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IAS full form: Indian Administrative Service

How to say it: letter by letter.

IAS stands for Indian Administrative Service. It is one of the three All India Services, together with the Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Forest Service. Its officers hold the key administrative posts in the districts, in the state governments and in the central government.

What an IAS officer does

A young officer usually begins as a sub-divisional magistrate and then becomes the head of a district, called the District Magistrate, Collector or Deputy Commissioner, depending on the state. In that post the officer is responsible for general administration, land revenue, law and order together with the police, elections, disaster relief and the carrying out of government schemes. Later in service, officers head departments and serve as secretaries to the state and central governments. The most senior civil servant of India, the Cabinet Secretary, comes from this service.

How a person joins

Entry is through the Civil Services Examination held by the Union Public Service Commission. Successful candidates are trained at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie and are allotted to a state cadre. Some officers of the state civil services are also promoted into the IAS.

Before the IAS

The service continues the tradition of the Indian Civil Service, the ICS, of British India. The IAS was formed after independence as the administrative service of the new republic.

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