All India Services

The All India Services are the three civil services of India: the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), and the Indian Forest Service (IFS).

The recruitment to these services is made through the Union Public Service Commission on the basis of the annual Civil Services Examination, a competitive civil service exam. This is intended to insulate the civil service from political influences and prevent the development of a patronage system.

The officers of the All India Services are recruited and trained by the national Union Government ("the Centre") but work under states (which is why the The Indian Foreign Service is a "central service" instead of an All India Service). Officers are organized into cadres. Twenty-four states have their own cadre, but there are also three joint cadres: Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur-Tripura, and Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT).

The All India Services Act 1951 empowers the government of India to make, after consultation with state governments, rules for the regulation of recruitment and conditions of service of the persons appointed to an All India Service.

External links

* [http://upsc.gov.in/ Union Public Service Commission official website]
* [http://persmin.nic.in/ais/ais_index.htm All India Services official website]
** [http://ias.nic.in/ Indian Administrative Service official website]
** [http://mha.nic.in/ips.htm Indian Police Service official website]
** [http://ifs.nic.in/ Indian Forest Service official website]