Tamil Nadu   

Grooming the country's bureaucrats

Vani Doraisamy

WHOEVER SAID privately run coaching centres were the best bet for competitive exams had perhaps not heard of the All India Civil Services Coaching Centre, run by the Anna Institute of Management, for the State government's Personnel and Administrative Reforms Department.

Immense contribution

The only such institute run by a State government in the country, the centre has been single-handedly responsible for Tamil Nadu's immense contribution, qualitatively and quantitatively, to the Civil Services Pool.

This year, out of the 300 candidates from the institute who appeared for the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) preliminary examination, 147 were selected for the mains, out of which 71 were selected for the board interviews and 24 finally made it to the selection list, the highest number from any State.

Out of the 24, two candidates find place within the first 50 ranks, two candidates are placed between ranks 50 to 100 and the remaining between ranks 100 to 250. Last year, the centre had returned 22 successful candidates.

The institute trains BC, MBC, SC/ST candidates and offers free coaching for students from families whose annual income is below Rs 50,000. In other cases, a caution deposit of Rs 1,500 is charged. The intake is 300 students every year, with residential facilities for 100.

"We offer our students the best in coaching, inviting top bureaucrats from the State as our guest lecturers and providing intensive in-house training, starting from before the preliminary examinations,'' an officer in charge of the institute said.

The successful candidates this year are a rather unusual lot, drawn from across a range of professions such as the police, revenue, railways and Customs. Tamil literature has emerged as a popular option for the main examinations. Institute officials offer the following advice to students: The basic qualifications for UPSC examinations are that one should be an Indian citizen above 21 years, with a degree. While the upper age limit for OC/OBC candidates is 30 years, for SC/ST candidates, it is 35 years. A candidate can make a maximum of seven attempts.

Admission

Admission season at the institute starts in October every year for the following year's prelims. Advertisements are issued in leading newspapers around September-October. Entrance tests are held in October-November. Classes start from November and after six months, a two-month break ensues, followed by coaching from July to October for the mains.

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