The Union Public Service Commission is a central recruiting agency, which conducts examinations for All India Services and other central examinations. IPS or Indian Police Service is one of the three All India Services, which is being filled for policing. The other two are Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and IFS. To get into Indian Police Service (IPS), you need to clear Civil Services Exam (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) every year.
Roles and Responsibilities
First of all, IPS is not a joke. It is a highly respected post besides IAS. They have the most important role in establishing the law and order of the country. It is an achievement in itself, as one can say. The main responsibility of an IPS is to make sure that the citizens are under jurisdiction without any bias.
Eligibility Criteria
A candidate must meet the criteria in order to become eligible for taking up the exam. These range from nationality, age criteria, educational qualifications required, physical standards and more importantly numbers of attempts made. However, the selection of candidates is a bit different from that of IAS as the job need physical wellness. The following are the criteria for the exam.
Nationality
The candidate must be an Indian citizen.
Educational Qualification
To be an IPS officer, a candidate must have a Bachelor’s degree from any university, recognized from University Grants Commission. Those candidates who are in the final year of their graduation can also apply for Preliminary Examination, which are taken every year. Candidate, who holds technical or professional degrees from recognized institutions like MBBS or BE etc., can also apply for the same. Those candidates who have passed their final year of MBBS but haven’t completed their internships can also appear for the Mains Examination. However, for the MBBS case, the candidates should submit a certificate from the concerned authority of their respective University or the Institution, that they have passed the final professional medical examination along with their application for the exam.
Also read LSAT India 2019 Application Form, Eligibility, Admit Card, Exam Pattern
Age Limit
There are certain age limits, which the candidate should fulfill. There are:
- The minimum age for the candidate is 21 years on 1st August of the year on the examination.
- The maximum for the same is 32 years on 1st August of the year of exam.
There are certain age limit relaxations for the reserved class, i.e. for OBSs and SC/ST:
- Up to five years more age relaxation, if a candidate belongs to Scheduled Tribe or Schedule Tribe.
- Up to three years for candidates who belong to Other Backward Classes of the non-creamy layer
Also read Copy PTE 2019 Registration, Exam Format, Test Centers, Application Fee
Medical Fitness
There are certain criteria regarding physical fitness, as the job requires a lot of physical strength.
- Minimum height (For males) is 165 cm.
- Minimum height (for females) is 150 cm.
- Minimum chest (for males) should be 85 cm should expand up to 5 cm.
- Minimum chest (or females) should be 79 cm and should be expandable up to 5 cm too.
- Physical standards, which are essential for the post of IPS includes running for 10 kms in 60 mins, rope climbing, riding horse, obstacles, etc.
- Pregnant ladies are not eligible at the time of medical test for IPS.
- Good eyesight is required. For corrected vision, distant vision should be 6/6 or 6/9. However, for uncorrected vision, the distant vision should be 6/12 or 6/9.
- Hypermyopia: It should not exceed +4.00D
- Myopia: It should not exceed -4.00D.
Important Dates for IPS Exam
One has to clear the Civil Services Examination (prelims), which is being conducted by UPSC. Candidates can apply by filling the online application available on the UPSC website.
| UPSC IPS 2019 | Examination Date | Exam type |
| Preliminary | June 2 2019 | Objective |
| Mains | Sept 20 2019 | Descriptive |
IPS prelims result will come in July and mains’ will come in December ’19. The final result will come on 20 April ’20.
IPS 2019 Exam Pattern
Preliminary Exam: consists of two papers of 200 marks each. They test topics from general studies.
Main Exam: it is conducted to test the depth of your knowledge and that’s why it is descriptive in nature. It consists of seven papers.
Interview: the final stage consists of interview, which being taken by board, testing your general interests.
Admit Card
One can download the admit card from the official website of UPSC, which will be released in August ’19.
Attempts
6 is the maximum number of attempts, one can make. However it is different for the reserved classes.