In our special series on the more than 20 services provided under the joint UPSC CSE exam, today, we cover the Indian Defence Estate Service (IDES) and Indian Information Service (IIS). UPSC aspirants can explore both these services as interesting career options.
INDIAN DEFENCE ESTATE SERVICE
Initially known as the Military Lands and Cantonment Service and then Defence Lands and Cantonment Service, Indian Defence Estate Service (IDES) was first established in 1926. It was in the year 1985 when the service got renamed and has been called Indian Defence Estate Services since then. It comes under the Ministry of Defence and its primary goal is to manage the cantonments and land belonging to the defence establishment.
The Directorate General, located at Raksha Sampada Bhawan in Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi, is run and managed by IDES. Six directorates work as regional headquarters and supervise the field offices coming under their jurisdiction. They are located at six army commands, Jammu (Northern Command), Lucknow (Central Command) Chandigarh (Western Command), Kolkata (Eastern Command), Jaipur ( Southwestern Command) and New Delhi
The Director General of Defence Estates is the highest-ranking officer of the service, who heads the Directorate General in Delhi Cantonment. Besides that, the Additional Director General (ADG) of Defence Estates and Senior Additional Director General (SADG) of Defence Estates work under that post.
INDIAN INFORMATION SERVICE
This service works as the media manager of the government. They are the bridge between the government and public and communicate about government policies and schemes to public and get their feedbacks. The officers from this service work under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and are posted in government-owned media units like DD News, All India Radio, Press Information Bureau, DAVP, etc.
They are also posted as the spokesperson of various ministries while working in PIB. The IIS officers are also posted as spokesperson of various constitutional bodies such as CAG, CBI, Election Commission, etc.
Their organisational hierarchy includes Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Joint Director, Director, Additional Director General, Director General, Principal Director General. PDG is equivalent to Special Secretary to the Government of India.
