How to become an IPS Officer or How to become a Police Commissioner? is the one of the most searched question in the internet all the time. But there is a very minimal source to guide the young minds who aspire to join in the Indian Police Service. So we Came up with an article to guide anyone to become an IPS officer.

We are sure this article will help you to understand about Indian Police service training, selection method, books you have to read for this examination and etc.

Kindly read this from start to end and comment if you have any queries. Let’s dive into the article.

How to Become an IPS Officer

IPS – Meaning

IPS – stands for Indian Police service. Those who are selected for this service work for the law and order of the country for their lifetime. As we know this is the most prestigious service in the country. If one wants to become an IPS officer, then he needs to attend Civil Service Examination which is held every year in the month of June or August.

Civil Service Examination

Every year union public service commission conducting civil service examination to select candidates for the prestigious post like IPS along with IAS, IFS, IRS from all over India in the merit basis. This exam comprises 3 parts.

Preliminary Examination
Mains Examination
Personality Test / Interview

Candidates those who are appearing for the examination should start from Preliminary examination and then mains and at last personality test. Failing at any of the 3 stages will make you start fresh from Preliminary which makes this examination little bit tougher. Anyhow with self-determination and confident, you can crack the examination easily.

I will cover “Cracking Civil Service with less (Smart) Effort” in another article.

IPS Educational Qualification

Any Candidate those who are applying for Indian Police Service must have completed a Degree course from any government / UGC approved university in any stream. So literally it means you should have a degree completion in any stream that you like.

Candidate those who are in the final year of their graduation can also apply for this examination.

Physical requirements for Male and Female

If you are going to Police, then the first thing you have to concentrate on is Physical Fitness. You should have prescribed Height, Weight, and Vision.

Height required for IPS

Male should be 165 cm (For ST – 160cm)

Female should be 150 cm (For ST – 145cm)

Chest

Male – Minimum 84 cm Expansion 5 cm

Female – Minimum 79 cm Expansion 5 cm

Eyesight

Male-6/6 or 6/9 distant vision for good eye

Female- 6/12 or 6/9 for worst eye. Near vision J 1 for good eye. J2 for worst eye

IPS Age Limit

Age must be 21 to 32 for General category. In case if you belong to SC/ST then you get relaxation of 5 and 3 years respectively.

IPS Exam Syllabus

As we said earlier those who want to become an IPS officer should overcome the three stages. In Preliminary Examination you have two papers.

Paper I – General Studies

General Studies comprises History, Polity, Indian Economy, Indian Geography, Science and Technology and Current Affairs. We will see the book list and study material in the following section of this article.

Paper II – Civil Service Aptitude Test

Civil service Aptitude test comprises General Aptitude, Mental Ability, Comprehension, Verbal and Non – Verbal.

Books needed for IPS Preparation

You can read our help guide “Essential Books required to clear Preliminary Examination”

History

12th standard Ancient India NCERT,

Medieval India NCERT

Modern History NCERT by Bipin Chandra

Polity

Indian Polity by Laxmikanth is the most preferred book among the civil service aspirants. Some people call this book as the bible of India Polity. You don’t need to refer any other sources for this Polity. All the topics which are needed for the examination covered in this book in a nice and neat way. Making yourself thorough on this book will make you confident on Polity.

Indian Economy

Indian Economy is the most interesting subject to read. From our home to Nation revolves with Economy. Without that there is nothing. At first, when you are starting preparation you might experience some difficulties in understanding some technical terms like GDP, GNP, Inflation, Deflation etc. After reading for some time, you will enjoy it.

Try to start with 11th and 12th standard NCERT and then go for Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh. Side by side try to cover current affairs on Economy in Hindu will boost up your knowledge in this paper. In my case, I started with NCERT and then followed by Key concepts of Economy by Sankar Ganesh and then I went to Ramesh Singh for the concept clarity.

Geography

For Geography, you have to read 6 to 12th standard NCERT and Atlas. From 6th to 10th Ncert’s are very smaller books. Anyone can read within 3 to 5 days of time. 11th and 12th books are the little bit bigger than the previous. But don’t have to fear. Everything you have read on 6th to 10th will be given in an expansive manner.

You can also refer Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong for clarity on Concepts.

Science and Technology

Nowadays this paper was so dynamic. Most of the questions from this section come from current events on the science and tech field. Reading daily newspaper like Hindu, Indian Express will help you on this paper.

Current Affairs

There are various numbers of sources available online as well as offline. You can update yourself effortlessly on this topic. Reading daily newspaper itself gives you the ability to solve the questions from this part. In my experience Vision, IAS Current Affair material is enough even if you don’t have the paper reading habit. However, paper reading should not be omitted because paper reading will help you in the mains answer writing.

You can download current affairs from their website Visionias.in on the monthly basis in free of cost.

So finally above sources will be more than enough to clear preliminary. For mains and Interview, you should approach the little bit differently. Will update you this as a separate article.

IPS Training

Once you are selected for IPS, your IPS training (Foundation Course) will start at LBSNAA, Mussoorie. For the first 3 months of your 2 years assessment period, which is a regular training with IAS, IFS and IRS officers. After completing your foundation course you would proceed to the National Police Academy (NPA), Hyderabad for 11 months of training.

Here every candidate would undergo both indoor and outdoor training.

Indoor Training

Indoor Training, based on academic training. You would undergo training on IPC/CrPC/IEA/Ethics/Police Management etc, along with seminars and lectures from renowned personalities from around the country.

Outdoor Training

Outdoor training involves PT, Cross Country runs of 16kms, Firearms training, Route marches, Unarmed Combat training, games, horse-riding and much more. So totally it’s related to physical training.

During the training period, you would also have to visit various institutes across the country as part of training.

After, that all candidates will continue for 6 months of training in their allotted state cadre, then, they have to final attend final one-month training in the institute.

Successfully completing this, training officers will go back to their allotted cadre as confirmed IPS officers.

Starting your IPS Journey

As a probationer IPS Officer, you will be posted as ASP, Assistant Superintendent of Police in your cadre state. From there you would serve the nation till you retire from the job.

Indian police service Salary

IPS Officers will get a good pay as like as any civil servant of India. With the salary, they also have some hikes and perks like Government House and Vehicle for their use. Basically, IPS officers start their salary with 40,000 per month as ASP and go up with 100000 per month.

This article will get the update soon with more information.