Eligibility For IAS Exam: Qualification, Age Limit, and No of Attempts

PWOnlyIAS March 21, 2024 06:55 6902 0

Learn about eligibility for IAS Indian Administrative Service (IAS) exam, including age limits, educational qualifications, and number of attempts.

Eligibility For IAS Exam: Qualification, Age Limit, and No of Attempts

Introduction

IAS is one of the most prestigious career choices in India. Despite being such a coveted position, the qualification for IAS is fairly simple and easily achievable. The reason for such a simple qualification is to give a fair chance to all sections of society to become an IAS officer. This will ensure that there is wider socio-economic representation in civil services. An individual can become an IAS Officer if eligibility for IAS exam is attained.

IAS: Meaning and Role

Indian Administrative Service (IAS) refers to a category of bureaucrats who serve the union and the states in multiple capacities. Being an elite group, they are valued immensely for their contribution to administration. The IAS is the administrative arm of the All-India Services, which also consists of the Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service.

What is the Eligibility for IAS Exam?

The IAS Exam has kept very low eligibility criteria for candidates to appear. This is the reason why lakhs of candidates apply for the exam, compared to specific services such as Engineering Service. For a candidate to appear for the IAS Exam, he/she has to majorly fulfil two types of criteria: age criteria and educational criteria. In addition, there are limits imposed on the number of attempts a candidate can give, the physical qualifications and citizenship criteria. The minimum qualification for IAS is as follows:

Eligibility for IAS Exam: Education Qualification Requirements for IAS Examination

  • Minimum Qualification for IAS: As a minimum qualification for IAS, a candidate must have graduated from a recognized university or have an equivalent qualification.
  • Eligibility Criteria for Final Year Graduates: Candidates who are in their final year of graduation or awaiting results can also appear for the UPSC Prelims Examination. However, they are required to have passed their final year examination while applying for the UPSC Mains Examination.
  • Eligibility of Professional and Technical Qualifications: Candidates who possess professional and technical qualifications recognised by the Government as equivalent to professional and technical degrees are also eligible for IAS Exam.
  • Eligibility for Medical Students: Medical students, who have not completed their internship, despite passing the final year of MBBS, can also apply for IAS Exam. However, they are required to submit a course completion certificate from the concerned authority along with their Mains Exam application.

Eligibility for IAS Exam: Age Qualification Criteria for the IAS Examination

The UPSC age limit for the candidates belonging to the General category is 21 to 32 years

For being eligible for UPSC examination 2024, candidates must be at least 21 years old and not more than 32 years old as of August 1, 2024.

However, there are age limit relaxation for candidates belonging to certain categories:

Category of Candidates Age Relaxation
Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes 5 years
Other Backward Classes (OBC) 3 years
Defence Services Personnel disabled in operations 3 years
Ex-servicemen (Commissioned Officers, Emergency Commissioned Officers and Short Service Commissioned Officers) with at least five years of service 5 years
Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD)

(a) blindness and low vision; 

(b) deaf and low hearing;

(c) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; 

(d) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; and

(e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness

10 years

Eligibility for IAS Exam: Nationality Or Citizenship Qualification 

There is a citizenship qualification for Grade-A Services such as IAS, IPS and IFS.

Service  Citizenship Requirements
IAS A Citizen of India
IPS A Citizen of India
IFS A Citizen of India or a Person of Indian origin (PIO) who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Vietnam, for permanently settling in India.
Other Services
  • A citizen of India, or
  • A citizen of Nepal, or
  • A citizen of Bhutan, or
  • A Tibetan refugee who came to India before 1st January 1962 for settling permanently, or
  • A Person of Indian origin (PIO) who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Vietnam, for permanently settling in India.


Candidates who are citizens of
Nepal, citizens of Bhutan, a Tibetan refugee or a Person of Indian origin (PIO) who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zaire, and Vietnam, for permanently settling in India, must furnish a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India for getting appointed, even though they are eligible to write exam without it.

Eligibility for IAS Exam: Attempts and Age Relaxations

The UPSC imposes a limit on the number of times a candidate can appear for the IAS Examination. This number varies according to the category of the candidate.

Category  Number of Attempts Maximum Age (Years)
General and EWS 6 32
OBC  9 35
PwBD 9 42
SC and ST Unlimited 37
Ex-Servicemen 9 37
Disabled Defence Services Personnel 9 35
General/OBC/EWS PwBD candidates 9 See below Description
SC/ST categories PwBD candidates Unlimited See below Description
Age Relaxation for PWD Candidate

The prescribed upper age-limit of an examination (wherever applicable) is relaxable up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of candidates belonging to PwBD categories as below

(a) low vision and blindness ; 

(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; 

(e) Multiple disabilities from amongst person under clauses (a) to (e) including deaf, blindness. PwBD candidates, who also belong to either SC or ST or OBC or Exservicemen, are eligible for grant of cumulative age-relaxation under both categories. 

Eligibility for IAS Exam: Physical Standards and Medical Examination

Candidates aspiring to become IAS Officers have to maintain certain physical fitness and capabilities. Without minimum standards, they may not be considered for the service.

Candidates are required to pass a medical fitness examination to assess their physical capabilities to become civil servants. 

For being appointed as IPS officers for districts, Indian Railway services and the police services of Pondicherry, candidates need to have necessary weight, height, and chest measurements.

The medical test for assessing the physical fitness will be conducted at the following hospital in Delhi:

  • Safdarjung Hospital
  • Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital
  • Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital
  • BR Ambedkar Hospital
  • Sucheta Kriplani Hospital
  • Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital
  • Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital

Conclusion

An IAS Officer as well as a civil servant, is a very prestigious position. Due to the nature of the job, candidates are required to have certain physical standards. However, as far as educational and age criteria is concerned, UPSC has been very flexible and liberal so that people from disadvantaged sections have an equal opportunity to crack the examination.

Must Read
NCERT Notes For UPSC UPSC Daily Current Affairs
UPSC Blogs UPSC Daily Editorials
Daily Current Affairs Quiz Daily Main Answer Writing
UPSC Mains Previous Year Papers UPSC Test Series 2024

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. A candidate with a graduate degree from a government-recognised university is eligible for IAS Exam.

No. A person can become an IAS Officer only after they attain an age of 21 years on August 1st of that examination year. In addition, they must possess a minimum of a graduate degree.

The Minimum education qualification for IAS is a graduate degree from a recognised university. In addition, candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications recognised by the Government as equivalent to professional and technical degrees are also eligible.

The candidate must be at least 21 years old and not more than 32 years old as of August 1 of the examination year. However, there are age relaxations for different categories.

A candidate belonging to the general category has a maximum of 6 attempts. However, candidates belonging to OBC and PwBD have 9 attempts, while those belonging to SC/ST have unlimited attempts till they reach an age of 37 years.

For Grade-A services such as IAS, IPS and IFS, a candidate has to be a citizen of India. For other services, a candidate can be a citizen of Nepal, Bhutan, a Tibetan refugee and a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) from countries like Uganda, Myanmar, Tanzania, Zambia etc.
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