(Article) ANALYSIS OF UPSC 2019 EXAM FINAL RESULT CUT OFF

Context :

Recently, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the final result of the Civil Services Examination 2019. The number of total qualified candidates is 829 including the prestigious services of IAS, IPS & IFS, IRS among others.

Key details :

A total of 829 candidates are recommended for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among other civil services.
Mr. Pradeep Singh secured the first rank while Mr. Jatin Kishore and Ms. Pratibha Verma secured the second and third ranks respectively in the UPSC Toppers list.

Break up of 829 candidates category wise are as under :

General	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	TOTAL
304	78	251	129	67	829

Out of 829 qualified candidates, 304 are from the General category, 78 from Economically Weaker Section (EWS), 251 from Other Backward Classes (OBC), 129 from Scheduled Castes (SC) and 67 from Scheduled Tribes (ST) categories.
The prestigious civil services examination is conducted every year in three phases i.e. preliminary, mains, and interview.

Reserve list :

A total of 182 candidates has been put under the reserve list.
A consolidated Reserve List of candidates along with the list of recommended candidates is maintained by the UPSC.
This reserve list serves the purpose of the supplementary list which comes after the first main list. Both lists are based on the number of vacancies sanctioned in a particular year.

General	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	TOTAL
91	09	71	08	03	182

Significance of UPSC Cut Off score :

The minimum qualifying standards/marks secured by the last recommended candidate in various categories at various stages issued by the UPSC are as under:-

Exams	GEN	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	PwBD-1	PwBD-2	PwBD-3	PwBD-5
Pre 2019	98	90	95.34	82	77.34	53.34	44.66	40.66	61.34
Mains 2019	751	696	718	706	699	663	698	374	561
Final 2019	961	909	925	898	893	861	890	653	708

UPSC CSE Prelims Exam 2019 :

UPSC had conducted the IAS Prelims examination on 02nd June 2019 (Sunday) across the country. There were 2 compulsory papers i.e. General Ability Test (GAT) and the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) of 200 marks each, out of which CSAT is of qualifying nature.

UPSC CSE Mains Exam 2019 :

Those candidates qualified in prelims exams have been invited for the CSE Mains exams conducted in September 2019.

UPSC Civil Service Personality Test (Interview):

UPSC CSE Interview was conducted in February-July 2020. A total of 2304 candidates were invited to appear for the interview round.

EWS quota cut off lower than OBC category :

EWS quota was introduced for the first time in the 2019 exam.
The Final cutoff list released by UPSC shows that the EWS category cutoff is lower than the OBC, SC, and ST at different stages of the exams.
For instance,

In Pre-exam 2019: EWS cut off is 90 while the OBC cut off is 95.34.
In Mains exam 2019: EWS cut off is 696 while the OBC, SC, ST cut off is 718, 706, 699 respectively.
In Interview 2019: EWS cut off is 909 while the OBC cut off is 925.

Every reserved category is having its own cut-off list that ultimately depends upon the number of candidates who actually come forward to avail the quota in that category and their subsequent performance.
If few people are availing of the EWS quota, then its cut off is bound to be lower in comparison to other categories.
This also indicates that the candidates from the EWS category would have found it almost impossible to make it without quota.
It also raises questions over the extent of the differences between the backward among forwards & the other categories.

Way Forward :

UPSC CSE 2019 results have shown a bright & clear path to its future aspirants. It once again shows that quality & hard work is the way out to achieve the dreams of being a civil servant.

Differences among the reserved categories with their cut off now give a new dimension to think about the policies of development of various social groups in the country.

Happy Studies!