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UPSC IAS (Pre.) Exam 2021 Notification Released (Last Date: 24th March, 2021)

UPSC IAS (Pre.) Exam 2021 Notification Released

1. CANDIDATES TO ENSURE THEIR ELIGIBILITY FOR THE EXAMINATION:

All candidates (male/female/transgender) are requested to carefully read the Rules of Civil Services Examination notified by the Government (Department of Personnel and Training) and this Notice of Examination derived from these Rules. The Candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all eligibility conditions for admission to examination. Their admission to all the stages of the examination will be purely provisional subject to satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. Mere issue of e-Admit Card to the candidate will not imply that his/her candidature has been finally cleared by the Commission. The Commission takes up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/Personality Test.

2. HOW TO APPLY:

Candidates are required to apply Online by using the website https://upsconline.nic.in Detailed instructions for filling up online applications are available on the above mentioned website. Brief Instructions for filling up the "Online Application Form" given in Appendix-IIA.

Candidate should have details of one Photo ID Card viz. Aadhaar Card/Voter Card/PAN Card/Passport/Driving Licence/Any other Photo ID Card issued by the State/Central Government. The details of this Photo ID Card will have to be provided by the candidate while filling up the online application form. The candidates will have to upload a scanned copy of the Photo ID whose details have been provided in the online application by him/her. This Photo ID Card will be used for all future referencing and the candidate is advised to carry this Photo ID Card while appearing for Examination/Personality Test.

The facility of withdrawal of Application is available for those candidates who do not want to appear for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. In this regard, Instructions are mentioned in Appendix IIB of this Examination Notice.

3. LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS :

The online Applications can be filled up to 24th March, 2021 till 6:00 PM. The eligible candidates shall be issued an e-Admit Card three weeks before the commencement of the examination. The e-Admit Card will be made available in the UPSC website [ https://upsconline.nic.in ] for downloading by candidates. No Admit Card will be sent by post.

4. PENALTY FOR WRONG ANSWERS:

Candidates should note that there will be penalty (negative marking) for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the Objective Type Question Papers.

5. FACILITATION COUNTER FOR GUIDANCE OF CANDIDATES:

In case of any guidance/information/clarification regarding their applications, candidature etc. candidates can contact UPSC’s Facilitation Counter near gate ‘C’ of its campus in person or over Telephone No. 011-23385271/011-23381125/011-23098543 on working days between 10.00 hrs and 17.00 hrs.

F. No. 1/13/2020-E.I(B) : Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination for recruitment to the Services and Posts mentioned below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission on 27th June, 2021 in accordance with the Rules published by the Department of Personnel & Training in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 4th March, 2021. All candidates must carefully read the Civil Services Examination-2021 Rules together with all the Appendices along with the Annexures thereof and this Examination Notice derived from the CSE Rules, 2021 in entirety for gaining awareness of the current Rules and Regulations as changes may have been incorporated since the previous Examination Rules.

(i) Indian Administrative Service
(ii) Indian Foreign Service
(iii) Indian Police Service
(iv) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(v) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(vi) Indian Corporate Law Service, Group ‘A’
(vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’
(viii) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’
(ix) Indian Information Service, Junior Grade Group ‘A’
(x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’
(xi) Indian P&T Accounts and Finance Service, Group ‘A’
(xii) Indian Railway Protection Force Service, Group ‘A’
(xiii) Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) Group ‘A’
(xiv) Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax) Group ‘A’
(xv) Indian Trade Service, Group ‘A’ (Grade III)
(xvi) Armed Forces Headquarters Civil Service, Group ‘B’ (Section Officer’s Grade)
(xvii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Civil Service (DANICS), Group ‘B’
(xviii) Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli Police Service (DANIPS), Group ‘B’
(xix) Pondicherry Civil Service (PONDICS), Group ‘B’

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The number of vacancies to be filled through the examination is expected to be approximately 712 which include 22 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category, i.e. 5 vacancies for candidates of (a) blindness and low vision; 6 Vacancies for (b) deaf and hard of hearing; 6 Vacancies for (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; and 5 Vacancies for (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (c) including deaf-blindness. The final number of vacancies may undergo change after getting firm number of vacancies from Cadre Controlling Authorities. Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.

As per the decision taken by the Government for increasing the access of unemployed to job opportunities, the Commission will publicly disclose the scores of the candidates (obtained in the Written Examination and Interview/Personality Test) through the public portals. The disclosure will be made in respect of only those willing candidates who will appear in the Interview/Personality Test for the Civil Service Examination and are not finally recommended for appointment. The information shared through this disclosure scheme about the non-recommended candidates may be used by other public and private recruitment agencies to appoint suitable candidates from the information made available in the public portal. Candidates will be required to give their options at the time of Interview/Personality Test,
while downloading the e-Summon Letter from the Commission’s website for the interview. A
candidate may opt out of the scheme also and in that case his/her details will not be published by
the Commission.

Besides sharing of the information of the non-recommended willing candidates of this examination, the Commission will not assume any responsibility or liability for the method and manner in which information related to such candidates is utilized by public/private organizations.

3. Eligibility Conditions: (I) Nationality

For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.
For other services, a candidate must be either:-

a citizen of India, or
a subject of Nepal, or
a subject of Bhutan, or
a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India, or
a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India. Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary, may be admitted to the examination but the offer of appointment may be given only after the necessary eligibility certificate has been issued to him/her by the Government of India.

(II) Age Limits:

(1) A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on the 1st of August, 2021 i.e., the candidate must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1989 and not later than 1st August, 2000.

(b) The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable:
(i) up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe;
(ii) up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates;
(iii) up to a maximum of three years in the case of Defence Services Personnel, disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof;
(iv) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1st August, 2020 and have been released;
(a) on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1st August, 2020 otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency; or
(b) on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service; or
(c) on invalidment.
(v) up to a maximum of five years in the case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years of Military Service as on 1st August, 2020 and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months’ notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
(vi) up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of (a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness.

(III) Minimum Educational Qualifications :

The candidate must hold a degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification

Note I:—Candidates who have appeared at an examination the passing of which would render them educationally qualified for the Commission’s examination but have not been informed of the result as also the candidates who intend to appear at such a qualifying examination will also be eligible for admission to the Preliminary Examination. All candidates who are declared qualified by the Commission for taking the Civil Services (Main) Examination will be required to produce proof of passing the requisite examination along with their application (i.e. Detailed Application Form-I) for the Main Examination, failing which
such candidates will not be admitted to the Main Examination. Such proof of passing the requisite examination should be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of Detailed Application Form-I of the Civil Services (Main) Examination.

Note II: In exceptional cases the Union Public Service Commission may treat a candidate who does not have any of the foregoing qualifications as a qualified candidate provided that he/she has passed examination conducted by the other Institutions, the standard of which in the opinion of the Commission justifies his/her admission to the examination.

Note III: Candidates possessing professional and technical qualifications which are recognised by the Government as equivalent to professional and technical degree would also be eligible for admission to the examination.

Note IV: Candidates who have passed the final professional M.B.B.S. or any other Medical Examination but have not completed their internship by the time of submission of their applications for the Civil Services (Main) Examination, will be provisionally admitted to the Examination provided they submit along with their application a copy of certificate from the concerned authority of the University/Institution that they had passed the requisite final professional medical examination. In such cases, the candidates will be required to produce at the time of their interview original Degree or a certificate from the concerned competent authority of the University/Institution that they had completed all requirements (including completion of internship) for the award of the Degree

4. FEE:

Candidates (excepting Female/SC/ST/Persons with Benchmark Disability Candidates who are exempted from payment of fee) are required to pay fee of Rs. 100/- (Rupees One Hundred only) either by remitting the money in any Branch of State Bank of India or by using Visa/Master/RuPay Credit/Debit Card or by using Internet Banking of SBI. Applicants who opt for "Pay by Cash" mode should print the system generated Pay-in-slip during part II registration and deposit the fee at the counter of SBI Branch on the next working day only. "Pay by Cash” mode will be deactivated at 11.59 P.M. of 23rd March, 2021 i.e. one day before the closing date; however applicants, who have generated their Pay-in- Slip before it is deactivated, may pay at the counter of SBI Branch during banking hours on the closing date. Such applicants who are unable to pay by cash on the closing date i.e. during banking hours at SBI Branch, for reasons whatsoever, even if holding valid pay-in-slip will have no other offline option but to opt for available online Debit/Credit Card or Internet Banking payment mode on the closing date i.e. till 06:00 P.M. of 24th March, 2021.

For the applicants in whose case payments details have not been received from the bank they will be treated as fictitious payment cases and a list of all such applicants shall be made available on the Commission website within two weeks after the last day of submission of online application.These applicants shall also be intimated through e-mail to submit copy of proof of their payment to the Commission at the address mentioned in the e-mail. The applicant shall be required to submit the proof within 10 days from the date of such communication either by hand or by speed post to the Commission. In case, no response is received from the applicants their applications shall be summarily rejected and no further correspondence shall be entertained in this regard. All female candidates and candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe/ Persons with Benchmark Disability categories are exempted from payment of fee. No fee exemption is, however, available to OBC/EWS candidates and they are required to pay the prescribed fee in full. Persons with Benchmark Disability are exempted from the payment of fee provided they are otherwise eligible for appointment to the Services/Posts to be filled on the results of this examination on the basis of the standards of medical fitness for these Services/Posts (including any concessions specifically extended to the Persons with Benchmark Disability). A candidate of Persons with Benchmark Disability claiming fee concession will be required by the Commission to submit along with their Detailed Application Form - I, a certified copy of the Certificate of Disability from a Government Hospital/Medical Board in support of his/her claim for belonging to Persons with Benchmark Disability.

NB: Notwithstanding, the aforesaid provision for fee exemption, a candidate of Persons with Benchmark Disability will be considered to be eligible for appointment only if he/she (after such physical examination as the Government or the Appointing Authority, as the case may be, may prescribe) is found to satisfy the requirements of physical and medical standards for the concerned Services/Posts to be allocated to candidates of Persons with Benchmark Disability by the Government.

Note I: Applications without the prescribed Fee (Unless remission of Fee is claimed) shall be summarily rejected.
Note II: Fee once paid shall not be refunded under any circumstances nor can the fee be held in reserve for any other examination or selection.

Note III: If any candidate who took the Civil Services Examination held in 2019 wishes to apply for admission to this examination, he/she must submit his/her application without waiting for the results or an offer of appointment.

Note IV: Candidates admitted to the Main Examination will be required to pay a further fee of Rs. 200/- (Rupees Two hundreds only).

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5. How to Apply:

(a) Candidates are required to apply online using the website http://www.upsconline.nic.in Detailed instructions for filling up online applications are available on the above mentioned website. The applicants are advised to submit only single application; however, if due to any unavoidable situation, if he/she submits another/multiple applications, then he/she must ensure that application with the higher RID is complete in all respects like applicants’ details, examination centre, photograph, signature, photo ID, fee etc. The applicants who are submitting multiple applications should note that only the applications with higher RID (Registration ID) shall be entertained by the Commission and fee paid against one RID shall not be adjusted against any other RID.

(b) All candidates, whether already in Government Service, Government owned industrial undertakings or other similar organizations or in private employment should submit their applications direct to the Commission. Persons already in Government Service, whether in a permanent or temporary capacity or as work charged employees other than casual or daily rated employees or those serving under the Public Enterprises are however, required to submit an undertaking that they have informed in writing to their Head of Office/Department that they have applied for the Examination. Candidates should note that in case a communication is received from their employer by the Commission withholding permission to the candidates applying for/appearing at the examination, their application will be liable to be rejected/candidature will be liable to be cancelled.

NOTE 1: While filling in his/her Application Form, the candidate should carefully decide about his/her choice of centre for the Examination. If any candidate appears at a centre other than the one indicated by the Commission in his/her Admission Certificate, the papers of such a candidate will not be evaluated and his/her candidature will be liable to cancellation.

NOTE-2: The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the categories of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be provided the facility of scribe, if desired by the person. In case of other category of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities as defined under section 2(r) of the RPWD Act, 2016, the facility of scribe will be allowed to such candidates on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write, and scribe is essential to write examination on behalf, from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV. The candidates have discretion of opting for his/her own scribe or request the Commission for the same. The details of scribe i.e. whether own or the Commission’s and the details of scribe in case candidates are bringing their own scribe, will be sought at the time of filling up the application form online. Suitable provisions in Online Application have been made.

NOTE -3:-The qualification of the Commission’s scribe as well as own scribe will not be more than the minimum qualification criteria of the examination. However, the qualification of the scribe should always be matriculate or above.

NOTE -4:- The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be allowed Compensatory Time of twenty minutes per hour of the examination. In case of other categories of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, this facility will be provided on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV.

NOTE-5: Candidates appearing in Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 will be required to indicate information such as (a) detail of Centres for Civil Services (Main) Examination and Indian Forest Service (Main) Examination (b) Optional subject to be selected for the examination, (c) Medium of examination for Civil Services (Main) Examination, (d) Medium of Examination for Optional Subject if he/she chooses any Indian Language as the Medium of Examination for Civil Services (Main) Examination and (e) compulsory Indian Language for Civil Services (Main) Examination at the time of the filling up online application itself.

NOTE 6: Candidates are not required to submit alongwith their applications any certificate in support of their claims regarding Age, Educational Qualifications, Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes/Other Backward Classes/ Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability etc. which will be verified at the time of the Main examination only. The candidates applying for the examination should ensure that they fulfill all the eligibility conditions for admission to the Examination. Their admission at all the stages of examination for which they are admitted by the Commission viz. Preliminary Examination, Main (Written) Examination and Personality Test (Interview) will be purely provisional, subject to their satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. If on verification at any time before or after the Preliminary Examination, Main (written) Examination and Personality Test (Interview), it is found that they do not fulfill any of the eligibility conditions; their candidature for the examination will be cancelled by the Commission. If any of their claims is found to be incorrect, they may render themselves liable to disciplinary action by the Commission in terms of Rule 14 of the Rules for the Civil Services Examination, 2020 reproduced below:

Services Examination, 2020 reproduced below:

A candidate who is or has been declared by the Commission to be guilty of:
(i) Obtaining support for his candidature by the following means, namely :—
(a) offering illegal gratification to; or
(b) applying pressure on; or
(ii) impersonation; or
(iii) procuring impersonation by any person; or
(iv) submitting fabricated documents or documents which have been tampered with; or
(v) uploading irrelevant photos in the application form in place of actual photo/signature.
(vi) making statements which are incorrect or false or suppressing material information; or
(vii) resorting to the following means in connection with his candidature for the examination,namely :—
(a) obtaining copy of question paper through improper means;
(b) finding out the particulars of the persons connected with secret work relating to the examination;
(c) influencing the examiners; or
(viii) being in possession of or using unfair means during the examination; or
(ix) writing obscene matter or drawing obscene sketches or irrelevant matter in the scripts;
or
(x) misbehaving in the examination hall including tearing of the scripts, provoking fellow examinees to boycott examination, creating a disorderly scene and the like; or
(xi) harassing or doing bodily harm to the staff employed by the Commission for the conduct of their examination; or
(xii) being in possession of or using any mobile phone, (even in switched off mode), pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive,
smart watches etc. or camera or bluetooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories either in working or switched off mode capable of being used as a communication device during the examination; or
(xiii) violating any of the instructions issued to candidates along with their admission certificates permitting them to take the examination; or
(xiv) attempting to commit or, as the case may be, abetting the commission of all or any of the acts specified in the foregoing clauses;may in addition to rendering himself liable to criminal prosecution, be liable :—
(a) and shall be disqualified by the Commission from the Examination held under this Rules for which he is a candidate; and/or
(b) Shalle be liable to be debarred either permanently or for a specified period :—
(i) by the Commission, from any examination or selection held by them;
(ii) by the central government from any employment under them; and
(c) if he is already in service under Government to disciplinary action under the appropriate rules :
Provided that no penalty under this rule shall be imposed except after :—
(i) giving the candidate an opportunity of making such representation in writing as he may wish to make in that behalf; and
(ii) taking the representation, if any, submitted by the candidate within the period allowed to him into consideration.
Any person who is found by the Commission to be guilty of colluding with a candidate (s) in committing or abetting the commission of any of the misdeeds listed at Clauses (i) to (xiii) above render himself liable to action in terms of the Clause (xiv).

LAST DATE FOR ONLINE SUBMISSION AND WITHDRAWL OF APPLICATIONS:

The Online Applications can be filled up to 24th March, 2021 till 6:00 P.M. after which the link will be disabled. Detailed instructions regarding filling of online application is available at Appendix-IIA