Indian Foreign Services Papers

The foreign service of India is the functionary body of the career diplomats of India. The Indian Foreign Service forms a part of the Central Services under the Government of India. The administrative head of the Indian Foreign Service is the Foreign Secretary of India.

Selection Procedure:

The Union Public Service Commission selects the officials of the IFS through the Civil Services Examination which is a three stage combined selection process. This exam is considered to be extremely challenging. This exam is also meant to recruit officers for 20 other Group A services and 5 Group B services.

The first stage is the Civil Services Prelims. It consists of two objective exams of which one is the General Studies and the other one is a subject of the candidate’s choice from a list of subjects. The candidates have the liberty to choose from a list of forty subjects, which range from Medicine and Mechanical engineering ti Accountancy and Chinese Literature. This stage has no part to play in trhe final rankings and is purely an eliminatory stage. For the next stage about 5000-6000 candidates are selected.

The second stage is even more exhaustive. It consists of nine papers. Among these nine two only are of qualifying nature. A candidate is required to choose two optional subjects. There are two General Studies papers and the optional papers are 2 in number with each of 300 marks. Then there is one essay paper which carries 200 marks.

The third stage is the Interview. Around 1200-1400 candidates clear the mains and are called for the third stage. The Civil Services Interview is of 300 marks. Before the interview all of the candidates are asked for their preference of services. Most of them choose IAS as their first preference and a few go forthe Indian Foreign Services.

Links:

1. http://www.onestopias.com/indian-foreign-service/selection.asp
2. http://www.upscportal.com/civilservices/IFS-Indian-Foreign-Service
3. http://upscportal.com/civilservices/downloads/navega.php?id=2&PHPSESSID=ffe8c287de7449808a41888cccf1f3cd
4. http://www.iaspapers.info/2009/07/04/786164/ias-papers-history-syllabus-for-preliminary-examination/index.html
5. http://www.iaspapers.info/2009/06/19/786133/ias-papers-sociology-main-2000/index.html