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UPSC IAS (Pre.) Exam 2024 Notification Released (Last Date: 05.03.2024)

UPSC IAS (Pre.) Exam 2024 Notification Released

1. CANDIDATES TO ENSURE THEIR ELIGIBILITY FOR THE EXAMINATION:

All candidates (male/female/transgender) are requested to carefully read the Rules of Civil Services Examination notified by the Government (Department of Personnel and Training) and this Notice of Examination derived from these Rules. The Candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility conditions for admission to examination. Their admission to all the stages of the examination will be purely provisional subject to satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. Mere issue of e-Admit Card to the candidate will not imply that his/her candidature has been finally cleared by the Commission. The Commission takes up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/Personality Test.

2. HOW TO APPLY:

Candidates are required to apply online by using the website upsconline.nic.in. It is essential for the applicant to register himself/herself first at One Time Registration (OTR) platform, available on the Commission’s website, and then proceed for filling up the online application for the examination. OTR has to be registered only once in life time. This can be done anytime throughout the year. If the candidate is already registered, he/she can proceed straightway for filling up the online application for the examination.

3. LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS :

The online Applications can be filled up to 05th March, 2024 till 6:00 PM. The eligible candidates shall be issued an e-Admit Card three weeks before the commencement of the examination. The e-Admit Card will be made available in the UPSC website [ https://upsconline.nic.in ] for downloading by candidates. No Admit Card will be sent by post.

4. PENALTY FOR WRONG ANSWERS:

Candidates should note that there will be penalty (negative marking) for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Objective Type Question Papers.

5. FACILITATION COUNTER FOR GUIDANCE OF CANDIDATES:

In case of any guidance/information/clarification regarding their applications, candidature etc. candidates can contact UPSC’s Facilitation Counter near gate ‘C’ of its campus in person or over Telephone No. 011-23385271/011-23381125/011-23098543 on working days between 10.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs.

F.No. 1/3/2023-E.I(B) : Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination for recruitment to the Services and Posts mentioned below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission on 26h May, 2024 in accordance with the Rules published by the Department of Personnel & Training in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 14th February, 2024. All candidates must carefully read the Civil Services Examination2024 Rules together with all the Appendices along with the Annexures thereof and this Examination Notice derived from the CSE Rules-2024 in entirety for gaining awareness of the current Rules and Regulations as changes may have been incorporated since the previous Examination Rules.

(i) Indian Administrative Service
(ii) Indian Foreign Service
(iii) Indian Police Service
(iv) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(v) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(vi) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’
(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(viii) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
(ix) Indian Information Service, Group ‘A’
(x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
(xi) Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’
(xii) Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’
(xiii) Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’
(xiv) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’
(xv) Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)
(xvi) Indian Railway Management Service, Group ‘A’
(xvii) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
(xviii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B’
(xix) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’
(xx) Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’
(xxi) Pondicherry Police Service (PONDIPS), Group ‘B’

Click Here to Download UPSC Official Notification PDF

The number of vacancies to be filled through the examination is expected to be approximately 1056 which include 40 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category, i.e. 06 Vacancies for candidates of (a) blindness and low vision; 12 Vacancies for (b) deaf and hard of hearing; 09 Vacancies for (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; and 13 Vacancies for (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (c) including deaf-blindness. The final number of vacancies may undergo change after getting firm number of vacancies from Cadre Controlling Authorities. Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.

As per the decision taken by the Government for increasing the access of unemployed to job opportunities, the Commission will publicly disclose the scores of the candidates (obtained in the Written Examination and Interview/Personality Test) through the public portals. The disclosure will be made in respect of only those willing candidates who will appear in the Interview/Personality Test for the Civil Service Examination and are not finally recommended for appointment. The information shared through this disclosure scheme about the non-recommended candidates may be used by other public and private recruitment agencies to appoint suitable candidates from the information made available in the public portal.

Candidates will be required to give their options at the time of Interview/Personality Test, while downloading the e-Summon Letter from the Commission’s website for the interview. A candidate may opt out of the scheme also and in that case his/her details will not be published by the Commission. Besides sharing of the information of the non-recommended willing candidates of this examination, the Commission will not assume any responsibility or liability for the method and manner in which information related to such candidates is utilized by public/private organizations.

UPSC Pre Exam Syllabus
Number of attempts
Centres of Examination
Eligibility Conditions
Answer Key
Result
UPSC Prelims Cut-off Marks
Educational Qualifications
(E-Admit Card) Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination
How To Apply
Apply Online

3. Eligibility Conditions: (I) Nationality

For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
For other services, a candidate must be either:-

a citizen of India, or
a subject of Nepal, or
a subject of Bhutan, or
a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India. Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him/her by the Government of India.

(II) Age Limits:

1.A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on the 1st of August, 2024 i.e., the candidate must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1992 and not later than 1st August, 2003.

(b) The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable:
(i) up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;
(ii) up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates;
(iii) up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof;
(iv) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2020 and have been released;
(a) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, 2020 otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency; or
(b) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service; or
(c) on invalidment.
(v) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as on 1st August, 2020 and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months’ notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
(vi) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of (a) blindness and low vision; (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; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness.

(III) Minimum Educational Qualifications :

A candidate must hold a Graduate degree of any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 or possess an equivalent qualification.

Note I:—Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the Commission’s examination but have not been informed of the result as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination along with their application (i.e. Detailed Application Form-I) for the Main Examination, failing which
such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. Such proof of passing the requisite examination should be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of Detailed Application Form-I of the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

Note II: In exceptional cases the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who does not have any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his/her admission to the examination.

Note III: Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognised by the Government as equivalent to professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.

Note IV: Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University/Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination. In such cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University/Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of internship) for the award of the Degree

4. FEE:

Candidates (Except Female/SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to pay fee of Rs. 100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) either by remitting the money in any Branch of State Bank of India by cash or by using Net Banking facility of any bank or by using Visa/Master/RuPay/Credit/Debit Card/UPI Payment.

Applicants who opt for "Pay by Cash" mode should print the system generated Pay-in-slip during part II registration and deposit the fee at the counter of SBI Branch on the next working day only. "Pay by Cash” mode will be deactivated at 11.59 P.M. of 4th March, 2024 i.e. one day before the closing date; however applicants, who have generated their Pay-in- Slip before it is deactivated, may pay at the counter of SBI Branch during banking hours on the closing date. Such applicants who are unable to pay by cash on the closing date i.e. during banking hours at SBI Branch, for reasons whatsoever, even if holding valid pay-inslip will have no other offline option but to opt for available online Debit/Credit Card/UPI Payment or Internet Banking payment mode on the closing date i.e. till 06:00 P.M. of 5th March, 2024.

NB: Notwithstanding, the aforesaid provision for fee exemption, a candidate of Persons with Benchmark Disability will be considered to be eligible for appointment only if the candidate (after such physical examination as the Government or the Appointing Authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/Posts to be allocated to candidates of Persons with Benchmark Disability by the Government.

Note I: Applications without the prescribed Fee (unless remission of Fee is claimed) shall be summarily rejected.

Note II: Fee once paid shall not be refunded under any circumstances nor can the fee be held in reserve for any other examination or selection.

Note III: If any candidate who took the Civil Services Examination held in 20221 wishes to apply for admission to this examination, he/she must submit his/her application without waiting for the results or an offer of appointment.

Note IV: Candidates admitted to the Main Examination will be required to pay a further fee of Rs. 200/-(Rupees Two hundreds only).

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5. How to Apply:

(i) Modification in OTR Profile:

In case, the candidate wants to effect any change in his/her OTR profile, it shall be allowed only once in the lifetime after the registration at OTR platform. The change in OTR profile data shall be available till expiry of 7 days from the next day after the closure of application window of his/her first final application for any Examination of the Commission. In the case, the candidate after registration of OTR applies for the first time in this examination last date of modification of OTR would be 12.03.2024.

(ii) Modification in application form (Other than OTR Profile):

The Commission has also decided to extend the facility of making correction(s) in any field(s) of the application form for this examination from next day of the closure of the application window of this Examination. This window will remain open for 7 days from the date of opening of the same, i.e., from 06.03.2024 to 12.03.2024.In case a candidate wants to carry out any change in his/her OTR profile during this period, then he/she should login to the OTR platform and do the needful accordingly. In other words, no change in the OTR profile can be madeby visiting the window for Modification in application form.

(a) Candidates are required to apply online using the website http://www.upsconline.nic.in Detailed instructions for filling up online applications are available on the above mentioned website. The applicants are advised to submit only single application; however, if due to any unavoidable situation, if he/she submits another/multiple applications, then he/she must ensure that application with the higher RID is complete in all respects like applicants’ details, examination centre, photograph, signature, photo ID, fee etc. The applicants who are submitting multiple applications should note that only the applications with higher RID (Registration ID) shall be entertained by the Commission and fee paid against one RID shall not be adjusted against any other RID.

(b) All candidates, whether already in Government Service, Government owned industrial undertakings or other similar organizations or in private employment should submit their applications direct to the Commission. Persons already in Government Service, whether in a permanent or temporary capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or daily rated employees or those serving under the Public Enterprises are however, required to submit an undertaking that they have informed in writing to their Head of Office/Department that they have applied for the Examination. Candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their employer by the Commission withholding permission to the candidates applying for/appearing at the examination, their application will be liable to be rejected/candidature will be liable to be cancelled.

NOTE 1: While filling in his/her Application Form, the candidate should carefully decide about his/her choice of centre for the Examination. If any candidate appears at a centre other than the one indicated by the Commission in his/her Admission Certificate, the papers of such a candidate will not be evaluated and his/her candidature will be liable to cancellation.

NOTE-2: The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the categories of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be provided the facility of scribe, if desired by the person. In case of other category of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities as defined under section 2(r) of the RPWD Act, 2016, the facility of scribe will be allowed to such candidates on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write, and scribe is essential to write examination on behalf, from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV. The candidates have discretion of opting for his/her own scribe or request the Commission for the same. The details of scribe i.e. whether own or the Commission’s and the details of scribe in case candidates are bringing their own scribe, will be sought at the time of filling up the application form online. Suitable provisions in Online Application have been made.

NOTE -3:-The qualification of the Commission’s scribe as well as own scribe will not be more than the minimum qualification criteria of the examination. However, the qualification of the scribe should always be matriculate or above.

NOTE -4:- The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be allowed Compensatory Time of twenty minutes per hour of the examination. In case of other categories of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, this facility will be provided on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV.

NOTE-5: Candidates appearing in Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2023 will be required to indicate information such as (a) detail of Centres for Civil Services (Main) Examination and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (b) Optional subject to be selected for the examination, (c) Medium of examination for Civil Services (Main) Examination, (d) Medium of Examination for Optional Subject if he/she chooses any Indian Language as the Medium of Examination for Civil Services (Main) Examination and (e) compulsory Indian Language for Civil Services (Main) Examination at the time of the filling up online application itself. No request for changes in these details once online application is submitted shall be entertained by the Commission.

NOTE 6: Candidates are not required to submit alongwith their applications any certificate in support of their claims regarding Age, Educational Qualifications, Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/ Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability etc. which will be verified at the time of the Main examination only. The candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility conditions for admission to the Examination. Their admission at all the stages of examination for which they are admitted by the Commission viz. Preliminary Examination, Main (Written) Examination and Personality Test (Interview) will be purely provisional, subject to their satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. If on verification at any time before or after the Preliminary Examination, Main (written) Examination and Personality Test (Interview), it is found that they do not fulfill any of the eligibility conditions; their candidature for the examination will be cancelled by the Commission. If any of their claims is found to be incorrect, they may render themselves liable to disciplinary action by the Commission in terms of Rule 14 of the Rules for the Civil Services Examination, 2023 reproduced below:

Services Examination, 2022 reproduced below:

(1) A candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of :-
(a) Obtaining support for candidature by the following means, namely :-
(i) offering illegal gratification to; or
(ii) applying pressure on; or
(iii) blackmailing, or threatening to blackmail any person connected with the conduct of the examination; or
(b) impersonation; or
(c) procuring impersonation by any person; or
(d) submitting fabricated/incorrect documents or documents which have been tampered with;or
(e) uploading irrelevant or incorrect photo/signature in the application form in place of actual photo/signature; or
(f) making statements which are incorrect or false or suppressing material information; or
(g) resorting to the following means in connection with the candidature for the examination,namely :-
(i) obtaining copy of question paper through improper means; or
(ii) finding out the particulars of the persons connected with secret work relating to the examination; or
(iii) influencing the examiners; or
(h) being in possession of or using unfair means during the examination; or
(i) writing obscene matter or drawing obscene sketches or irrelevant matter in the scripts; or
(j) misbehaving in the examination hall including tearing of the scripts, provoking fellow examinees to boycott examination, creating a disorderly scene and the like; or
(k) harassing, threatening or doing bodily harm to the staff employed by the Commission for the conduct of the examination; or
(l) being in possession of or using any mobile phone, (even in switched-off mode), pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive, smart watches etc. or camera or bluetooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories (either in working or switched-off mode) capable of being used as a communication device during the examination; or
(m) violating any of the instructions issued to candidates along with their admission certificates Government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply.permitting them to take the examination; or
(n) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, abetting the commission of all or any of the acts specified in the foregoing clauses; in addition to being liable to criminal prosecution, shall be disqualified by the Commission from the Examination held under these Rules; and/or shall be liable to be debarred either permanently or for a specified period :-
(i) by the Commission, from any examination or selection held by them;
(ii) by the central government from any employment under them; and shall be liable to face disciplinary action under the appropriate rules if already in service under Government; Provided that no penalty under this rule shall be imposed except after :-
(i) giving the candidate an opportunity of making such representation in writing as the candidate may wish to make in that behalf; and
(ii) taking the representation, if any, submitted by the candidate within the period allowed for this purpose, into consideration.
(2) Any person who is found by the Commission to be guilty of colluding with a candidate(s) in committing or abetting the commission of any of the misdeeds listed at the clauses (a) to (m) above will be liable to action in terms of the clause (n) in Rule 19 (1) above.