Kerala PSC Administrative Services Vs UPSC Civil Services

Kerala PSC Administrative Services Vs UPSC Civil Services: All you need to know

Table of Contents

In this article we will cover everything you need to know about the Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) Civil Services and the Kerala PSC Administrative Services(KAS).

The UPSC as you all know is the Civil Services Examination to the various administrative positions such as Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) etc. conducted by the Centre.

While the recruitment to Kerala Administrative service KAS is conducted by Kerala public Service Commission (Kerala PSC).

Kerala PSC Administrative Services came into force only recently in January 2018.

UPSC Civil Services Exam

UPSC Civil Services Exam is a tough and competitive examination which requires a combination of smart and hard work along with strategy and discipline. The ideal time for preparation is around 1 year.

Important Dates:

Stage I: Preliminary Examination – Held in June every year. Results are announced in August.
Stage II: Mains – Held in October every year. Results are announced in January.
Personality Test (Interview) – Held in March. Final results are usually announced in May
The training program for the selected candidates usually commences the following September.

Services one is eligible to on qualifying the Civil Service Exam

All India Services

Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
Indian Police Service(IPS)

Central Services (Group A)

Indian Foreign Service (IFS)
Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service (IP&TAFS)
Indian Audit and Accounts Service (IA&AS)
Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS)
Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)
Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS)
Indian Defence Estates Service (IDES)
Indian Information Service (IIS)
Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS)
Indian Postal Service (IPoS)
Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS)
Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS)
Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-IT)
Indian Revenue Service (IRS-C&CE)
Indian Trade Service (ITrS)
Railway Protection Force (RPF)

Group B Services

Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Services (AFHCS)
Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service (DANICS)
Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Police Service (DANIPS)
Pondicherry Civil Service (PCS)
Pondicherry Police Service (PPS)

UPSC Civil Services Exam Syllabus

Paper I Syllabus (General Studies)

Current Affairs: Events of national and international importance
History of India and Indian National Movement
Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic geography of India and the World.
Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change (no subject specialization required)
General Science

Paper II Syllabus

Comprehension
Interpersonal skills including communication skills
Logical reasoning and analytical ability
Decision making and problem solving
General mental ability
Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level), Data Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)
English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level. (will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation)

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Kerala Administrative Service

The objective of Kerala Civil Service examination is aimed to build a cadre of public servants as a second line of managerial talent for Kerala Government for effective implementation of Government policies and programs. According to the new rules, the KAS will now be the feeder category for IAS Kerala cadre.

The selected candidates will be posted or eligible to get posted to the second grade Gazetted Officer (Junior Time Scale), in various departments like public administration and finance department of Kerala Government.

KAS officers will be appointed based on four phases or streams.

Junior Time Scale
Senior Time Scale ( Regular Government Employees)
Selection Grade Scale
Super Time Grade Scale.

Junior Time Scale is the base category and will be directly recruited by the Kerala PSC through the KAS exam. All the other categories can be achieved only by promotion while Super Time Grade Scale is the highest category that a KAS officer can be promoted to .

Officers at the Junior Time Scale should complete the following courses during probation.

(i) The Revenue Test
(ii). The Criminal Judicial Test including Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Criminal Procedure Code (Cr. PC)
(iii) Manual of Office Procedure (MOP)
(iv) Kerala Secretariat Office Manual (KSOM)
(v) Candidates who have not studied Malayalam language in the metric level shall have to qualify the Malayalam Proficiency Test conducted by Kerala Public Service Commission except where Malayalam has been prescribed as a qualifying paper for the selection to the KAS.

Structure of KAS Exam 2019

The KAS exam 2019 will be conducted in three phases.

Preliminary (Objective)

In a basic level test or Preliminary level test, one will have two papers to attend comprising of 100 marks each. The mode of examination will be of objective type (OMR). Both the examinations will be conducted on the same day and the duration of the exam will be 75 minutes. As pointed out earlier, candidates who have a bachelor degree are the ones who are eligible to appear for the exam.

Those who successfully get a pass at the preliminary level will be called for the Mains.

Download Entri to gain access to all the previous years questions and to the wealth of information it has to offer.

Mains (Descriptive)

The Mains which would be of a highly advanced with the prescribed syllabus will consist of three papers mainly. Three papers with 150 marks each and a total of 450 marks combined. Those will be mainly from Science Subjects, Humanities and Kerala Current affairs and history. All three exams will be descriptive in nature.

To know more about the Kerala PSC Administrative Exam, download Entri today.

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