Union Public Service Commission

Civil Servants for the East India Company used to be nominated by the Directors
of the Company and thereafter trained at Haileybury College in London and then sent to 
India. Following Lord Macaulay’s Report of the Select Committee of British Parliament, 
the concept of a merit based modern Civil Service in India was introduced in 1854. The 
Report recommended that patronage based system of East India Company should be 
replaced by a permanent Civil Service based on a merit based system with entry 
through competitive examinations. For this purpose, a Civil Service Commission was 
setup in 1854 in London and competitive examinations were started in 1855. Initially, 
the examinations for Indian Civil Service were conducted only in London. Maximum age 
was 23 years and minimum age was 18 years. The syllabus was designed such that 
European Classics had a predominant share of marks. All this made it difficult for Indian 
candidates. Nevertheless, in 1864, the first Indian, Shri Satyendranath Tagore brother 
of Shri Rabindaranath Tagore succeeded. Three years later 4 other Indians succeeded. 
Throughout the next 50 years, Indians petitioned for simultaneous examinations to be 
held in India without success because the British Government did not want many 
Indians to succeed and enter the ICS. It was only after the First World War and the 
Montagu Chelmsford reforms that this was agreed to. From 1922 onwards the Indian 
Civil Service Examination began to be held in India also, first in Allahabad and later in 
Delhi with the setting up of the Federal Public Service Commission. The Examination in 
London continued to be conducted by the Civil Service Commission