IPS Exam 2021: Dates, Syllabus, Eligibility, Salary of IPS Officer

IPS Exam 2021: IPS stands for Indian Police Service. It is one of the top three elite positions sought under all India Civil Services. This service is not categorised under the security forces. They offer elevated orientations to commanders and distinguish them into elite high-level officers of state police forces and Central Armed Police Force [CAPF]. As part of the All India forces, these officers enjoy induction into central government posts and an opportunity to serve in their respective state government machinery also. This distinguished position comes with a higher range of responsibilities, and IPS officers serve their tenure with significant perks and promotions.

The Indian Police Service was originally established as Imperial Force in 1905. Before independence, the senior cadre of the Imperial force was recruited by the Secretary of state based on performance in Civil Services Examination. The highest scoring top ten candidates were inducted into the Imperial Police forces under probation. This protocol was later converted to IPS in the year 1948 a year after India achieved independence from British rule.

IPS Exam 2021 – Recruiting IPS Officers

There are two conventional modes of recruitment under the IPS category:

• Direct Recruitment – Through All India Civil Services Exam conducted by Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) every year
• Based on Promotion – Elevation of state police service officers to IPS cadres based on their performance.

The government, for a few years, created a new system called ‘Limited Competitive Examination (LCE)’ for IPS recruitment. In the year 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Central government, which was against the LCE mode of IPS recruitment. The UPSC conducts the All India Civil Services exam every year. It is a competitive exam conducted throughout India for recruiting eligible candidates to various positions like Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Revenue Service, etc.

This recruitment process is conducted in three phases:

• Preliminary Exam
• Mains Exam
• Personality Test

Check out the complete IPS Syllabus in detail.

IPS 2021 Exam Dates

IPS Eligibility – Qualifications Needed to Become an IPS Officer

The list of eligibility conditions laid down by UPSC for recruitment to various posts of the civil services is applicable for the IPS cadres as well. The IPS eligibility and qualification criteria are listed below:

• Nationality – Applicants must be Indian citizens.
• Age Limit – Minimum age to apply is 21. Maximum age depends on the candidate’s category and physical disability (if applicable).
• Minimum academic qualification – Graduation from a recognised university.
• Number of attempts allowed – For General Merit – 6. For others, the number of attempts varies.
• Candidates who are ineligible to apply – Officers already serving in IAS/ IFS positions
• Physical standard metrics – As per rules and stipulations laid down by UPSC.

Roles and Responsibilities of IPS Officers

IPS officers discharge their duties under the guidance of the Home Ministry. Some of their distinguished roles and responsibilities include:

• Serving in border regions – To tackle counter-terrorism and maintain border policing.
• To maintain civilian law and order – to reduce crime rates, carry out investigations, detection of threats and gathering intelligence information from various sources.
• To scrutinize VIP securities.
• Railway Police Personnel
• To counter anti-social elements and curb smuggling and trafficking activities.
• Putting an end to corruption and investigating economic frauds in society.
• Rescue operations during calamities and natural disasters – Ensuring proper enforcement of biodiversity and environmental laws.
• Policy management in socio-economic development.
• To serve as intelligence officers for CBI, R&AW, IB and CID.
• Working in agencies to ensure proper enforcement of Indian Federal Laws: This section of duty involves responsibilities in:
  • All union territories of India under the Civil and Armed Police Forces
  • Under the Central Armed Police Forces in CPO (Central Police organisations) and CPF (Central Paramilitary Forces). Officers serve in various units of BSF, ITBP, CRPF, NSG and CISF.
• Many IPS officers serve as Heads of Department in Policy making divisions of:
  • Central Ministries and Departments
  • State Ministries and Departments
  • PSUs or Public Sector Undertakings and Navarathna companies at both state and central establishments.
• IPS officers are closely associated with other civil services and all three wings of Indian military, namely the army, navy and the air force.

IPS Cadre Allocation

As a general thumb rule, officers who attained IPS cadres through promotion or recruitment after serving in state civil services, continue to discharge their duties from their respective states. Candidates whose selection is done through the All India Civil Services exam conducted by UPSC, the distribution of cadres is based on candidate’s rank, vacancies and preference quoted.

In the year 2008, the government mooted a Cadre Allocation policy 2008 which sent a state-wise preference list to the centre. Based on the list, candidates were allocated into different states. This system was shelved later on and discontinued to make way for a much more transparent allocation method. From the year 2017 onwards, a new allocation policy for IPS cadres is brought into place. The main objective of the new allocation system is integrating officers from different regional backgrounds, rationalising vacancy positions and thereby creating an efficient administrative system. 5 zones of operational cadres for IPS officers are:

• Zone 1 – Consists of 7 Cadres namely AGMUT*, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana. [AGMUT – States of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and union territories]
• Zone 2 – Consists of 4 Cadres, namely Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.
• Zone 3 – Consists of 4 cadres namely Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh
• Zone 4- consists of 6 cadres, namely West Bengal, Sikkim, Assam-Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura and Nagaland.
• Zone 5- Consists of 5 cadres namely Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

IPS Training

The newly inducted IPS officers go through a tough two years training cum probationary period. The common training or foundation course for the initial three months is common to all the newly selected candidates through UPSC Civil Services exam. The foundation course is conducted at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie. After 3 months, IPS probationers move to Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA) in Hyderabad for advanced training. IPS officers get exposure to district training and acquire varied skills on indoor and outdoor subjects.

The list of outdoor subjects along with respective marks allocation for each of them is given below:

The list of indoor subjects along with respective marks allocation for each of them is given below:

IPS Salary & Ranks

IPS officers enjoy a starting remuneration of INR 56,100 per month. This includes basic salary, DA, HRA and other benefits. The existing salary is implemented as per recommendations of the 7th pay commission. IPS rank designations and their corresponding salaries (as per 7th pay commission) are listed below: