The Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by the UPSC for the selection of top services in India like IAS, IPS, IFS, and IRS is considered to be one of the most prestigious examinations in the world. In the year 2023, 1.3 Million candidates applied for the CSE for the selection of around 1000 posts. The selection rate in this examination is thus less than 1 in 1000 or 0.1%.
However, not everyone thinks that the civil services are worth so much of effort. Recently, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal said that “lakhs of people are spending 5-8 years repeatedly doing this exam as a ‘way of life’. This is such a waste of youthful energy.” In Sanyal’s view, the energies of the young people should instead be geared to start-ups and entrepreneurship. “If you must dream, surely you should dream to be Elon Musk or Mukesh Ambani. Why do you dream to be a joint secretary?”
Many civil servants across the nation have challenged Mr Sanyal’s view on the issue of civil services, as civil services in India continue to be the best job even today.
In this article, we shall discuss the benefits of civil services, which you can’t get in any other profession. Despite all the liberalization and globalization, there are still numerous reasons to join civil services in India. As a former IRS officer, I am sharing a few of those in this article.
10 Reasons to Join Civil Services in India
1. Prestige and Authority
Imagine that you are passing on a road in a city like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, or any major city in India, and you see several vehicles passing by. There are expensive vehicles like Mercedes, BMW, or Jaguar, and there are Government vehicles of average type with the nameplate of the office/officer like DM/SP/Commissioner. Which vehicle do people look at?
I am sure that most people look at government vehicles. The traffic constables become alert on duty and may give a crisp salute to the officer sitting in the vehicle. A government vehicle is a sign of authority, which immediately attracts the attention of people. Similarly, a government officer immediately gets attention in giant galaxies of important people.
Contrary to popular perception in urban India and the media, civil servants are highly respected by the people of India. This is because they serve people like no one else. Further, their selection process has always been transparent and fair. UPSC has always been above board for selecting candidates for top services.
A PM/CM can make anyone a Cabinet Minister, a Supreme Court Collegium can make anyone a High Court or Supreme Court Judge; and anyone can be made the CEO/CMD of a company by the Board of Directors, but nobody can make you an IAS, IPS or IRS officer except your own merit. Hence, the people of India never doubt the ability of a civil servant. When you become part of any function of an organization, its prestige goes up, and you become the central point of the function and get all the attention.
2. Power
A civil servant is the epitome of state power. You are not a government servant but the government itself. The laws may be passed by the Parliament but are executed only through civil servants. IRS officers, for example, sign documents on behalf of the President of India and exercise the power of the Government in India pertaining to the tax department. You have the authority to decide cases worth hundreds of crores and conduct search, seizure or arrest of the people who are breaking the law of the land. No wonder the lawbreakers don’t want to mess with you, and the law-abiders look at you for taking on the lawbreakers. As a civil servant, you have the original powers to implement the rule of law in this country. Only when you fail do others come into the picture.
3. Job Security and Political Interference
You can be removed with one day’s notice if you are in a private sector job. You are always at the mercy of the company and its top bosses. The service conditions of civil servants are determined by the Parliament and can’t be changed to his disadvantage. Their service is protected by Article 311 of the Indian Constitution according to which he can’t be dismissed from service without an enquiry where he would be given the opportunity to defend himself. He also has the option to approach the Courts, in case he has been treated unfairly.
The promotion of a civil servant is not in the hands of a politician, which is either a time-bound manner or based on seniority. The promotion committees are headed by UPSC Members/Chairman, and hence you can expect the utmost objectivity in promotion. You don’t have to fear anyone if you are on the right side of the law.
Fortunately, central services like the IRS are fully insulated from political interference. As an IRS officer, I have never received any call from any politician in the 25 years of my career, and there has been no direct or indirect political interference. The reason can be attributed to the ‘Transfer Policy’ of our department. The postings up to the rank of Additional Commissioner are made by the Chief Commissioner (Within his Zone/State) or by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (All over India) manned by all IRS officials. Even for the Commissioner and Chief Commissioner, the Placement Committee (PC) headed by The Chairman CBEC or CBDT proposes the names for the approval of FM. If a name is not proposed by PC, no order can be made.
Similarly, for posting in sensitive intelligence/investigation originations like DRI (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) and DGGI (Directorate General of GST Intelligence), the names have to be proposed by the Director General.
Unfortunately, the situation is not the same in the States, and the IAS/IPS/IFoS officers are posted usually by the CM directly. I hope that good sense will prevail and that someday they will adopt the best practices of the Government of India.
4. Decent Salaries and Excellent Perks
The salaries of government officers have become very decent in recent years. When I joined the IRS in 1991, my salary was around Rs 3500 pm only. A civil servant today joins with a starting salary of Rs 1,00,000, which is almost 30 times more than the salaries prevailing 33 years ago. In addition, you also get a free house, car, phone, medical, Leave Travel Concession, Children’s Education Allowance and pension. Most of the allowances are tax-free. Sometimes, the rental value of your government accommodation itself may be much more than the CTC of several big corporate CEOs. Who can afford to stay in Lutyens Delhi bungalows on rent?
5. Work-Life Balance
While it is common to hear the saying of civil servants that they don’t have a good personal life, which is not always true. Every government department has different types of postings. Some posts (like DM, and SP) require long hours of work, while several posts are such where you have to find work. The salaries in both cases are exactly the same. Hence, if you give priority to your personal life, you can always request the government to give you such assignments, where you can have more free time for yourself and your family. I have, on several occasions, requested the government for such peaceful assignments as I wanted to devote some time to teaching my children, and I was always given such light assignments.
You also get 2/3 years of fully paid study leave, using which I did my PhD in E-Governance from IIITM Gwalior while in service. You can choose to study abroad at the top university in the world and the government may finance most of the expenses. A female government officer gets an additional 2 years of fully paid Child Care Leave to take care of their children in addition to the maternity leave. Each government officer is also entitled to up to 5 years of Extra Ordinary Leave (Unpaid) for taking care of personal needs in addition to the 20 days of Half Pay Leave and 30 days of Earned leave every year besides 5 days a week work schedule and numerous gazetted holidays. You have lots of flexibility in choosing the postings according to your needs and temperament.
6. Job Satisfaction
You must remember that civil services are not ordinary jobs where you work for an organization or for a person. You work for the country and its people. The revenue collected by an IRS officer is used for the benefit of the poorest and needy and for the development of infrastructure and the nation. As a police officer, you control crime in the country and hence create an atmosphere for security, growth and prosperity. As an IAS officer, you make and implement the developmental schemes for the growth of the nation. Your job is in the nature of social service. Many billionaires like Bill Gates, and Azim Premji spend billions from their own pockets to get the satisfaction of doing social work. You have the opportunity to do so while in service, and you are even paid for it decently.
7. Freedom to Work
It may not be believable, but it is a fact that you have tremendous freedom to do your work as a government officer. Each post in a government (SP, DM or Commissioner) is created and empowered by Parliament. Hence as long as you are in that chair, you have the full freedom to decide things according to your judgment and discretion. For example, as a revenue officer, if I get information on tax evasion and I am empowered by law to conduct search, seizure or arrest; no one can give me any direction to act or not to act.
No senior officer or Minister can change the decisions taken by the appropriate legal authority without following the procedures provided by the law. For example, if the Commissioner’s order is wrong, you have to approach the Tribunal, High Court, or Supreme Court to reverse it. These agencies have tremendous freedom, and they decide the legality of the action independently without any intervention from the government.
Even though the media primarily highlights the conflicts between politicians and civil servants, in reality, they work with each other without much problem. This is because the goals of civil servants and politicians are the same. Politicians need good IAS and IPS officers who can help the state grow and become free from crime. When there is a problem, often both sides are responsible.
You don’t even hear any conflict in states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and even in Bihar (in Nitish Kumar regime). Most of the states have no conflict at all between officers and politicians. Good politicians and good bureaucrats always work together harmoniously and help each other. The problem between them is more personal than professional, though it is always highlighted as a professional problem and politicians are blamed for the mess.
8. Diversity of Jobs
The civil services provide a tremendous diversity of jobs. If you are in IAS, you can virtually head any organization in India. As secretary, you can head different government ministries and different public sector undertakings, educational institutions, and research institutions. As an IRS (C&CE) officer, you work in Customs, Excise, GST, Narcotics, Training, Systems etc. You even work as an advocate when you are posted in Tribunals.
You also work in intelligence agencies like DRI, DGGI, CEIB, IB or RAW. All officers may be posted in Ministries and State/Central Government and work in policy formation.
You can get posted to international organizations like WCO, UN, WHO, World Bank IMF etc. You can take a lien and become a professor, or join an NGO or even start an NGO in the public interest. You can write books, make films and do several other activities with the permission of the government.
9. Widest Networking
The networks of civil servants are the widest in the country. As an IRS officer, my colleagues are posted all over the country. We also have officers posted in several parts of the world. I can call anyone and request them for any help or protocol. When you join a service, you join a family. You are like the newborn baby who is looked after by every elder of the family. You have just to request and your wishes may be fulfilled. As you grow older in service, your role is reversed, and you take care of the young officers like your children.
There is also a brotherhood between all officers. I just have to pick up the phone and request my colleagues in IAS, IPS or others, and they will usually extend all types of help. Through your friends, you can approach anyone in the country in case you need their help. The businessmen, actors, and leaders are all interested in networking with you because you are always useful to them. It is you who have to restrict your network due to time constraints and due to its effect on performing your job professionally and impartially. Even when you retire, the network is not broken since your juniors remain in the service till almost the end of your life.
10. Post Retirement Jobs
A civil servant gets the experience of the government as no one else can. It is often said in movies that an IAS (or IPS, IRS) officer can always choose to become a Minister, but a Minister can’t become a civil servant. There is a great demand for such experience in the corporate, who have to deal with several government departments, but they have no experience of dealing with them. Retired officers usually get very good job offers from the corporates if they choose to work later. Many of my colleagues, who have left the IRS after 10-15 years of service to join corporations, are getting salaries in Crores.
You can even start your own consultancy firm and earn good money. Since you learn how to run the government, you can also choose to join politics and become an influential Minister or even Chief Minister (Arvind Kejriwal, Ajit Jogi) or Prime Minister (Morarji Desai). You can also become Governor, CIC, CVC, CEC or UPSC/CAT/Tax Tribunal Member/Chairman after retirement.
Conclusion
It may be a good idea to join civil services like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS or similar if you appreciate the value of the good things that government services have to offer. Unfortunately, there is no free lunch in this world and we must always be ready to pay the price for getting the good things in life. Remember the old Hindi Song “Kabhi kisi ko mukammal jahan nahi milta, Kabhi zameen to kabhi aasman nahi milta” (Nobody gets a perfect world, sometimes you don’t get the earth and sometimes you don’t get the sky). Getting selected for civil services in India takes years of hard work and determination. However, if you like the nature of the job, the civil services are still one of the best options to join in India.
Originally written as an answer on Quora, updated in 2024.
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