The country currently has over 1,000 vacant positions in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and more than 500 unfilled roles in the Indian Police Service (IPS), according to Union Minister Jitendra Singh.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, he stated that as of January 1, 2024, there were 5,542 IAS officers in position out of the total sanctioned strength of 6,858, and 4,469 IPS officers working against their sanctioned strength of 5,055.
Details of Vacant Posts
IAS: Of the 1,316 vacant IAS posts, 794 are designated for direct recruits, and 522 are promotion-based.
IPS: Of the 586 vacant IPS positions, 209 are for direct recruits and 377 are promotion posts.
Current Status of Indian Forest Service (IFS)
Minister Singh also mentioned the current status of the Indian Forest Service (IFS), with 2,151 officers in position against the sanctioned strength of 3,193, leaving 1,042 IFS posts vacant. Of these, 503 are for direct recruits, and 539 are promotion posts.
Appointments to IAS, IPS, and IFS in Recent Years
He further shared data on appointments to the IAS, IPS, and IFS from various categories—General, Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC)—over the past five years. For the 2022 Civil Services Examination (CSE), there were:
IAS: 75 General, 45 OBC, 29 SC, and 13 ST appointments.
IPS: 83 General, 53 OBC, 31 SC, and 13 ST appointments.
IFS: 43 General, 51 OBC, 22 SC, and 11 ST appointments during CSE 2024.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the Civil Services Examination annually to select eligible candidates for the IAS, IPS, and IFS.
(With inputs from PTI)
