Public Sector, the Unsung Hero

Thanks to our current sources of content absorption such as internet and television, the Indian population, especially the youth, dread the idea of any government job lower than Grade A cadre. However, a profession in the Government sector can be highly rewarding. Other than the prestigious titles such as Indian Administrative Services or Diplomats, civil services offer a highly functional, exciting and meaningful career to those who strive to work hard.

Working‌ ‌as‌ ‌a‌ ‌GST‌ ‌Officer.

We tried to understand more about the nuances of working as a civil servant of the Indian Government, Mr. Sandeep Kumar. Kumar grew up in Firozabad district. In 2007, he cleared JEE and got into BTech Biotech at IIT Roorkee, which he passed out of in 2011. BTech course in Biotech had just been introduced back then. After finishing BTech he went to Delhi and self-studied for UPSE, but he couldn't clear UPSE in the 2013 exam. In 2014 he appeared for SSC exam, which he cleared. He got the post of central excise inspector in Baroda. That's when he shifted to Baroda. Now he is working as a GST officer and is also preparing for state service exams.

Sandeep talks to us that as a GST officer, he and his department’s basic aim is to maximize revenue through Goods and Services Tax. They try to find loopholes and leakages in the revenue system and fix them. They also look for attempts at tax evasion and penalize the people responsible. The department also does tax assessment of regular taxpayers, how much they are paying, scrutinizing their tax returns etc. He also talks about his job also entails use of modern technical tools as after the advent of GST, a huge amount of data is generated that needs to be analysed, like a vast amount of data related to return filing of various individuals.

According to him, there are three stages of examination for Staff Selection Commission, which one needs to clear for jobs like these. First there is a preliminary exam, called tier 1. The second exam has two papers. This second exam is called tier 2. And after tier 2 comes the interview, the final stage. Tier 1 has four sections, English, numerical aptitude, logical reasoning and general studies. General studies areas like current affairs, history, geography and economics. And math questions they ask are covered in school syllabus up to 10th standard. So, the syllabus is easy. But there is a lot of competition. Specially in the northern states, far too many people try for these jobs.

‌Promotions‌ ‌and‌ ‌Growth.

However, even if the competition is high, you enjoy much more job security compared to the private sector. But growth opportunities are much less than private sector. You will probably get just two promotions in your entire career in this sector. And there are two feeder cadres in this job. In other words, people are hired for this job from two places. Group B and group A. Group B posts are filled by candidates who have cleared SSC exam. They are inspector level posts. And after one promotion, the next post is that of superintendent. These two are group B posts.

Group A posts start with assistant commissioner, and include Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner, Additional Commissioner etc. These posts are filled by candidates who have cleared UPSE exam. In group B posts, you start as an inspector, then get promoted to superintendent, and then to Assistant Commissioner. The promotions in group B posts stop there. In group A, you start as an Assistant Commissioner, then get promoted after four years to Deputy Commissioner, then after four years to Joint commissioner and so on. Promotions in group A are also faster than promotions in group B.

So, if you want a comparatively more powerful post, then you need to get into this sector through UPSE. But if you are more interested in field work, then you can go through SSC.

Sandeep wishes everyone well by suggesting that students interested in this field should totally try for it. You get job satisfaction and enough free time to spend with family. And if you want a more powerful, administrative post, then you can try UPSE.