Quoting Your mom:

"Indian Railway Traffic Service ???? Indian Telecom Service ?? Amusing to see well-qualified people who can do so much compete for these jobs and sign away their lives."

Damn! I think your comment just resulted in a 10-pt plunge in the nation's avg IQ! Do you even know what responsibilities entail an IRTS officer? A tyro IRTS officer starts out as an Area Officer/Manager in the railways commands a 1000-strong staff and is responsible for the ops of all trains (goods included) traversing his jurisdiction, coupled with the HR role he/she discharges with the looming threat of militant trade unionism. All this with a retinue of servants at his beck and call and a quaint, cozy bungalow to reside in! This is just one leaf out of a bulging book. Imagine, then, what it takes to run an entire zone, or for that matter, the entire railway ministry. My father's a senior IRTS officer and is currently the DRM of a division. He is responsible for all railway functions in his jurisdiction spanning 2000 km and has about 20k people reporting to him. He is on-duty 24x7 and puts in 12 hours even on a Saturday, when he could be teeing-off with officers from "better" services, who are putting in time as, say one of the CGMs of the State Sheep Wool Development Corporation. And if this is tantamount to a meaningless sinecure, involving someone "signing away their lives", I have bad news for you. Please have yourself tested.
Also, posts encadred to the Indian Telecom Service don't fall under the purview of the Civil Services Exam. You are probably confusing it with the Indian Trade Service (another group discharging critical economic functions).
So kid, do yourself and the whole world a favour by enlightening yourself before spewing vitriol on "these jobs" that probably mean the world to someone. And from the looks of it, you'd fail to make even a clerk's grade in the railways, leave aside the Indian Railway Service (IRS).

Hahaha No need to get so defensive about your dad's career choice. In our parents time there were few jobs available other than sarkari jobs. Thats not the case today and after five years in a top notch law school with so many good options available its ridiculous and laughable to join something like 'Indian Railways Traffic Service'. At least the AMSS slave is doing something he gave up 5 years of his life to learn (and getting paid well enough to retire early)

Maybe you are being sarcastic by boasting of an IRTS officer's ability to command 1,000 railwaymen. That's a very poor yardstick in this day and age. The question should be whether he is able to do anything useful in that position, is the job profile an intellectual challenge and finally how good a service it is compared to the IFS and IAS.

The unfortunate truth about central services is that other than the IAS and IFS (where I agree that to an extent one has the power to touch lives), the other services have an extremely mundane work profile, In addition the pay is low and if you're not willing to put in the minimum 16 years that it takes to earn a pension the retiral prospects are bleak (actually even with a pension the retiral scene is very average). Scratch that -- even with the pension retirals are not much. The hierarchy is stifling, protocol suffocating and your whole career can be flushed down the toilet if some low level boss writes a couple of adverse annual review reports.

Evan the so-called "perks" are petty. Having a 'big bungalow' is a myth unless you're posted in a rural area or are super-senior in service (read 35+ years). Even in metros like Delhi secretary level officers from the IAS (which 99% of railway officers will never reach due to the poor treatment they get) do not have bungalows. Even the bungalow-wallas get it for 2-4 years before retirement after which they have to go house-hunting at the age of 60.

On the other hand work if you are a lawyer from a top law school go work as a lawyer at a good firm, slog it out for 7-8 years, talk in person to the top solicitors, the top counsels, become a partner in 10 yrs (which is not too hard) and buy your own bungalow with the money you earn. Get a nice car, maybe buy a second home in a hill station, go for a nice holiday every quarter. Have a high quality of life and retire at 40!

Work profile is another very important consideration. Barring the IFS and IAS none of the other services has a really intellectually challenging profile. Usually their domains are very narrow and specialised and unless you fall in the small minority of those who love their jobs (such as being a tax officer or a railway manager) it can be miserable. Getting out is a big problem as finding a private sector job after losing out 5-8 years of seniority is tough. In general these are "safe" jobs with not much risk of failing.

As far as career progression is concerned these services (including the railway service) have very slow promotions compared to the IAS and IFS which can be very frustrating. As an example, out of the entire railway traffic signal officer cadre only 1 or 2 make it to a secretary-level position (as members of the railway board). The rest stagnate and have to eat crow while their service batchmates from the IFS and IAS get ahead. There's a whole volume of info about this on the internet that you can read this excellent account of the second-class treatment that non-IAS and non-IFS cadres get written by a serving Revenue Service officer www.babusofindia.com/2013/02/a-department-4200-irs-officers-ias-boss.html

For all the nonsense you've typed out, I'm certain even your dad wouldn't want you to follow in his footsteps as a Railway Traffic officer (assuming you were all set to graduate with a law degree from a good university).

Railway / Revenue Services are amongst the pits of any service profession in India. The job description is shady, The thought of spending 35-40 years if my life trying to audit taxes and force defaulters to pay up taxes makes me want to throw up. Ditto for managing train services. If I can do what a B.Com. (Pass) or B.A.(pass) graduate can do then I've lost my script somewhere. Can't believe someone from an NLU would want to do this.