(Article) Recent Initiatives Taken by UPSC

Recent Initiatives Taken by UPSC

In order to keep pace with the changing governance and citizen expectations, Commission review on regular basis the scheme and syllabus of its various examinations based on the advice of the expert committees formed by them. The present scheme for Civil Services Examination has been in vogue since 1979 (post Kothari Committee).

Based on Prof. S.K. Khanna, Ex-Vice Chairman, UGC Committee’s recommendations, the scheme of Civil Services (Prel.) Examination was changed from the year 2011 after due approval of the Government.

UPSC, subsequently formed another Committee headed by Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, as a continuum to the recommendations of Prof. Khanna Committee. The Commission’s recommendations on the Nigavekar Committee for considering changes in the scheme of Civil Services (Main) Examination was considered by the Government and accordingly a revised format of Civil Services (Main) Examination, is being implemented from the year 2013.

Committee to decide language issue in the Interview of Civil Services Examination

The Commission constituted an Expert Committee (headed by Prof. B.B. Bhattacharyya, Ex. V.C, JNU, Delhi) as per directions of Hon’ble High Court of Bombay to look into the language medium of Interview in the Civil Services Examination.

Based on the recommendation of that Committee and approval of the Government, following major changes have been incorporated in the scheme of Civil Services Examination from the year 2011:-

1. The candidates, opting for the Indian Language medium (other than Hindi) for the written part of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be given a chance of opting either the same Indian Language or English or Hindi as the medium for the Interview.

2. The candidates, opting to write the Civil Services (Main) Examination in English, will be given the option to be interviewed either in English, or in Hindi, or in any other Indian Language opted by them for the compulsory Indian Language Paper in the written part of the Civil Services (Main) Examination. The candidates, who are, as per present policy, exempted from the compulsory Indian Language paper, will have to appear for the interview in English or Hindi only.

Order of Preferences

(1) A Candidate who qualifies in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2014 shall be required to mandatorily indicate revised order of preferences only for those services participating in the said Examination for which he is interested to be allocated to and such revised order of preferences shall be in supersession of the earlier order of preferences filled by the candidate in his Detailed Application Form.

(2) In case of recommendation of his name by UPSC for service allocation, the candidate shall be considered for allocation to one of those services by the Government for which he shall indicate revised order of preference subject to fulfilment of other conditions.

(3) A candidate who wishes to be considered for Indian Administrative Service or Indian Police Service shall be required to indicate in his application form for the Main Examination his order of preferences for various State cadres for which he would like to be considered for allotment in case he is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or Indian Police Service and no change in preference of cadre once indicated by a candidate would be permitted.

Note 1: The candidate is advised to be very careful while indicating preferences for various services or posts. In this connection, attention is also invited to clause (i) of rule 19.

Note 2: The candidates are advised to visit Department of Personnel and Training website www.persmin.nic.in for information or details about service allocation/cadre allotment, service profile.

Note 3: A candidate who wishes to be considered for Indian Administrative Service or Indian Police Service shall be very careful while indicating preferences for various cadres. The candidate is advised to indicate all the cadres in the order of preference in his/her Detailed Application form which is to be filled in case of his selection for the Civil Services (Main) Examination. In case he does not give any preference for any cadre it will be assumed that he does not have a specific preference for any cadre.

Note 4: If he is not allotted to any one of the cadres for which he has indicated preference, he shall be allotted to any of the remaining cadres in which there are vacancies after allocation of all the candidates who can be allocated to those cadres in accordance with their preferences.

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