Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

Entrance examination for All India and Central Services proposed

The introduction of Administrative Reforms is an important commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme. As part of the effort to undertake wide ranging reforms in Government, a major proposal pertaining to recruitment to All India and Central Services will be placed on the website of the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), Government of India seeking suggestions from the public.

The proposal envisages an All India Entrance Examination for All India and Central Services for Class XII students on the pattern of NDA, Medical, Law Colleges and IITs. Students who pass such a test would then join a National Academy for a five year course. At the end of three years, a graduate degree would be given to those passing normal examinations. The best candidates would be given their service allotments on the basis of merit and choice at the end of three years. Those who are in the lowest percentiles on the basis of merit can be released and can go out into the market with their graduation degrees. The candidates who have been given their service allotments can then go in for a 2-year-service-specific course. These courses would be designed specifically for the requirements of the service concerned. There would be further annual examinations/tests during these two years. From among these, students would be selected for a further service-specific course for two years, leading to a degree equivalent to an MBA. The recruitment procedure would adhere to existing reservation quota and requirements of individual All India Services.

If there are some candidates who are not found to be good enough at the end of the 2-year service-specific course, there should be provision to release them so that they can go out into the market with their MBA-equivalent degrees. The details of this proposal will shortly be available at the DOPT website.

The feed back from the public will be examined by the proposed Administrative Reforms Commission before any official view is taken of this proposal.