Indian Foreign Service (IFS): Complete Details

The Indian Foreign Service comes under the umbrella of the civil services of Group A and Group B. It These officials control and look after the mandatory parts of the international territory of the country along with foreign trades. Ministry of Foreign Affairs modifies the execution of work done by IFS officers. These officers are directly involved in foreign-related issues in India for better communication and understanding of needs.

Eligibility and criteria

Nationality:

There are some other eligibility criteria for the IFS officers. Some physical fitness criteria will be there before recruiting an officer.

• Citizen of India
• A subject of Nepal
• A subject of Bhutan
• A Tibetan Refugee in India as a permanent resident (until January 01, 1962)
• Indian origin individual from Burma, Pakistan, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire and Ethiopia, Sri Lanka or from Vietnam to permanently settle in India forever.
• The candidates in B, C, D and E categories need to have a certificate proof of eligibility which should be issued by the GOI. An offer of appointment/recruitment will be issued only on the submission of the eligibility certificate copy.

Age Limit

Candidate’s age will be a minimum of 21 years and a maximum of 30 years(as in the year of the examination) of the year of examination.

The candidate should be 21 years old. The candidate will not be allowed to appear in the exam if above 29 years. This criterion is for General Category candidates. But SC and ST candidates have a relaxation of upper age up to 35 years. OBC candidates have a relaxation of upper age up to 33 years. The State of Jammu & Kashmir has special provisions for candidates as they have upper age relaxation for up to 35 years ( if they are staying from January 1980 to December 1989).

Number of attempts of exam

• General (category) candidates can attempt 6 attempts.
• Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe(ST) Candidates cam have unlimited attempts.
• Other Backward Classes (OBC) candidates can avail 9 attempts.
• Physically handicapped can also avail 9 attempts if a general category and OBC.
• Physically handicapped SC/ST gets unlimited attempts.
• Attempts are counted from the time of appearing in the Prelims Exam.

Educational qualification

Candidate should have an educational qualification of a bachelor’s degree or any equivalent from a recognized institute or university.

Other required skills

• Exceptional communication skills are required
• Profound knowledge about foreign countries and current affairs are required
• The candidate must have good leadership capability
• The candidate is supposed to have excellent knowledge of foreign cultures.

Also Read: IFS vs IAS: Which One is Better & Why? How to Become an IAS/ IFS Officer?

Roles and Responsibilities

• IFS officers will have to be capable to deal with foreign affairs.
• They will have to understand the decorum of embassy, consulates, high commissions, and other multilateral organizations.
• IFS officers will have to communication-oriented workshops for promoting India’s value in other foreign countries.
• An IFS officer represents the country. So the officer will have to be well-equipped about every updated news around the world and the country.
• IFS officers are liable to improve international relations.
• India’s economy and GNP depend on the commitments by the IFS officers.

UPSC Prelims Exam Syllabus (IFS)

Preparation for the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) Prelims is not a cup of tea. This syllabus is vast, detailed and needs specification before studying. The success rate of the exam is 0.1% to 0.3 %. It is important to go through the syllabus before starting with any other procedure of collecting materials, books and previous years’ papers. Follow the pattern of the syllabus and start preparing for the exam.

The commission of UPSC divides the selection process into three parts. These are:

• Preliminary examination
• Mains examination
• Personality test (interview)

Here the syllabus, duration of exam along paper types will be discussed.

The UPSC Prelims Exam syllabus

The commission of UPSC has set two papers for the Prelims exam: Paper I and Paper-II.

Paper I (General Studies — I of 200 marks)-

Duration: 2 hours

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and The 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 — that do not require subject specialization General Science.

Syllabus for Paper II (CSAT/General Studies — II of 200 marks)-

Duration: 2 hours

• 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) and data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. — Class X level)

*Note 1: The CSAT aptitude test or Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper only with a minimum of 33% to be secured to sit for the UPSC Mains exam.

*Note 2: The questions in both Paper-I (current affairs) and Paper-II (aptitude test) will be of multiple-choice, objective type for 200 marks each and the time allotted for each paper is two hours

*Note 3: The candidate must appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelims) examination for evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of the (Prelims) exam.

Points to be noted:

• The questions are objective type (multiple choice questions) in the Prelims Examination.
• There is a rule of ‘negative marking’ is there in the Prelims Exam. There is a rule of cutting 0.83 marks from every wrong answer marked.
• A separate 20 minute given for blind candidates.
• Though it is mandatory to appear in the Prelims exam, the marks scored should be qualifying. This score will not be carried forward to the tally of the Main Exam and Interview.

Check out the main syllabus for IFS here.

Check out UPSC Pathshala’s review here.

UPSC Pathshala has been a pioneer in providing personalised mentoring to students along with live classes, doubt solving sessions, regular test series and much more.