When you live in a nation like India -- with its vast landmass, varied people and ancient history -- it's quite possible that there are many things you may not know about her.
In this series, we hope to satisfy your curiosity with interesting nuggets of information about India.
A princely sum of Rs 350 is what used to be the total salary of an IAS officer at the start of his service in 1949. A secretary, who heads a ministry, at that time was paid Rs 3,500. Almost 60 years later, an IAS officer's pay scale starts at Rs 8,000, while the secretary gets Rs 30,000.
The annual batch of IAS officers every year in the 1950s used to have 50 to 70 officers. Today, each batch consists of close to 400 officers.
The training of IAS officers those days used to be undertaken in Metcalfe House in Delhi. Probationers would live in nearby areas and cycle their way to Metcalfe House. In 1958, the training school was shifted to Mussoorie.
Till 1985, IAS officers could choose the state to whose service cadre they would like to belong with an option of three choices in order of preference. Under the new system, an officer is asked to name only one state and in the absence of vacancies in that state, he is allotted to the next state where there is a vacancy.
