PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION - PAPER I - OBJECTIVE TYPE

200 Duration: 2 hours)

(Marks:

Current Events of National and International importance.

History of India and Indian National Movement.

Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.

Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights
Issues, etc.

Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics,

Social Sector initiatives, etc.

General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require
subject specialisation.

General Science.

PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION - PAPER II - OBJECTIVE TYPE

200 Duration: 2 hours)

(Marks:

Comprehension.

Interpersonal skills including Communication skills.

Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability.

Decision Making and Problem Solving.

General Mental Ability.

Basic Numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) - (Class X level).

Data Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc.) - (Class X level).

English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).

Note 1: Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in
the Syllabus of Paper- II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing
Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
Note 2: All the questions will be of Objective Type (Multiple Choice Questions).
Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelims)
Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she
does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelims) Examination.

TEXT BOOKS AND REFERENCES

History

Geography

Ancient India: RS Sharma

(NCERT book Class XI)

Geography of India D.R.Khullar

Medieval India: Satish Chandra

Oxford India Atlas

(NCERT book Class XI)

Certificate Physical and Human

Modern India (Contemporary

Geography - Goh Cheng Leong

India): Satish Chandra Mittal

NCERT Class VI to XII

(NCERT Class XII)

Human Geography - Majid

India's Struggle for

Hussain

Independence- Bipan Chandra

Polity

Indian Economy

The Constitution of India: PM

Bakshi

Indian Polity: Laxmikanth

Our Constitution - Subhash

Kashyap

Indian Economy- Dutt and

Sundaram

Indian Economy - Mishra and

Puri

Economic Survey of India

An Introduction to the
Constitution Of India - D.D.Basu

Journals & Magazines

Newspapers

Yojana

The Hindu

Kurukshetra

The Times of India

World Focus

The Economic Times

Frontline

Yearbooks and related references

English Comprehension & Quantitative

Aptitude

Manorama Year Book

Panorama Year Book

Dictionary - Oxford University

Pratiyogita Darpan

Press

Wizard strategist 13 years

Oxford Advanced Learner's

High School English Grammar

and Composition - Wren and

solution of General Studies

Martin

The Pearson Guide to

Quantitative Aptitude - Nishit K
Sinha

Quantitative Aptitude for

Competitive Examinations Abhijit Guha

PENALTY FOR WRONG ANSWERS

1. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one third
(0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty.
2. If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if one of
the given answers happens to be correct and the penalty will be the same as mentioned above
for that question.
3. If a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no
penalty for that question.

CIVIL SERVICES - MAIN EXAMINATION

The Main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and in-depth of
understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.
The scope of the syllabus for the optional subject papers for the examination is broadly of
the honours degree level i.e. a level higher than the bachelors degree and lower than the masters
degree. In the case of Engineering and Law, the level corresponds to the bachelor's degree.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

Once the results of the Preliminary Examination are announced, only the candidates who
qualify in the Preliminary Examination would be sent the detailed application form to apply for
the Main Examination.

Main examination starts is likely to be held in November/December 2013.

Results - Selected candidates would be called for an interview / personality test.

MAIN EXAMINATION SUMMARY:

The written examination will consist of the following papers totalling to 1750 marks. An interview /
personality test would be conducted for 275 marks. This adds up to a total of 2025 marks.

One of the Indian Languages to

be selected by the candidate from
the 18 languages included in the

Paper-I

300 Marks

8th Schedule to the Constitution

(Qualifying Paper)
Paper-II

English (Qualifying Paper)

300 Marks

Paper-III

Essay

250 Marks

Papers IV, V, VI & VII

General Studies (250 Marks for

each paper)

1000 Marks

Any one Optional subject (which

contains 2 papers) to be selected
Papers VIII & IX

from the prescribed optional

500 Marks

subjects (250 marks for each

paper)
Total Marks for Written Examination 1750 Marks
INTERVIEW / PERSONALITY TEST 275 Marks
Grand Total 2025 Marks

Blind candidates will, however, be allowed an extra time of thirty minutes at each paper.

The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent

standard and will be of qualifying nature; the marks obtained in these papers will not be
counted for ranking.

The Paper-I on Indian Language will not, however, be compulsory for candidates hailing
from the North-Eastern States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and
Nagaland and also for candidates hailing from the State of Sikkim.

Evaluation of the papers, namely, Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of all
candidates would be done simultaneously along with the evaluation of their qualifying papers
on 'Indian languages' and 'English' but the papers on 'Essay', 'General Studies' and 'Optional
Subject' of only such candidates will be taken cognizance of who attain such minimum
standard as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion for the qualifying papers on
'Indian language' and 'English' and, therefore, the marks in 'Essay' 'General studies' and

'Optional subject' will not be disclosed to those candidates who fail to obtain such
minimum qualifying standard in 'Indian language' and 'English'.

Candidates should however note that, if they misuse the above rule, a deduction will be made
on this account from the total marks otherwise accruing to them and in extreme cases, their
script(s) will not be valued for being in an unauthorised medium.

Note:

The question papers for the examination will be of conventional (essay) type.

Each paper will be of three hours duration.

Candidates will have the option to answer all the question papers, except the Qualifying
language papers, (viz. Papers I and II of the Main Examination mentioned above), in any one
of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English.

Candidates exercising the option to answer papers III to IX in any one of the languages
included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution may, if they so desire, give English version
within brackets of only the description of the technical terms, if any, in addition to the version
in the language opted by them.

The question papers other thanthe literature of language papers will be set both
in Hindi and English Only.

Quick links

Paper I - List of Indian Languages

Script for Paper I - Indian Languages

Paper VIII & IX - List of Optional Subjects

Paper I - List of Indian Languages (Compulsory - Qualifying Paper)

The aim of the paper is to test the candidate's ability to read and understand serious discursive
prose, and to express his/her ideas clearly and correctly in the Indian language concerned.

The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows :i.

Comprehension of given passages.

ii.

Precis Writing.

iii.

Usage and Vocabulary.

iv.

Short Essay.

v.

Translation from English to the Indian language and vice-versa.

The Paper on Indian Languages will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be
of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in this papers will not be counted for ranking.

The candidates will have to answer the Indian Languages paper only in the respective Indian
language (except where translation is involved).

Script for Paper I - Indian Languages

NOTE: For Santali language, question paper will be printed in Devanagari script; but candidates will be
free to answer either in Devanagari script or in Olchiki.

Language

Script

Assamese

Assamese

Bengali

Bengali

Bodo

Devanagari

Dogri

Devanagari

Gujarati

Gujarati

Hindi

Devanagari

Kannada

Kannada

Kashmiri

Persian

Konkani

Devanagari

Maithili

Devanagari

Malayalam

Malayalam

Manipuri

Bengali

Marathi

Devanagari

Nepali

Devanagari

Oriya

Oriya

Punjabi

Gurumukhi

Sanskrit

Devanagari

Santali

Devanagari or Olchiki

Sindhi

Devanagari or Arabic

Tamil

Tamil

Telugu

Telugu

Urdu

Persian

Paper II - ENGLISH (Compulsory - Qualifying Paper)

The aim of the paper is to test the candidate's ability to read and understand serious discursive
prose, and to express his/her ideas clearly and correctly in English.

The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows :i.

Comprehension of given passages.

ii.

Precis Writing.

iii.

Usage and Vocabulary.

iv.

Short Essay.

The Paper on English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be

of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in this paper will not be counted for ranking.

The candidates will have to answer this paper only in English.

Paper III - Essay

Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic.

The choice of subjects will be given.

They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay, to arrange their ideas in orderly
fashion, and to write concisely.

Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

Paper IV, V, VI & VII - General Studies

The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of
understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.

The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers (Paper IV to Paper VII) will
be such that a well-educated person will be able to answer them without any specialized study.

The questions will be such as to test a candidates general awareness of a variety of subjects,
which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services.

The questions are likely to test the candidates basic understanding of all relevant issues, and
ability to analyze, and take a view on conflicting socio- economic goals, objectives and demands.

The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.

Paper IV - GENERAL STUDIES - I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the
World and Society.
1. Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient
to modern times.
2. Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the presentsignificant events, personalities, issues.
3. The Freedom Struggle - its various stages and important contributors /contributions from
different parts of the country.
4. Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
5. History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world
wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like
communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society.
6. Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
7. Role of women and womens organization, population and associated issues, poverty and
developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
8. Effects of globalization on Indian society.
9. Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
10. Salient features of worlds physical geography.
11. Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector
industries in various parts of the world (including India).
12. Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc.,
geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including
water-bodies and ice-caps) and inflora and fauna and the effects of such changes.
Paper V - GENERAL STUDIES - II: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and
International relations.
1. Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant
provisions and basic structure.
2. Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the
federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
3. Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
4. Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.

5. Parliament and State Legislatures - structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers &
privileges and issues arising out of these.
6. Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and
Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role
in the Polity.
7. Salient features of the Representation of Peoples Act.
8. Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various
Constitutional Bodies.
9. Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
10. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out
of their design and implementation.
11. Development processes and the development industry- the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups
and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
12. Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the
performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the
protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
13. Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health,
Education, Human Resources.
14. Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
15. Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance-applications,
models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and
institutional and other measures.
16. Role of civil services in a democracy.
17. India and its neighborhood- relations.
18. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting Indias
interests.
19. Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on Indias interests, Indian
diaspora.
20. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.
Paper VI - GENERAL STUDIES - III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity,
Environment, Security and Disaster Management.
1. Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development
and employment.
2. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
3. Government Budgeting.
4. Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and
irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related

constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.

5. Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public
Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and
food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
6. Food processing and related industries in India-scope and significance, location, upstream and
downstream requirements, supply chain management.
7. Land reforms in India.
8. Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial
growth.
9. Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
10. Investment models.
11. Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
12. Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing
new technology.
13. Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and
issues relating to intellectual property rights.
14. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
15. Disaster and disaster management.
16. Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
17. Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
18. Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social
networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and
its prevention.
19. Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with
terrorism.
20. Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.
Paper VII - GENERAL STUDIES - IV: Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude.
1. Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human
actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships. Human Values lessons
from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family,
society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
2. Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour;
moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
3. Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service , integrity, impartiality and nonpartisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion
towards the weaker-sections.
4. Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and

governance.
5. Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
6. Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;
ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations
and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance;
strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations
and funding; corporate governance.
7. Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and
probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of
Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizens Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization
of public funds, challenges of corruption.

Paper VIII & IX - List of Optional Subjects

Total No. of Optional Subjects - 49

Total No. of Mainstream Subjects - 25

Total No. of Literature Subjects - 24

OPTIONAL MAINSTREAM SUBJECTS -

(Total 25)

Code & Description

AGRICULTURE

MANAGEMENT

ANIMAL HUSBANDRY & VETERINARY

MATHEMATICS

SCIENCE
ANTHROPOLOGY

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

BOTANY

MEDICAL SCIENCE

CHEMISTRY

PHILOSOPHY

CIVIL ENGINEERING

PHYSICS

COMMERCE & ACCOUNTANCY

POLITICAL SCIENCE &

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

ECONOMICS

PSYCHOLOGY

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

GEOGRAPHY

SOCIOLOGY

GEOLOGY

STATISTICS

HISTORY

ZOOLOGY

LAW

Any of the Literature Subjects mentioned below:

OPTIONAL LITERATURE SUBJECTS - Code &

(Total 24)

Description

ASSAMESE

MANIPURI

BODO

MARATHI

BENGALI

NEPALI

DOGRI

ORIYA

ENGLISH

PUNJABI

GUJARATI

SANSKRIT

HINDI

SANTALI

KANNADA

SINDHI (DEVANAGARI)

KASHMIRI

SINDHI (ARABIC)

KONKANI

TAMIL

MAITHILI

TELUGU

MALAYALAM

URDU