UPSC proposes registration for Civil Services exam as attempt to increase number of test takers

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 7: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has put forward a proposal to the Government that submission of application form for civil services prelims exam should be counted as an attempt for the exam. UPSC officials have confirmed that the proposal has been made to save resources as it was observed in previous examinations that nearly half the candidates, who apply for the exam, do not appear in it.

Officials have confirmed that UPSC has already sent its proposal to the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The Commission has taken the measure to ensure that most of the applicants turn up for the exam thereby minimising cost, time and effort.

Currently, a candidate is deemed to have exhausted an attempt only after appearing in at least one paper of prelims exam. The proposal has been made in light of previous years’ trends.

A UPSC official was quoted sharing with a news channel, “If we get about nine lakh applications, we have to prepare for nine lakh candidates to sit for the exam. But only about half of them turn up. If this recommendation is accepted, we will save a lot of money, time and effort.”

As of now, the official rule of the UPSC Civil Services (CS) notification restricts general candidates for six attempts in CS examination, while 9 attempts are allowed for OBC candidates. However, no such restriction is there for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) categories.

Union Public Service Commission conducts UPSC CS exam for the appointment of candidates to Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ of Central Services. The exam is held in three stages – prelims, mains and interview.