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- INTRO
- 2500- 1700 BC
- 1500 BC -600BC
- 600 BC-300 BC
- 400 BC TO 200 BC
- 230 BC to 230 CE
- 300 BC To 300 CE
- Early 300 CE TO 600 CE
- 275 CE- - 897CE
- (543- 757 AD) and then (975-1189 AD)
- 593 CE - 982 CE
- 850 CE to 1279 CE
- 952 CE to 1343 CE
- 180 CE to 624 CE
- 700CE to 1200CE
- 1206- 1526 CE
- 1540 CE to 1555 CE
- 1526 CE to 1707 CE
- 1336- 1646 AD
- 1347 CE to 1527 CE
- 1773-1858
- 1858- 1947
- 1947 - Present
The major suggestions are summarised as follows:
- The civil services examination should be a combined one for the following
services:
- Indian Administrative Service
- Indian Foreign Service
- Indian Police Service
- Indian Audit and Accounts Service
- Indian Income Tax Service( Class I)
- Indian Customs and Central Excise Service
- Indian Defence Accounts Service
- Indian Railway Traffic Service
- Indian Railway Accounts Service
- Indian Postal Service
- Indian Posts and Telegraphs Accounts and Finance Service, and
- Indian Civil Accounts Service
The Committee recommended delinking seven Central Group A Services and eight Central Group B services from the combined civil service examination. This suggestion has not been accepted.
- The Committee did not recommend any change in the prevailing age limit of 21 to 26 years for the general candidates, with the usual relaxation of 5 years of age for members of the SC and ST. This suggestion has not been implemented, and hence, the age limit of 21 to 28 continues.
- The government, since 1979, had permitted three attempts for the general candidates and had not imposed any restrictions on the number of attempts for the SC/ST candidates. Later, the number of attempts was raised to four. The Satish Chandra Committee observed that the SC/ST candidates got as many as eleven attempts in practice because of the age relaxation of five years. It, therefore, proposed that, whereas for the general candidates, the number of attempts could continue to be three, but for those belonging to SC/ST, the number of attempts should be limited to six. This suggestion, too, has not been accepted.
- Coming to the most critical issue of the scheme of the civil service examination, the committee felt that the existing system of conducting the study in three phases- prelims, mains, and the interview was satisfactory and had been able to achieve its objective in the light of the issues raised, as described earlier. The preliminary test is an effective screening procedure. The main examination based on the conventional essay type answers does help in testing qualities such as clarity of ideas, cogency of thought, comprehension, and presentational skills, which may not be adequately tested by the objective type examination alone. Lastly, the interview stage is a minuscule test of the candidate's personality. While accepting this broad framework, the committee suggested a modification that candidates qualifying for the main examination and appearing in the interview test could be admitted directly to the main examination of the following year to give them more time to prepare themselves if they were aspiring to get a better position next year and in-service they prefer more. This recommendation has also not been accepted.
- The committee also examined each phrase of the recruitment and made useful suggestions. They are summed up as follows:
- Preliminary examination
Before the committee, there had been a suggestion to increase the relative weightage of general studies in both the preliminary and the main examinations. In both the examinations, the relative weightage of general studies as a compulsory subject to optional subjects is 1:2. The committee did not accept the suggestion in the case of both examinations. It observed that the ICS scheme of examination was designed to test the intellectual competence of candidates. This can be done effectively more through the optional subjects than through general studies. While the subject of general studies does help in testing the awareness of the candidates regarding the current developments, and their ability to react quickly to phenomena, it generally proves disadvantageous to the candidates coming from the rural areas, since their exposure during childhood and youth is not very broad. The committee recommended that there should be a system of negative marking for the wrong answers for the objective test in the preliminary examination. Those who do not attempt a solution need not be penalized by the negative marking. - Main examination
The Satish Chandra Committee felt that the two papers on general studies could not effectively test the candidates' presence and degree of certain traits. An essay-type paper is required to test candidates' linguistic skills, comprehension capacity, critical analysis ability, integrated thinking, assimilation of ideas, and clarity of expression. Hence, it suggested that an essay-type paper of 250 marks be introduced in the main examination. Candidates could write an essay in English or any Indian language specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Two independent examiners should evaluate the answer scripts in the essay paper, and the marks scored by the candidates should be the mean of the two scores. The government accepted this recommendation, and the essay papers were introduced with effect from the 1993 examination, though the maximum marks for the essay were prescribed to be 200 only.
The committee recommended that the French, German, Russian, and Chinese subjects should be deleted from the language and literature group as they are not taught in a large number of universities at the first-degree level. The UPSC has not accepted this suggestion. The committee said that three more subjects might be added to the list of optional topics both at the preliminary level and the main examination, viz, Education, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, and Medical Sciences. With effect from the examination of 1994, the subject of Medical Science has been added to the list of optional subjects for the main examination. - Interview Test
The total marks for the interview test; the Satish Chandra Committee recommended should be increased from 250 to 300. This recommendation was accepted and made effective with the 1993 examination. It is noteworthy that, according to the Satish Chandra Committee, there should not be minimum qualifying marks for a candidate at the interview test. It remarked that minimum qualifying marks would prove disadvantageous to a candidate who has done very well in the written examination but who lacks a high level of oral communication ability. This “rough diamond,” the committee opined, with training and experience, could become a competent member of the higher civil service. - Psychological tests:
There has been, over the years, demand coming from various quarters regarding the introduction of psychological tests at the time of recruitment to higher civil services. In the private corporate sector, several organizations use a few aptitudes, orientation, and other psychological tests for identifying the persons with the right mental frame. On the issue of introducing such tests as instruments of judging a candidate’s psychological fitness, the committee observed that psychological tests should not be a part of the selection procedure because if they are not administered accurately or not updated, they might give misleading scores. Further, the committee felt that the introduction of lectures should also not be a part of the selection process as it might provide the city-bred candidate with a disproportionately large score. Hence, psychological tests and lectures (as a part of public speaking) should be taken during training. However, the committee argued that group discussions be introduced as an integral component of the interview test. The interview test would then be a two-stage process, with group discussion preceding the individual interview. It would help the interview board have a quick perception of the candidate regarding his abilities to analyze, listen, persuade, etc. The government has not implemented this recommendation so far.