Subject: Trivia

It is a scheme for upliftment of urban and rural poor through enhancement of livelihood opportunities through skill development and other means

Why the scheme?

• To provide Skill training to the poor in cities and villages. This would make them eligible for employment and will help in poverty alleviation
• By 2020, developed nations will have shortage of ~57 million workers & foreign companies will have to outsource work elsewhere
• Companies require cheap but skilled labour force (India will have ~47 million new workers by 2020)
• Every year, 12 million Indians join workforce but out of them only 10% are skilled compared to 70% in and 50% in China
• Therefore, success of Make in India, will depend on success of this scheme
• Also, under the current urban poverty alleviation programmes, only 790 cities and towns are covered
• The government has decided to extend these measures to all the 4,041 statutory cities and towns, there by covering almost the entire urban population

Rural component

Official name: Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

Under: Ministry of Rural Development

Earlier schemes:

• Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) was renamed as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) which was in turn converted to Aajivika
• Aajivika has a sub-component of skill development which is now named as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

Eligibility: 15 years and above (in Aajivika, it was 18)

Target: Train 10 Lakh rural youth by 2017

Others:

• Government will setup training centres in rural areas
• Training syllabus will be designed on international standards, so that rural youth can work in the foreign companies coming to India under Make in India
• Special attention to physically disabled persons

Urban component

Official name: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Antyodaya Yojana (DAY)

Under: Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA)

Eligibility: Urban poor

Target: Train 5 Lakh people every year

6 Components:

1. Setup City Livelihood Centres with Rs. 10 lakh grant
2. Give training to each urban poor via these centres. Government will spent Rs.15k-18k on training each of them
3. Form Urban Self Help Groups (SHG) and give Bank linkage and Rs.10,000 to each group
4. Setup Vendor markets and give skill training to vendors as well
5. Construction of permanent shelters for urban homeless & other essential services
6. Help the poor to setup enterprises & give them loan at 7% interest rate

Tie up with NSDC

• MoHUPA signed an MoU with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)
• NSDC will give training to poor, according to market needs, via its training centres
• It will also help in identification of beneficiaries besides certification of training programmes through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs)

SSCs– These are industry led bodies and they define standards and syllabus for different training program in given industrial sector

• NSDC will identify beneficiaries and design their training program with help of above SSCs
• Thus, NSDC-MoHUPA tie up will help in speedy and result oriented implementation of Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana

---

 

For updates, follow- The Mammoth Task Of Skilling India

---

Published with inputs from Swapnil

---

 

• PM Modi- ‘By the time the Nation completes 75 years of its Independence, every family will have a pucca house with water connection, toilet facilities, 24×7 electricity supply and access’
• To achieve this objective, Govt has launched a comprehensive mission ‘Housing for All by 2022’
• The programme is launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA)

Features

• It will be implemented during 2015-2022
• Will provide central assistance to implementing agencies through States and UTs for providing houses to all eligible families/beneficiaries by 2022
• Will be implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) except for the component of credit linked subsidy which will be implemented as a Central Sector Scheme <what’s the difference b/w centrally sponsored and central sector schemes? Answer in comments>
• Mission with all its component has become effective from 17 June, 2015 and will be implemented upto 31 March, 2022
• All 4041 statutory towns as per Census 2011 with focus on 500 Class I cities would be covered in three phases: Answer in comments>

1. Phase I (April 2015 – March 2017) to cover 100 Cities selected from States/ UTs as per their willingness
2. Phase II (April 2017 – March 2019) to cover additional 200 Cities
3. Phase III (April 2019 – March 2022) to cover all other remaining Cities

Ministry, however, will have flexibility regarding inclusion of additional cities in earlier phases in case there is a resource backed demand from States/ UTs

• The mission will support construction of houses upto 30 square meter carpet area with basic civic infrastructure
• The minimum size of houses constructed under the mission under each component should conform to the standards provided in National Building Code (NBC)
• The houses should be designed and constructed to meet the requirements of structural safety against earthquake, flood, cyclone, landslides etc. conforming to the National Building Code and other relevant Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) codes
• The houses should be in the name of the female head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife, and only in cases when there is no adult female member in the family, the house can be in the name of male member of the household
• Implementing Agencies should encourage formation of associations of beneficiaries under the scheme like Resident Welfare Association etc. to take care of maintenance of houses being built under the mission

Components

The Mission will be implemented through four verticals giving option to beneficiaries, ULBs and State Governments

---

 

Beneficiaries

• The mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers

What is a slum? It is defined as a compact area of at least 300 people or about 60-70 households of poorly built congested tenements in unhygienic environment usually with inadequate infrastructure and lacking in proper sanitary and drinking water facilities

• Beneficiaries include Economically weaker section (EWS) and low-income groups (LIGs)

The annual income cap is up to Rs 3 lakh for EWS and Rs 3-6 lakh for LIG. EWS category of beneficiaries is eligible for assistance in all four verticals of the Missions whereas LIG category is eligible under only Credit linked subsidy scheme (CLSS) component of the Mission

• A beneficiary family will comprise husband, wife, unmarried sons and/ or unmarried daughters
• The beneficiary family should not own a pucca house either in his/ her name or in the name of any member of his/ her family in any part of India to be eligible to receive central assistance under the mission
• The total housing shortage envisaged to be addressed through the new mission is 20 million Answer in comments>

---

 

Follow this story for updates on housing scheme- India’s urbanisation agenda

---

 

Published with inputs from Swapnil

 

This blog is a part of the series – Know Your Services @Intro to Civil Services

---

Intro

• IFS is the administrative diplomatic civil service under Group A and Group B of the Central Civil Services
• It is one of the two premier Civil Services (other being IAS) as appointment to IFS renders a person ineligible to reappear in Civil Services Examination
• It is a Central Civil service as Foreign policy is the subject matter and prerogative of Union Government
• The Indian Foreign Service holds the distinction of giving India its- President, Vice President, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Foreign Minister and many distinguished Statesmen in past and present <can you name them in the comments?>

Training

• On selection, the new entrants undergo a multi-faceted and comprehensive training programme
• It gives them a thorough grounding in diplomatic knowledge, diplomatic qualities and diplomatic skills
• The probationers commence their training, together with their colleagues from the other All India Services, at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussourie
• Thereafter the probationers join the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi and undergo focused training in the various disciplines that a career diplomat needs

---

• The course involves lectures, attachments with various wings of the Government as well as familiarisation tours both within the country and abroad
• The aim of this course is to inculcate in the diplomatic recruit a strong sense of history, knowledge of diplomacy and international relations and a grasp of general economic and political principles
• At the conclusion of the training programme the officer is assigned his/her compulsory foreign language (CFL)
• After a brief period of desk attachment in the Ministry of External Affairs the officer is posted to an Indian Mission abroad in a country where his CFL is the native language and enrolled in a language course
• The officer is expected to develop proficiency in his CFL and pass the requisite examination before he is confirmed in service

Career

• A Foreign Service Officer begins his career abroad as a Third Secretary and is promoted to Second Secretary as soon as he is confirmed in service
• Subsequent promotions are to the levels of First Secretary, Counsellor, Ambassador/ High Commissioner/ Permanent Representative <can you tell the difference among the three in the cooments box>
• Officers can also be posted to Indian Consulates abroad where the hierarchy (going upwards) is Vice-Consul, Consul and Consul General <can you tell the difference b/w consulate and embassy in the comments box>
• The hierarchy at the Ministry of External Affairs includes 6 stages: Under Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Director, Joint Secretary, Additional Secretary and Secretary <where does foreign secretary figure in this heirarchy,!? Tell us in the comments below>

Functions

As a career diplomat, the Foreign Service Officer is required to project India’s interests, both at home and abroad on a wide variety of issues. These include bilateral political and economic cooperation, trade and investment promotion, cultural interaction, press and media liaison as well as a whole host of multilateral issues.

The functions of an Indian diplomat may be summarized as:

• Representing India in its Embassies, High Commissions, Consulates, and Permanent Missions to multilateral organisations like UN
• Protecting India’s national interests in the country of his/her posting
• Promoting friendly relations with the receiving state as also its people, including NRI / PIOs
• Reporting accurately on developments in the country of posting which are likely to influence the formulation of India’s policies
• Negotiating agreements on various issues with the authorities of the receiving state
• Extending consular facilities to foreigners and Indian nationals abroad.

---

Published with inputs from Swapnil

This blog is a part of the series – Know Your Services @Intro to Civil Services

---

 

• Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IAAS) is a Central Service, free of control from any executive authority, under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
• The officers of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department serve in an audit managerial capacity
• IAAS is responsible for auditing the accounts of the Union and State governments and public sector organizations, and for maintaining the accounts of State governments
• It role is somewhat similar to the National Audit Office (United Kingdom)

Recruitment & Training:

• Recruitment to the IAAS is through the joint competitive examinations (the Civil Services Examination) and through promotion from the subordinate cadre
• Once recruited to IAAS, the directly recruited officers are trained mainly at the National Academy of Audit and Accounts, Shimla for one and half year training

---

 

The training is split into two phases:

• Phase- I involves giving a theoretical background to the students on concepts of Government and commercial auditing and accounting
• Phase- II gives emphasis on practical training

The training involves modules where Officer Trainees are attached to the Reserve Bank of India, the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, the Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

The Officer Trainees are also given an international exposure through attachment with London School of Economics and Political Science.

Career Progression:

• After training, the Officer Trainees are posted as Deputy Accountants General (DAsG) or Deputy Directors (DDs). Subsequent to their promotion, they become Senior Deputy Accountants General (Sr. DAsG) or Directors
• All officers below the rank of AG/PD are also called Group Officers as they are generally in charge of a group in the office

The service can be divided into officers looking after State accounts and the officers at Headquarters: 

• The state accounts and audit offices are headed by Accountants General or Principal Accountants General. They are functionally equivalent, only the designations vary
• Major states have three Principal Accountants General (PAsG) or Accountants General (AsG), each heading Accounts and Entitlement (i.e., compiling state accounts, maintaining pension accounts, loan accounts, etc.), General and Social Sector Audit (GSSA) or Economic and Revenue Sector Audit (ERSA)
• The equivalent officers at the Central level are Principal Directors (PDs) or Directors General (DsG)
• The PDs, DsG, AsG and PAsG report to Additional Deputy CAG (also called ADAI, for historical reasons) or Deputy CAG (called DAI, again for historical reasons)
• The Deputy CAGs are the highest-ranked officers in the service

IA&AS officers mainly go abroad to conduct embassy audit i.e. audit of Embassies and High Commissions of India situated all over the world. They are also deputed regularly to conduct audit of international institutions like UN. Some of the officers are doing long term foreign assignments in United Nations, UNOPS, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, UNRWA, etc.

Why IAAS?

IAAS, over its long history, has evolved as a premier central service, owing to several positives that the service offers. IAAS works under CAG of India, a constitutional body, which makes it aloof from any undue political interference.

The service is good for people with professional bend of mind, as it’s a knowledge oriented department. Auditing some entity requires a thorough understanding of that entity. So one needs to constantly update oneself. Hence, the IAAS Officers are valued in the bureaucracy for their multi-faceted experience and expertise in the area of Audit, Accounts and finance.

Not surprisingly, several of them have stints in key positions in the union ministries of Government of India.

The service is known for most timely promotions amongst all the civil services. It is said that the entire government setup is similar to huge elephant. Owing to its mammoth size, people working under it, get to feel only a part of it. IAAS is one such service which offers to understand this elephant in entirety, as it works in close contact with all the departments of government, be it for accounting function or auditing.

As years pass by, bureaucrats often complaint about monotone of their job. IAAS offers varied opportunities for its officers, to work in several domains such as Accounts, Entitlements and Audit. Within audit itself, the number of sectors covered, makes work refreshing and challenging.

In a recently conducted survey by the Government of India, amongst 3 All India Services and 7 Central Services, IAAS emerged as the service with highest percentage of job satisfaction amongst its officers. It is known to be an employee friendly service. IAAS also allows an optimal work life balance, as also evident from the mentioned survey.

• With increasing international exposure due to collaborative working framework of Supreme Audit Institutions of the world, auditing international bodies like the UN, WHO, and bilateral/ multilateral assignments with other countries, the IAAS officers get continuous exposure of international assignments.
• IAAS Officers have been borrowed out to international organizations like the United Nations, IDI and various other countries for their expertise and skills.

Indian Audit & Accounts Service, thus, offers very challenging and satisfying career avenues to the bureaucrats of this country.

---

Published with inputs from Swapnil

This blog is a part of the series – Know Your Services @Intro to Civil Services

Overview:

• The Indian Information Services (IIS), a Central Service, earlier known as Central Information Service (CIS), was established as an organized service w.e.f. 1st March, 1960 and consisted of both Group ‘B’ and Group ‘A’
• Prior to 1960, these posts were manned by officers recruited separately for each media Unit through the UPSC from open market
• In 1987, CIS was bifurcated into IIS Group ‘A’ and IIS Group ‘B’
• The Indian Information Service consists of posts all over India including a few abroad in various media organization
• As on 01.01.2014, the total sanctioned strength of IIS Group ‘A’ is 571
• The IIS Officers’ cadre controlling authority is the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
• Service conditions of IIS Group ‘A’ officers are regulated by IIS (Group A’) Rules, 2013

Recruitment:

At present there are two modes of recruitment to IIS Group ‘A’ service-

1. Through Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC every year (50%)
2. Through promotion from Senior Grade of IIS Group ‘B’ (50%)

Training:

• After allocation by DoP&T, the officers undergo three months Foundation training in any of the institute recognized by DoP&T
• This is followed by nine months Professional Training in Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC)
• Thereafter one year Media Attachment in different Media Units i.e. PIB, AIR, DDN of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting

Designations held by. IIS Group ‘A’ officers:

• Principal Director General
• Director General
• Additional Director General
• Director/ Joint Director
• Deputy Director
• Assistant Director

Appointments to other Ministries/ Departments:

• IIS officers can be appointed to other Ministry/ Departments on deputation basis, including deputation under Central Staffing Scheme
• They also serve as Personal Secretaries to Ministers in Central Government on co-terminus basis

Functions of IIS Group ‘A’ officers:

• To look after the administration and coordination work of the Press Information Bureau Headquarters and day to day publicity work of the Government
• To guide, supervise and control Field Publicity Units of the Central Government spread across the country
• To issue directions from time to time effective monitoring and evaluation the work of field units
• Control, Supervision and Guidance to the News Services Units of the All India Radio and Doordarshan including the Regional News Units
• Organization of press advertising and visual publicity campaigns for disseminating information to the people on the activities and policies of the Central Government through various media of mass communication such as Press Advertisements, folders, posters, booklets, calendars, diaries, exhibitions, cinema slides
• To monitor the complex legal issues involved in the verification of titles, registration and circulation for Newspapers in India
• To plan and execute the media strategy’ to provide publicity to various programmes/ schemes of Government for the welfare of the people across the country

This was all about very formal aspects. Let’s see what it actually is on ground.

The insider’s view:

It’s a good job full of challenges and growth. The income might not be the best when compared to what similar skillsets will make in corporate world. But you get to serve the nation with your skills at hand and if you fair really well at it, then your chances of making it big is fair enough as you will be indulging in dialogue and action with other top level bureaucrats and diplomats of India. The best part- you will make your thoughts count in the programmes and policies of Government of India as you will be doing lots of advising for the government on its information policy right from the start.

You get to work with Doordarshan and All India Radio, State’s wide community radios and many other Government owned and run print and media channels. IIS is more like a Corporation in whole via which its officers serve in myriad of organizations during the course of their career, wherein they  try to spotlight the issues affecting the weaker and marginalized sections of the society, particularly in rural areas.

IIS officers will also be harnessing the technological innovations in communication and media and always keep themselves updated. Since discovery of internet, use of mobile phones for various activities, social and digital media has completely transformed the old tools of communication, Your day to day work with the government will be very fast paced and will have a very good learning curve as an Grade-A Officer and also a top notch citizen who gives a damn about people of India.

The work is interesting as it uses the flare for journalism, public relations and administration all together. So it all a well mixed career path with various inlets and sources to govern, organize and activities to do and finish within the single large framework of Information and Broadcasting in India. The promotional channel is more or less the same as that of other Services in Civils. Attached with it will come many government perks and allowances which will pay off in longer run to support your financial status and growth as an employee. You get a reasonably good pension too after you retire, Wink Wink!

---

 

Published with inputs from Swapnil

Having successfully run the daily show (daily newscards) for over a year, we now begin last week tonight (roundup of the week gone by). In this initiative every Saturday or Sunday night, we shall discuss, major events of the last week.

We already cover daily news in crisp bullet points without any opinion- left, right or centre- to let you have your own opinion on various issues. In this initiative, we shall discuss most imp. op-eds of the week. Only outlines and issues within major events will be discussed here. Links of CD news stories, external oped links, RSTV videos will be attached to give you holistic picture.

So let’s discuss major events of week gone by.

#1. Aadhar bill–  Major issues

---

 

Manner of passing of the bill – Money bill or not

Some basics- Article 110 deals with money bill. Essentially any bill that contains provisions related to only 6 provisions: taxes, money going into or out of Consolidated Fund of India or Contingency fund of India, Receipt into Public account of India (I haven’t listed all 6 in detail for brevity, you can get the sense from the summary) and finally 7th provision is any matter incidental to the above issues.

If bill deals with these issues plus any other issues, it will not be termed as money bill (read the word only in the definition of money bill) but financial bill under article 117.

Govt’s argument- Bill mainly deals with transfer of money (subsidies) out of CFI and other matters are incidental to it (7th provision), hence money bill. While opposition claims main purpose is giving statutory baking to Aadhar, withdrawal of money is incidental to it, hence not a money bill.

Read this Indian express oped to know why this is not a money bill .

Why govt introduced it as money bill– NDA does not have majority in RS and in money bills RS can only suggest recommendations within 14 days. Loksabha can reject them as they did in this bill. Also money bill can be introduced only in LS on recommendation of president. Speaker certifies it as money bill and speaker’s certification can not be challenged.

Read this link to understand why govt rejected all 5 amendments suggested by LS.

But wait, is the decision of speaker final? Well, constitution says so but in India supreme court can do anything. Even under 10th schedule, anti defection law, speaker’s decision was final but supreme court held it justiciable (What was the logic given by supreme court? Answer in comments>

Similarly supreme court changed the term procedure established by law to due process of law for all practical purposes, word consultation in judicial appointment to concurrence. How did supreme court do that? Read the whole story here

2nd issue is that of privacy – risk of mass surveillance plus govt’s stand in the court that Privacy is not a fundamental right. Basically as Aadhar will b linked to almost every service we avail, govt will have the vast data to profile the citizens, snoop on them. Also national security clause gives sweeping powers to govt.  Read these opeds to know how it has potential to violate privacy.

1. Jean Dreaze on Aadhar’s potential for mass surveillance 
2. don’t compromise on privacy
3. Aadhar and right to privacy being a fundamental right

Attorney general in Supreme Court on right to privacy

8 judge bench of supreme court in  M P Sharma And Others vs Satish Chandra, District Magistrate Delhi (1954),  and 6  judge bench in Kharag Singh vs State of Uttar Pradesh (1962), held that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right. It has not been overruled in any subsequent judgment by a larger Bench, hence not a fundamental right.

3rd issue is whether Biometric will be effective in India <fingerprinting might not work in manual labour> and issue of making Aadhar mandatory while earlier it was sold as a voluntary number.

Read these 9 issues related to Aadhar bill

Whether or not, you read those external links, please follow these CD stories

1. Aadhaar Cards: The Identity Revolution
2. Right To Privacy In India – Is It a Fundamental Right?
   

   ---

#2. Pictorial warning on tobacco containing products

---

 

Summary– In late 2014, ministry of health proposed that 85% of a cigarette packet’s surface area on both the sides should carry health warnings, up from 40% on one side of the packet.

But now parliamentary committee recommended that

• pictorial warnings be restricted to only 50% on both the sides of the cigarette packets
• In the case of bidis, chewing tobacco and other tobacco products, warning be restricted 50% of the display area on only one side of the packet

Logic– Cylindrical packing of Bidi, no concept of 2 sides but what abut horizontal packing of tobacco containing paan Masala. But wait why ain’t tobaco containing paan masala banned in every state? They are food product and thus banned under safety guidelines, Read more here

Anyway the argument for not increasing pictorial warning is

1. encourage illicit trade
2. revenue earned through tobacco excise
3. employment

Health costs of tobacco-

1. revenue earned is just 17% of the health burden of tobacco.
2. 1m tobacco-related deaths

I don’t need to say, what should be done with the recommendations. Full oped here

---

 

Catch up on the earlier articles:

• Indian Administrative Service
• Indian Police Service

---

Intro:

• It is the administrative revenue service of the Central Civil Services of the Government of India
• The Service functions under the Department of Revenue in the Union Ministry of Finance and is concerned with the collection and administration of the various direct and indirect taxes accruing to the Union Government.
• IRS serves the nation through discharging one of the most important sovereign functions i.e., collection of revenue for development, security and governance.

IRS comprises two branches:

1. IRS (Income Tax)
2. IRS (Customs and Central Excise)

• They are controlled by two separate statutory bodies, viz., Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) respectively.
• As an IRS(IT), you are in charge of income tax collection of your area. You can initiate search and raid at small scale. You can be the part or head of the raid team coming from superior office in your area.
• In IRS(C&CE), you will be either placed in central excise department in industrial area or customs department in case of border/ port/ airport. Wherever placed, you will be most probably in charge. It is kind of a police job where you have uniform (khaki for exile and white for customs with stars on shoulder). You have powers to search, seize and arrest. Especially the COFEPOSA act gives them much power.

Training:

• The selected candidates go through training sessions in different institutes
  Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration(LBSNAA) at Mussoorie- 3 month foundation course
• National Institute of Financial Management at Faridabad- 15 month professional training for officers of Customs and Excise
• National Academy of Direct Taxes at Nagpur– 15 month professional training for officers of Income Tax

No cadre system:

• Since there is no cadre system (it’s a central service not an all India service) in this service, you can expect to be posted anywhere in India and even your home state, which becomes a problem for many in the IAS or IPS
• The tenures are also more stable with an average of 3 years unlike the other two services where one may not even complete a month and the average tenure is around a year or so

Comparing with IAS:

• Ground touch:
  It is lesser than IAS but here you deal with big shots-the riches and Industrialists.
• The power to challenge them and to raid on them may give you satisfaction <You can even raid IAS officers>

Political Interference:
It is minimal because the absolute power is in the hand of IRS officers and there is no ground on which politicians can threaten them. Also, generally, they have no direct contact with politicians.

• Hierarchy:
  If we see it in theoretical terms then IAS is on top because he/she is the boss of highest IRS officers – Chairpersons of CBDT and CBSE. Revenue Secretary is generally an IAS officer.
• But regarding the inter service hierarchy, IRS officers are responsible to their bosses only, which results in almost zero political interference.

However, with changing times, more and more IRS officers are serving in departments and areas that used to exclusively be the forte of IAS officers. This widening of opportunities and exposure has made the IRS more attractive

Diversification of Career:

• Not as diversified as IAS but far better than other private sector jobs at least
• You can be posted in ED, on airports, on border checkposts, on ports, in other enforcement and investigation agencies and even in international agencies if you have caliber
• If you are exceptional and have good administrative capabilities, you may be posted as a head of some PSU
• Top posts of CIC, CVC etc are open for IRS officers. In fact K.V.Chowdhary, retired IRS officer is the present CVC of India.

And of course you can always become a chief minister!

---

Family life: Best balance of family life and work is in IRS.

Uniform:

• No uniform for IRS-IT
• But for IRS-C&CE ,the khaki for central excise with stars on the shoulders and I.R.S. tag as shoulder plate same as IPS
• For Customs- White uniform with black and golden shoulder strips like navy
• No uniform from above the level of Deputy Commissioner

Ranks & Equivalent Salary Structure:
The equivalent ranks from IPS or IAS are given in table. You can check respective pay from earlier articles.

---

Published with inputs from Swapnil

Catch up on the earlier article: Know Your Services | The Indian Administrative Service

Intro

• The Indian Police Service or IPS, is one of the three All India Services
• It replaced the Indian (Imperial) Police in 1948, a year after India gained independence from Britain
• IPS is not a force itself but a service providing leaders and commanders to staff the state police and Central Armed Police Forces

Remember Archana Ramasundaram?<first woman to head a central armed police force> Read more about her here. 

Role:

• To fulfill duties based on border responsibilities, in the areas of maintenance of public peace and order, crime prevention, investigation, and detection, collection of intelligence, VIP security, counter-terrorism etc.
• Leading and commanding the Indian Intelligence Agencies like Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) etc. Our own James Bond 007 (Ajit Doval), is retired Kerala cadre IPS officer who went on to head IB
• Leading Indian Federal Law Enforcement Agencies, Civil and Armed Police Forces in all the states and union territories
• Leading and commanding the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) which include the Central Police Organisations (CPO) such as Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)
• Serve at head of the departments in policy making in the Ministries and Departments of Central and State Governments and public sector undertakings both at centre and states, Government of India
• To interact and coordinate closely with the members of other All India Services and with the Indian Revenue Service and also with the Indian Armed Forces primarily with the Indian Army
• To lead and command the force with courage, uprightness, dedication and a strong sense of service to the people

However, with changing times, more and more IPS officers are serving in departments and areas that used to exclusively be the forte of IAS officers, just as the IAS officers now at times head departments like vigilance which were exclusively given to IPS officers. This widening of opportunities and exposure has made the IPS even more attractive.

Eligibility:

• The eligibility criteria for the IPS exam is the same as for other services but there are some physical criteria that the IPS officers have to have.
• Once the candidate clears the civil services and gets allotment to the IPS as per his rank, he has to go through the specified physical tests to make him eligible for service.

Some of the special physical requirements for IPS are listed below:

• A minimum height of 165 cm for men and 150 cm for women (the minimum height is relaxable to 160 and 145 cm for men and women respectively in the case of candidates belonging to ST and to races such as Gorkhas, Garhwalias, Assamese, Kumaonis, Nagaland Tribals, etc.)
• The minimum chest girth, fully expanded: 84 cm for men and 79 cm for women. Expansion of 5 cm for both men and women
• The total amount of Myopia (including the cylinder) should not exceed minus 4.00 D and the total amount of Hypermetropia (including the cylinder) should not exceed plus 4.00 D. The presence of Squint is a disqualification
• The Distant vision for better eye(Corrected Vision) should be 6/6 or 6/9 and for the worse eye(Uncorrected Vision) should be 6/12 or 6/9 and near vision should be J1 and J2 respectively.
• Spectacles are permitted
• High grade color vision is required and Binocular vision is needed <colour blinds are ineligible>

Cadre system:

• Again being an ‘All India Service’, it follows the Cadre system
• In this system officers are allotted to various state cadres and your service is allotted to that state. So for all practical purposes you belong to that state service and may be deputed elsewhere but you’ll always be recognized by your parent cadre
• The cadre system is allotted on a basis of rank similar to IAS cadre allocation and the toppers of each state may get a chance to get their home states if they have opted for such a preference

Recruitment and Training:

• The IPS recruitment and training period is among the longest in all services and extends to almost 2 years in total
• Usually the first part of the training is done with the other services like the IAS at Mussoorie
• From Mussourie they go for Bharat Darshan with other services in groups
• The second part of the training in 2 phases is done in the National Police Academy (NPA) in Hyderabad (academy website here)
• The IPS officers also have a certain amount of training in a district of their cadre in between the 2 phases of training at the IPS academy

The motto of the IPS academy is Satya Seva Surakshnam, Sanskrit for ‘Mean Truth, Service Security’.

A special training in driving and mechanism of motor vehicles, and underwater survival are given to trainee oofficers

---

Salary structure

• 

---

Ranks & Insignia

Always fascinated about 3 stars on shoulder? See here what you get at different ranks

• 

Published with inputs from Swapnil

The basics:

IAS is the premier administrative civil service of the Government of India. IAS officers hold key and strategic positions in the Union Government, States and public-sector undertakings.

Unlike Candidates selected to other civil services, a person once appointed to Indian Administrative Service or Indian Foreign Service (IFS) becomes ineligible to reappear in Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC.

Why so? Because there are no higher civil services other than these two services under Government of India.

Along with the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service, the IAS is one of the three All India Services.

All India Service, what does it mean? Its cadre can be employed by both the Union Government and the individual States.

What all positions does an IAS hold?

1. Sub-Divisional Magistrate in a sub-division of a district (Entry)/ Section Officer in Central Govt District Magistrate in a district or Joint Secretary in State Government or Under secretary/ Principal Private Secretary in Govt of India
2. District Magistrate in a district or a Deputy Secretary/ Senior Principal Private Secretary (Senior PPS) in the central government
3. Divisional Commissioner/ Special Secretary of state government or a Director/Principal Staff Officer (PSO) of Central Govt
4. Divisional Commissioner in a division or Secretary in state government or position of Joint Secretary to Government of India
5. Principal Secretaries/ Financial Commissioners in states, Additional Secretaries to the Government of India
6. Chief Secretary of State, Union Secretaries in charge of various ministries of Government of India

Career Progression

• Besides, IAS officers can be appointed in autonomous organizations/ sub ordinate organizations/ PSUs/ UN Organizations/ International organizations like World Bank, Asian Development Bank in Various capacities.
• They also serve as Personal Secretaries to Ministers in Central Government.
• There is provision for deputation of IAS officers to private organizations also for a fixed tenure.
• Some of the IAS officers even become governors of states.
• And rest assured all deputations at joint secretary level and above are cornered by IAS officers (perpetual grouse of other services)

And obviously, we know all the famous people like Vinod Rai, T. N. Sheshan, Nripendra Mishra etc.

Recruitment and Training

Along with the selected Civil Service officers, the trainee IAS officers have to undergo 15 weeks training in picturesque hill resort of Mussoorie. You are taken for Bharat Darshan.

Here after they are shifted to the two stages of training before serving the actual service.

In stage I of the training, the officers learn to expand the perfect proficient qualities in managing the huge arrays of tasks which has to be taken up for the first 10 years of service that is for 26 weeks.

Then there is district training for administrative responsibilities of regional sorts, including location study of assignment for the academy.

The duration is of 52 weeks where the officers experiences about the actual execution of the regional administration. The district training aims for the allotment of Cadres for the actual appointment.

In stage II of the training, the officers have to execute the district level tasks experiences acquired in a course of one year onsite training along with the skilled program learned in foundation training.

On successful completion of probation for almost two years, the IAS officers are placed as SDM (Sub Divisional Magistrate also known as District Magistrate or Sub-Collector). There they get to do all sort of awesome stuff. Have you read the story of miracle man Armstrong Pame who built the road without govt help, no? Read here

On this position the IAS officers lead the department with key responsibilities of Revenue, General Administration, Developmental Work, Law and Order as per their work assignment.

Salary Structure

Here comes the most important part

Don’t get fooled by these numbers. You all must have seen the collector’s bungalow of your district. Try calculating it’s market value and you would get the idea of perks they get.

---

Published with inputs from Swapnil

---

 

A simple act by a young IAS officer in Bihar’s Gopalganj district has set an example of how a big social change is possible even in the remotest part of rural India.

Last week, the district administration in Gopalganj was shocked to discover that a group of local residents in Kalyanpur area had banned a widow from cooking mid-day meal in the village’s middle school.

This, according to some villagers, was because of their perceived superstition that allowing a widow to cook meal for children would be a bad omen.

The Gopalganj District Magistrate, Rahul Kumar, ordered the villagers to immediately stop this practice and allow the widow to resume cooking the mid-day meal.

Kumar tweeted, “Some misled villagers opposed a widow cook and threatened to withdraw their Children from school after she was rightfully reinstated.”

---

 

The young bureaucrat then decided to visit the village and asked the widow in question to cook meal for himself. Kumar then tweeted the photo of him eating the meal cooked by the widow, who was being ostracised by a group of ‘misled’ people.

Kumar tweeted, “Sometimes u do symbolic things to overcome people’s beliefs. Asked the same widow cook to serve me the meal. (sic)”

---

 

Source: Jantakareporter