UPSC Recruitment 2021 : Eligibility, Syllabus, Exam Pattern, Exam Date

UPSC Notification Civil Services 2021: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has closed the application process for Civil Services Examination 2021. The candidates who have filled the application form by March 24, 2021 will be able to download UPSC CSE Prelims Admit Card. The CSE admit card is expected to be released by May last week or June first week. As per the CSE Notification 2021 around 712 vacancies has been notified by the commission.

UPSC Recruitment 2021

Before getting into the details of UPSC CSE 2021, let’s have an overview of the exam:

UPSC Civil Services Eligibility Criteria 2021

Candidates appearing for UPSC Civil Services Exam must fulfil the following Civil Services Exam eligibility criteria:

1. Nationality: In order to apply for UPSC CSE 2021 IAS, IFS & IPS posts, a candidate should be a citizen of India.

For other UPSC CSE Services, candidates 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 the above categories except Indian Citizen should have a certificate of eligibility issued by the Government of India.

2. Age Limit: The candidate should have attained the age of 21 years and must not be more than 32 years as on August 01, 2021. This means that candidates must have been born not earlier than August 02, 1989 and not later than August 01, 2000.

• – Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof will be given 3 Years relaxation
• – Ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August 2021 and have been released will be given 5 Years relaxation

3. Minimum Educational Qualification: Candidates must hold a Bachelor’s Degree or an equivalent qualification from any recognized University.

 4. Number Of Attempts: A candidate is only eligible for 6 attempts.

UPSC CSE 2021 Prelims Exam Pattern

• – UPSC Prelims is an offline exam consisting of objective type questions.
• – The exam is conducted for a total of 400 marks (two compulsory Papers of 200 marks each).
• – The total time duration for each of the papers is 2 hours while 20 minutes extra is given to visually impaired candidates.
• – For every wrong answer, one-third of the marks allocated to the question will be deducted.
• – The paper comes in two languages Hindi and English.
• – Note that General Studies Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

UPSC CSE 2021 Mains Exam Pattern

Qualifying Papers:

Papers to be counted for merit:

UPSC Syllabus For Prelims

The UPSC Civil Services Prelims has two papers namely General Studies-I and General Studies-II (CSAT). Check out the IAS syllabus for both the UPSC papers below:

UPSC Syllabus for Prelims: Paper-I

The IAS Syllabus for UPSC Prelims Exam includes the following topics:

1. Current Events of National and International Importance.
2. History of India and Indian National Movement.
3. Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
4. Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
5. Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
6. General Issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization General Science

UPSC Syllabus For Prelims: General Studies Paper-II

The GS-II in UPSC Prelims is also known as CSAT or Civil Services Aptitude Test. The following topics are included in the IAS syllabus for this paper:

1. Comprehension
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills
3. Logica l reasoning and analytical ability
4. Decision-making and problem solving
5. General mental ability
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc., – Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc., – Class X level)

Phase 2: UPSC Civil Services Main Examination

UPSC Mains exam consists of nine papers that are held over 4-5 days. Out of these, only seven papers are merit-oriented. The rest two papers including the Compulsory Indian Language paper and Compulsory English paper are qualifying in nature. We’ve briefly described the IAS syllabus for each of the papers below:

UPSC Syllabus For Civil Services Mains Examination

PAPER-I Essay:

Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to arrange their ideas in an orderly fashion and write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

PAPER-II 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 & Architecture from ancient to modern times.
2. Modern Indian History from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant 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 the 18th century, such as Industrial Revolution, World Wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism, etc., – their forms and effects on the society.
6. Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. Role of women and women’s organizations, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies. Effects of globalization on Indian society – Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
7. Salient features of world’s physical geography.
8. Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India); Important Geophysical phenomena, such as earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic activity, cyclones, etc., geographical features and their location – changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

PAPER-III 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, Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
5. 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.
6. Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
7. Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions, and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
8. Statutory, regulatory, and various quasi-judicial bodies, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
9. Development processes and the development industry – the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
10. Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Center and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
11. Issues related to development and management of Social Sector/Services in the field of Health, Education, Human Resources.
12. Issues related to poverty and hunger.
13. Important aspects of governance, transparency, and accountability, e-governance – applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
14. Role of Civil Services in a democracy.
15. India and its neighborhood – relations. Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
16. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

PAPER-IV 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. Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
2. Government Budgeting. 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;
3. E-technology in the aid of farmers Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices;
4. Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
5. Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
6. Land reforms in India. Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
7. Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
8. Investment models. Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievement of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
9. Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
10. Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment Disaster and disaster management.
11. Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
12. Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
13. 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.
14. Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

PAPER-V General Studies- IV: Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude

This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilize the case study approach to determine these aspects.
The following broad areas will be covered. Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships.

1. 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 behavior; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
3. Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service , integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, 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. Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
5. 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.
6. Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity;
7. Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption. Case Studies on above issues.

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