UPSC issues notification for civil services, IFS exams 2016

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the notification for the 2016 civil services examination and Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination.

UPSC conducts the exams annually in three stages - preliminary, main and interview - to select candidates for the prestigious Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service, among others.

You can apply for the exam online by visiting the commission’s website. The last date for filing the application is May 27.

The preliminary exam is scheduled on August 7 and the main examination is likely to be held in December. A total of 1,079 vacant posts in various government services will be filled through the exam.

If you want to apply for the Indian Forest Service Examination you will have to appear in the preliminary examination and if you qualify you will have to write the main examination which will be followed by an interview.

If you want to apply for both Indian Forest Service and civil services examination, you will have to apply through a common online application form subject to meeting the requisite eligibility criteria.

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A general candidate gets only six attempts to clear the exam and must do so by the time he turns 32. For Other Backward Class (OBC) category candidates, the age limit is 35 years and the number of attempts is nine while for candidates belonging to Schedule Cast (SC) and Schedule Tribe (ST), the age limit is 37 years, while the number of attempts is unlimited.

Educational qualifications:

For appearing in the exam, a degree of graduation in any stream from any university recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) is required. Candidates who have appeared in the qualifying exam and are awaiting results are also eligible to apply, provided they submit the certificate of qualification along with the mark sheet to the UPSC before the main exam.

A candidate applying for IFS exam must possess a bachelor’s degree in one of the following: animal husbandry and veterinary science, botany, chemistry, geology, mathematics, physics, statistics and zoology, or a bachelor’s degree in agriculture, forestry or engineering from a recognised university.

You can find more details about the eligibility, number of attempts, etc on the official website.