UPSC 2026

UPSC CSE

UPSC CSE Notification 2026 is released for 933 vacancies on the official website upsc.gov.in. Download the notification PDF and check exam dates, eligibility, vacancies, and further details

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has officially released the UPSC Notification 2026 on its website. The online application window has been opened simultaneously, enabling candidates to register and submit their applications.

The notification contains key details such as examination dates, eligibility requirements, number of vacancies, application fee, and exam pattern. Candidates are advised to keep their documents, photograph, and scanned signature ready for a hassle-free online application process.

The UPSC Notification 2026 for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026 and the Indian Forest Service Examination (IFoS) 2026, originally scheduled for release on 14 January 2026, has now been published on 4 February 2026 on the official website, upsc.gov.in. The Commission also provides an application correction window usually a week after the application closes which helps candidates rectify minor errors

As per the schedule, the UPSC Prelims Examination 2026 will be conducted on 24 May 2026, while the UPSC Mains Examination 2026 will commence from 21 August 2026. This article covers all the important details related to the UPSC CSE Notification 2026. The online application window will remain open until 24 February 2026, up to 6:00 PM (IST).

The UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2026 is a nationwide competitive exam conducted annually to recruit officers for various Group A and Group B services such as the IAS, IPS, IRS, and others. The selection process consists of three stages: the Preliminary Examination (objective), the Main Examination (descriptive), and the Personality Test (interview). To ensure wider accessibility, UPSC conducts the Prelims, Mains, and Interview stages in both English and Hindi.

Overview of CSE Notification 2026

Examination Overview

Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination for recruitment to the Services and Posts mentioned below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission on 24th May, 2026 in accordance with the Rules published by the Department of Personnel & Training in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 04th February, 2026, All candidates must carefully read the Civil Services Examination- 2026 Rules together with all the Appendices along with the Annexures thereof and this Examination Notice derived from the CSE Rules-2026 in entirety for gaining awareness of the current Rules and Regulations as changes may have been incorporated since the previous Examination Rules.

(i) Indian Administrative Service

(ii) Indian Foreign Service

(iii) Indian Police Service

(iv) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’

(v) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’

(vi) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’

(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’

(viii) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’

(ix) Indian Information Service, Group ‘A’

(x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’

(xi) Indian Post & Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’

(xii) Indian Railway Management Service (Traffic), Group ‘A’

(xiii) Indian Railway Management Service (Personnel), Group ‘A’

(xiv) Indian Railway Management Service (Accounts), Group ‘A’

(xv) Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’

(xvi) Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’

(xvii) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’

(xviii) Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)

(xix) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)

(xx) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B’

(xxi) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’

(xxii) Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’

(xxiii) Pondicherry Police Service(PONDIPS),Group‘B’

The official UPSC Notification 2026 PDF is available for download on the UPSC’s official website, upsc.gov.in. The notification contains comprehensive information on eligibility criteria, list of services, reservation categories, examination dates, syllabus, exam centres, application fee details, instructions, and application guidelines. Aspirants are strongly advised to read the notification carefully and keep a downloaded copy for reference throughout the selection process. The link to download the detailed notification is provided below.

Notification Link: Download

Pattern of Examination

Number of attempts:

Every candidate appearing at the examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six (6) attempts at the CSE. However, relaxation in the number of attempts will be available to the SC/ST/OBC and PwBD category candidates who are otherwise eligible. The number of attempts available to such candidates as per relaxation is as under:

Age Limits:

(1) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on the 1st of August, 2026 i.e., the candidate must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1994 and not later than 1st August, 2005.

(2) The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable:

(a) up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;

(b) up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates;

(c) up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof;

(d) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and Emergency Commissioned Officers (ECOs)/ Short Service Commissioned Officers (SSCOs) who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2026 and have been released:

(i) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, 2026, otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency); or

(ii) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service; or

(iii) on invalidment

(e) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as on 1st August, 2026 and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.

(f) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of candidates belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) categories viz.

(i) blindness and low vision;

(ii) deaf and hard of hearing;

(iii) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy;

(iv) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness;

(v) multiple disabilities from amongst person under clauses (i) to (iv) including deaf blindness.

Provided that attempts available to a candidate shall be restricted in terms of provision under Rule12 of Civil Service Rules 2026

Note-I: The terms – GL for General, EWS for Economically Weaker Sections, SC for Scheduled Castes, ST for Scheduled Tribes, OBC for Other Backward Classes and PwBD for Persons with Benchmark Disability – are used for denoting the categories of candidates taking an attempt at the Examination.

Note-II: An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Civil Services Examination.

Note-III: If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, it will be deemed that the candidate has made an attempt at the Examination.

Note-IV: Notwithstanding any subsequent disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the Examination will count as an attempt

FEE: All the candidates (Except Female/SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to pay fee of Rs. 100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) by using Net Banking facility of any bank or by using Visa / Master / RuPay / Credit / Debit Card / UPI Payment for appearing in Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2026 and Candidates admitted to the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2026 will be required to pay a further fee of Rs. 200/- (Rupees Two hundred only) (Except exempted category i.e. SC / ST / PwBD / Women) through a window of 10 (Ten) days to be provided after declaration of Result of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Part – A – Preliminary Exam Scheme and Syllabus

Paper I – (200 marks)                                                                                      Duration: Two hours

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

Paper II-(200 marks)                                                                                              Duration: Two hours

• Comprehension;
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability;
• Decision making and problem solving;
• General mental ability;
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X level);

Note 1: Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%.

Note 2: The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Part B – Main Examination

The main Examination is intended to assess the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory. The nature and standard of questions in the General Studies papers (Paper II to Paper V) will be such that a well-educated person will be able to answer them without any specialized study. The questions will be such as to test a candidate’s general awareness of a variety of subjects, which will have relevance for a career in Civil Services. The questions are likely to test the candidate’s basic understanding of all relevant issues, and ability to analyze, and take a view on conflicting socio-economic goals, objectives and demands. The candidates must give relevant, meaningful and succinct answers.

The scope of the syllabus for optional subject papers (Paper VI and Paper VII) for the examination is broadly of the honours degree level i.e. a level higher than the bachelors’ degree and lower than the masters’ degree. In the case of Engineering, Medical Science and law, the level corresponds to the bachelors’ degree.

Syllabi of the papers included in the scheme of Civil Services (Main) Examination are given as follows:-

 QUALIFYING PAPERS ON INDIAN LANGUAGES AND ENGLISH

The aim of the paper is to test the candidates’ ability to read and understand serious discursive prose, and to express ideas clearly and correctly, in English and Indian language concerned. The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows:

(i) Comprehension of given passages.

(ii) Precis Writing.

(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.

(iv) Short Essays.

Indian Languages:-

(i) comprehension of given passages.

(ii) Precis Writing.

(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.

(iv) Short Essays.

(v) Translation from English to the Indian Language and vice-versa.

Note 1:The papers on Indian Languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.

Note 2:The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language (except where translation is involved).

PAPER-I

Essay: Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

PAPER-II

General Studies-I:

Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society. · Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

• Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues.
• The Freedom Struggle — its various stages and important contributors/contributions from different parts of the country.
• Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
• History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.— their forms and effect on the society.
• Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
• Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
• Effects of globalization on Indian society.
• Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
• Salient features of world’s physical geography.
• Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
• Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location-changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

PAPER-III

General Studies- II:

Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.

• Indian Constitution—historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure.
• Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein.
• Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
• Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries.
• Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
• Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
• Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
• Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
• Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• Role of civil services in a democracy.
• India and its neighborhood- relations.
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
• Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

PAPER-IV

General Studies-III:

Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management

• Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
• Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
• Government Budgeting.
• Major crops-cropping patterns in various parts of the country, – different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers.
• Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System- objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions; economics of animal-rearing.
• Food processing and related industries in India- scope’ and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
• Land reforms in India.
• Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth. Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
• Investment models.
• Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.
• Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
• Disaster and disaster management.
• Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
• Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas – linkages of organized crime with terrorism.
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

PAPER-V

General Studies- IV:

Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude

• This paper will include questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered:
• Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in-human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics – in private and public relationships. Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
• Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
• Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
• Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance.
• Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
• Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
• Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption.
• Case Studies on above issues.

PAPER-VI & PAPER VII

Optional Subject Papers I & II Candidate may choose any optional subject from amongst the List of Optional Subjects

Note 1:For Santhali language, question paper will be printed in Devanagari script; but candidates will be free to answer either in Devanagari script or in Olchiki.

Note 2: For Manipuri Language, question paper will be printed in Bengali Script; but candidates will be free to answer either in Bengali Script or in Meitei Mayek Script.

List of optional subjects for Main Examination:

(i) Agriculture

(ii) Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science

(iii) Anthropology

(iv) Botany

(v) Chemistry

(vi) Civil Engineering

(vii) Commerce and Accountancy

(viii) Economics

(ix) Electrical Engineering

(x) Geography

(xi) Geology

(xii) History

(xiii) Law

(xiv) Management

(xv) Mathematics

(xvi) Mechanical Engineering

(xvii) Medical Science

(xviii) Philosophy

(xix) Physics

(xx) Political Science and International Relations

(xxi) Psychology

(xxii) Public Administration

(xxiii) Sociology

(xxiv) Statistics

(xxv)Zoology

(xxvi) Literature of any one of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English.