West Bengal Civil Service Examination.
A privilege to introduce a write-up from one of the Top Institute for Govt. Job exam, MIES Institute is a modern equipped Competitive Institute in West Bengal. An informative article on West Bengal Civil Service examination from Topmost Institute for WBCS exam preparation in West Bengal, MIES Institute is one of the Best Institute for PSC, SSC, RAIL, BANK exams preparation in Kolkata of West Bengal, situated at Sonarpur (HO), Sealdah (Main City Centre), Branches at Barasat, Behala Chowrasta, Howrah Maidan, konnagar, and Chinsurah, moreover, this Institute is one of the best coachings for Govt. Job exams preparation in West Bengal. The write-up follows below.
West Bengal Civil Service (Executive), popularly known as W.B.C.S.(Exe), is the civil service of the Indian state of West Bengal. For the WBCS (Exe) and other comparative posts, the Public Service Commission of West Bengal arranges competitive examinations every year in three phases every year. These phases are Preliminary, Mains, and Personality Test.
West Bengal Civil Service Examination Details
FEES:
INR 60,000/- At a time
INR 66,000/- (18000 + 12000×4)
Preliminary Exam:-
| 1 paper (qualifying) | 2½ hrs. | General Studies (8 topics including Reasoning, English language, History, Geography, Current Affairs, General Knowledge, General Science and Indian Polity and Economy | MCQ | 200 |
Main Exam:-
| Paper I | 3 hrs. | Bengali / Hindi / Urdu / Nepali/Santali | Descriptive | 200 |
| Paper II | English | 200 | ||
| Paper III | General Studies-I : History & Geography | MCQ | 200 | |
| Paper IV | General Studies-II : Science & Technology, Environment, G.K and Current Affairs | 200 | ||
| Paper V | The Constitution of India & Indian Economy | 200 | ||
| Paper VI | Arithmetic and Test of Reasoning | 200 | ||
| Paper VII | Optional Subject Paper I[1] | Descriptive | 200 | |
| Paper VIII | Optional Subject Paper II | 200 | ||
| Total Marks | 1600[ |
- Only one optional subject is to be taken from the prescribed list.
- Optional paper is only for those candidates who opted for Group A & B
- 2 Total marks are 1200 in case of Group C and D candidates
Personality Test:-
| Personality Tests | |||
| Group A | Group B | Group C | Group D |
| 200 Marks | 150 Marks | 100 Marks |
Eligibility:-
Educational Qualification: A degree from a recognized university and ability to read and write Bengali but it is not required for the candidates having Nepali as a mother tongue.
Age Limit:-
WBCS age limit is defined separately for all the groups of services. The age of the candidates is counted from January 1 of the year of examination. It means that the age of the candidates will be counted from January 1, 2021 for the WBCS 2021 exam.
The Group-wise WBCS age criteria are as follows :
WBCS Age Limit for Group ‘A’ & ‘C’ Services
The WBCS notification defines the age criteria
Lower Age Limit-21 years
Upper Age limit-36 years
WBCS Age Limit for Group-B Services
The WBCS group B service only includes the West Bengal Police Services (WBPS). The age criterion for WBCS Gr. B is as follows:
Lower Age Limit-20 years
Upper Age limit-36 years
The candidates whose age is not below 20 years and above 36 years can apply for the WBCS Gr. B Services i.e for the WBPS.
WBCS Age Limit for the Group-D Services
The WBCS D Group services are the clerical positions in the state administrative machinery. The WBCS age criteria for Gr. D services are:
Lower Age Limit -21 years
Upper Age limit- 39 years
WBCS Age limit relaxation
The WBPSC also provides the age relaxation to the candidates belonging to certain reserved categories. 5 years age relaxation for SC/ST & 3 years age relaxation for OBC (Non-Creamy Layer)
In the case of Persons with Disabilities (PWD), the upper age limit is relaxable up to 45 years. S.C./S.T./B.C. candidates of other States shall be treated as General category candidates.
Besides the educational and age limit criteria, there are certain physical requirements which are required for certain positions
Physical Slandered:-
For West Bengal Police Service (Group ‘B’ Service) -The minimum height requirement is 1.65 metres for male candidates and 1.50 metres for female candidates subject to relaxation in the case of candidates belonging to races such as Gorkhas, Garwalis, Assamese Tribals etc. Candidates intending to be considered for this group must indicate their height in the appropriate column of the application form.
Application Form Fill Up: –
Usually, online form fill up begins for WBCS in the month of November. Preliminary Exam is held in the Last week of January or first week of February at different cities of West Bengal. Post the publications of Preliminary results, Mains Exams are held in June–July in some selected institutions of Kolkata city and at the office of WBPSC. The candidates who passed in Mains are called for Personality test. At last, a selection list is issued by PSC consisting the name of qualified candidates of Mains Exams and Personality test. All these processes take up to one and a half year.
Recruitment:-
There are different groups in the recruitment of such examination based on choice and merit of scored number. These are A Group, B Group (only for West Bengal Police Service ), Gr C[4], and Gr D. The WBCS (Exe) officers belong to Group-A. In general, As per the record of the WBPSC, the candidates with higher scores opt for WBCS (Exe), WBPS, and some allied services like erstwhile WBCTS, etc as their first choice. Since 1988 some of the top-ranked candidates have opted for an allied service called WB commercial Tax Service (WBCTS) as their first choice due to the less strenuous nature of the service and the lure of metro posting. Only WBCS (Exe) & WBCTS cadres are considered to be the State Civil Service by UPSC for direct promotion to IAS and WBPS officers are promoted to IPS after 7 to 9 years of service in state police service.[5]
Functions: –
The WBCS (Exe) officers are usually appointed as deputy magistrates or deputy collectors on probation and after completion of two years of mandatory administrative training under the tutelage of Administrative Training Institute, start their career as Deputy Magistrate and Deputy Collector and Block Development (B.D.O.) Officers. They also pass order in Executive Magistrate Court and execute some sections of Criminal Procedure Code. The officers of the cadre perform the key administrative functions at different levels of various departments of the state. The highest position WBCS (Exe) officers can attain is that of Departmental secretary. Three posts of district magistrate in the State of West Bengal is reserved for these officers. WBCS (Exe) officers may also be nominated at a later stage of their career to become Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers.
Services:-
Services are alloted in four groups, which are as follows:[7]
Gr. A
- West Bengal Civil Services (Executive) WBCS (Exe)
- West Bengal Revenue Service[a] (WBRS)
- WB Co-operative Service (WBCoS)
- West Bengal Labour Service (WBLS)
- WB Food and Supplies Service (WBF&FS)
- West Bengal Employment Service (Non-Technical) (WBES)
B Group
- West Bengal Police Service (WBPS)
C Group
- West Bengal Correctional Home Services
- Joint Block Development Officer (Jt. BDO)
- Deputy Assistant Director of Consumers and Fair Business Practices
- West Bengal Junior Social Welfare Service (WBJSWS)
- Assistant Canal Revenue Officer (Irrigation) (ACRO–Irrigation)
- West Bengal Sub-ordinate Land Revenue Services, Grade-I (SLRO)
- Assistant Commercial Tax Officer (ACTO)
- Chief Controller of Correctional Service (CCCS)
Gr. D
- Inspector of Co-operative Societies (ICoS)
- Panchayat Development Officer (PDO)
- Rehabilitation Officer (RO)
Preparation for West Bengal Civil Service Examination:-
The WBCS preparation requires over one year of preparation and the candidates need a consistent study with the right strategy. The candidate should start with the newspaper and a monthly current affairs magazine. Students should make a study plan as per their strengths and weaknesses. The academic background of the candidate plays a big role in making the study plan for the WBCS exam. The study plan is very important because the candidate will be comfortable in the topics associated with his or her academic background. So they will allocate less time to those topics. Divide the whole syllabus between the concrete and small parts and try to finish the topics within the shortest possible time. The students should have an eye on the latest reports and schemes of the government and its associated bodies. These reports are very important because the exam bodies can ask direct questions from these reports. Forest reports Finance Commission reports, NITI Aayog reports, State government reports, Union Budget, State budget are some of them. Government Schemes are also very important for the WBSC exams. The WBPSC always asks the state-centric government schemes run by the Union and the state government. The candidates should prepare notes of the government schemes and the facilities provided under the scheme. Students also need to improve their innovative writing skills. They also required in-depth knowledge in all subjects. Candidates should follow the previous year’s question papers (at least 10 years) which helps them to reach their goal/target. Besides this candidates need to take guidance from MIES Institute which is a best competitive institute for WBCS exam preparation in West Bengal.