherwise known as UPSC – Civil Service Exam, which
comprises of 3 steps – The Preliminary exam; Main Exam; and the Interview. It
is quite a challenge and requires the right approach and attitude to acquire an
IAS, as there is extreme competition among the best brains in the country. Each
year more than 600,000 candidates take this exam out of which only 200 – 250
would be recruited.
IAS Full Form – Important
Information
In India, administrative services
enjoy unmatched, prestigious reputation in the society largely because of the
benefits appended to the services, which are something that every person would
want. Also, because India is relatively poor and many people cannot afford the
minimum quantity of daily commodities, securing a well established, stable job
is important.
Administrative services in India
offer such job, along with great repute and value in society. These twin
advantages are not generally present in other jobs and hence, administrative
services see the enormous number of participation from every section of the
society.
Considering the high value
enjoyed by administrative services, we shall begin with Indian Administrative
Service (IAS), joining which is the dream of almost every Indian. It is the
prestigious administrative civil service of the Indian government that places
officers in crucial administrative positions in the Central government, state
governments, and many public sector undertakings.
These positions are considered
strategic in respect of the administrative functioning of governmental bodies.
It is a respectable bureaucracy that enjoys much-desired permanence and
intellectual brilliance. IAS is an indistinguishable part of the Executive
organ of the government of India.
Indian Administrative Services
(IAS) is one of the three All India services (the other ones being Indian
Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS)) in which officers
recruited by both Central Government and the State governments. IAS officers
are often deputed abroad to conduct foreign affairs on behalf of the Union
government.
Some of the international
organizations IAS officers often work with are the World Bank, United Nations
and its various organs and agencies, and other intergovernmental organizations.
The recruitment process begins with an all-India entrance exam known as the
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which is considered to be one of the
toughest exams in the country. IAS has a long, rich history and a successful
present and all of its must be briefly looked into for better appreciation.
Some of the important facts about IAS are:
History of the IAS:
History of IAS is long, dating
back in the colonial era. British had realized the lack of a uniform
administrative system in their colonial empire and decided to implement
administrative policies, administrating major issues of the empire. To fill up
the administrative positions, it needed well educated, intelligent, and hard
working persons to provide their service to the British administration.
Although many historians claim ulterior motives behind the implementation of
the administration, these services provided a proper, uniform governance
framework to the colonial rule.
The Imperial Civil Service was
the premier civil service in the British period, particularly between 1858 and
1947. Divided into two categories namely Covenanted and Uncovenanted, the
former was reserved for British civil officers only who would be placed in
higher positions in the administrative services and the latter was for the
Indian civil officers, who will be placed in the lower thread in the
administrative services.
When the Partition of India
happened accompanied by the departure of the British from India, the Imperial
Civil Service was divided into that of India and Pakistan, wherein the part of
the India was named Indian Administrative Service and the Pakistani part was
named the Civil Service of Pakistan.
Recruitment process involved in
IAS:
The recruitment process in IAS is
considered to be one of the toughest processes in the country. In respect of
competitiveness, quality of examination, research and training programs, IAS
excels in all of that and that is what that makes IAS one of the most beloved
services in the country because it has edged out its own class.
The first step towards IAS begins
with the all India level entrance examination famously known as Civil Services
Examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). UPSC is the
country’s central authority that undertakes the organization of Civil Services
Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Combined Defence Services
Examination, National Defence Academy Examination, Indian Economic Service
Examination, Naval Academy Examination, Indian Statistical Service Examination,
etc.
Civil Services Examination is one
of the most attended examinations of the country, as the records of the year
2015 state that approximately 1,000,000 candidates sat for the examination out
of which only 170 will be recruited in the administrative services. These
selected candidates will occupy various positions, whose vacancies often vary
in number.
Allocation and placement process
in IAS:
After having being selected in
the UPSC examination, the candidates are sent to train at LBSNAA, Mussoorie for
IAS. LBSNAA, which stands for Lal Bahadur Shastra National Academy of
Administration, is a training and research facility in the field of public policy
making and public administration in India. It functions under the aegis of the
government of India.
Every Indian State will have one
cadre for its own but there are three joint cadres as well. These joint cadres
include Manipur-Tripura, Assam-Meghalaya, Arunachal
Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-UnionTerritories (ADMUT). There is an insider-outsider
ratio, which talks about the number of civil servants posted in their
hometowns, that is reserved at 1:2 and such officers are marked as ‘insiders’.
The remaining IAS officers are posted in places other than their hometowns.
Before the year 2008, the IAS officers had no choice, if not allotted their
hometowns, and they were allotted places in an alphabetical order.
Many have criticized the
allotment process of the IAS officers, particularly because it is considered an
obstacle in nurturing of the IAS officers. Criticism focuses on the necessity
to ensure autonomy in the functioning of the IAS officers, improve their
strategic capabilities, and administrating skills.
Designations in IAS:
Generally, the fresh recruits in
IAS begin their careers in the state administration as a sub-divisional
magistrate, entrusted with the task of regulating and maintaining law and order
along with regular administrative work in the areas of their control. Popular
known as ‘babus’, these civil servants, even as fresh recruits, exercise
immense administrative control.
The designation structure of the
IAS varies, as one moves in the upper rung. An IAS officer in the Cabinet
Secretary Grade holds the position of the Cabinet Secretary of India; an Apex
Scale IAS officer holds the position of Chief Secretary of States and in
various Union ministries.
A Junior Administrative scale IAS
officer holds positions of District Magistrate, Deputy Commissioner of a
District or Special Secretary in the State government, etc,; a Super Time Scale
IAS officer holds the position of a Divisional Commissioner in a division or
Secretary in the states or Joint Secretary in the Union government, etc.
The salaries of the IAS officers
will, therefore, vary with designations and seniority. Moreover, benefits other
than monetary benefits are attached with various designations and these
benefits will vary, for example, grade pay is not same for every IAS officer.
There are a number of positions
that IAS officers hold in the government of India like Under Secretary, Deputy
Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary of a Union Ministry, Additional Secretary
of a Union Ministry, Secretary of a Union Ministry, and Cabinet Secretary of
India.
As far as posts in the state
government are concerned, some of them are that of District Magistrate in a
small district, Principal Secretary of State Department, Chief Secretary of
State Department, Divisional Commissioner, etc.
Functions of an IAS officer:
An IAS officer holds a venerable
position in the society and he is considered an epitome of intellect and hard
work. The social bliss attached to an IAS official cannot be compromised with
because failure in the proper discharge of functions would bring great
disrepute to not only the officer but also the position he holds. It is,
therefore, an obligation upon an IAS official to sincerely discharge his
administrative responsibilities for which he has worked too hard.
The general functions of an IAS
officer to maintain law and order in the area he is put in charge of and to
carry out related administrative and managerial tasks. However, the functions
of an IAS officer have more dimensions than it seems. Typical functions of an
IAS officer are enumerated below:
§ To carry out
management of the general matters of the government. For this purpose, he would
act in consultation with the ministries concerned. Thus, an IAS officer has to
remain uniformly connected with the government before implementing an administrative
policy in the area of charge.
§ An IAS officer
cannot always function from its office for the implementation of administrative
policies. An IAS officer has to undertake routine supervision of the area,
traveling to areas when the policies are planned to be implemented, overseeing
utilization of public funds directed in the name of the implementation of
policies in the area and chalking out new policies after due inspection, etc.
§ IAS officers
head premier academic institutions in the area of charge and all management
policies of those institutes are undertaken only under his supervision and
authority.
§ An IAS officer
is answerable to the ministries of the government in case any mismanagement or
failure of administration occurs in the area of charge. Thus, an IAS officer is
given effective control over the area in order to prevent any such
mismanagement and failure.