Yet another UPSC bomb hits the rumor market.
I’m copy pasting an article from Times of India- Don’t panic while reading it.
Starting the Copy Paste
UPSC convened a meeting on 10-04-2012 and sought suggestions to change the pattern for civil services examinations.
Chief Participants
- Director general (DG) of National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), which trains Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers
- Representatives from National Police Academy, Hyderabad which trains IPS officers
- Representatives from Lal Bahadur National Academy of Administration, which trains IAS officers.
Discussions in the meeting
Age reduction
- Heads of various bureaucrat training academies wanted a cut in the age limit for entering the country's premier government services.
- The general suggestion was to reduce the age of candidates entering the civil services. An upper age limit of 26 was thought to be enough, as people do not take up employment before that age, said NADT DG DS Saxena who was present in meeting.
- The idea is to ensure that it is the first job for all those entering the civil services, as such candidates can be more enthusiastic and disciplined. The current upper age limit is 30 years, and higher for reserved category.
Work experience = Attitude problem
- There were also suggestions to prefer candidates without prior job experience, especially in government sector, as well as unmarried persons – because the married have their own problems. (lolz)
- Although meeting participants agreed that there could be no official bar on work-ex / married people from appearing in the exam.
- At present, majority of those joining the service have already worked somewhere earlier. They often tend to have an attitudinal problem, which hampers their training. Freshers are easy to mould, said Saxena, adding that the NADT too was of similar opinion.
Reduce Time lag of Exam
- The gathering also mooted reduction of the time lag for clearing the civil services exam.
- Right Now, after advertisements inviting applications are published in January or February, prelims are conducted in May-June, followed by mains in November and finally the interview by April.
- The current period is over a year, which often deprives many brilliant but economically backward candidates from taking the exam. (Totally agree on this one.)
Mains papers with objective questions
- It is easy to evaluate prelim papers, in which questions are of objective nature, but valuating papers for mains is time consuming. So if mains papers have a considerable section of objective questions, unlike a totally descriptive format now, the evaluation can be faster, said Saxena, citing a suggestion.
- This will reduce the gap between two examinations. So, with reduced age limit on one hand and quicker results, candidates will have to take exams at shorter intervals. This is also expected to help filter out candidates who otherwise may not have the natural ability but crack tests due to repeated attempts.
Lengthier Interview
- Another key suggestion was to increase time slot for interview to at least an hour-and-a-half from 25 minutes at present, as it may help in judging the person's character properly.
Summery of the article
Government departments want new bureaucrats to be young, unmarried and preferably without job experience to infuse young blood into the system. Those involved in training the babus feel that candidates with prior job experience are often hard to mould.
Ending the Copy-Paste.
My opinion
- First and foremost: there is no need to panic after reading above article of Times of India, because most of those suggestions are unlikely to be implemented.
- No matter what UPSC chairman, his coterie, coaching thugs of delhi or orkut trolls say, There will no change in Age or Attempt Limit, in the near future.
Why can’t UPSC change things?
- Constitution says that UPSC is independent and autonomous body. Government cannot remove the UPSC chairman or members as per its whims.
- So, if UPSC chairman is so ‘reformist’ why hasn’t he implemented these suggestions already?
- Because UPSC is independent for conducting the exam. But not for deciding minimum eligibility. UPSC is a recruiting agency, not a personnel agency.
What does that mean?
- Consider this case:
- After you complete a 2 years course in IMA Dehradun, you get appointed as an officer in the Army.
- But to get admission in IMA, you’ve appear in Combined Defense service exam (CDS)
- CDS exam is conducted by UPSC. But there is a rule: “only unmarried males can apply for IMA” + Very strict physical checkup: height, chest-expansion, eye-sight etc.
- Million dollar Question: Did UPSC chairman alone made the rule about marital status or physical fitness for IMA admission? No he didn’t.
- Ministry of Defense sends a file to UPSC: “We want 100 gentlemen for IMA,Dehradun. They must be unmarried, must have high physical fitness, sharp mind, general awareness, decision making skills and good command over English language. You conduct the exam and send us the merit list before end of this year.”
- And UPSC conducts the CDS exam accordingly. You pay, service conditions and minimum eligibility is decided by the concerned personnel departments, and not by UPSC alone. UPSC has to consult the concerned ministries before initiating a major change in any recruitment exam.
For Civil service exam
- Since 2007, I had been hearing rumor every year that “UPSC will remove optional subjects from preliminary exam, and introduce an aptitude paper because various Committees formed by Government and UPSC have been recommending for this”
- It did not happen in 2008, not in 2009, not in 2010 but finally in 2011, and that too only after Mohan cleared the file.
- Recall the news reports that appeared before the introduction of “CSAT” in 2011: UPSC had sent the proposal file of ‘change in exam pattern’ to ministry of personnel. After PM signed on the file, CSAT was implemented.
But Why did PM Sign the file?
- Because Ministry of Personnel falls under domain of PM. Of course there is a “minister of state” to handle minor matters and day to day affairs of personnel ministry, but major decisions are taken by PM himself.
Moral of the story
- Age, attempt, marital status or work-ex criteria are to be decided by the Government. UPSC can only send reform-proposal to the Government. If PM clears the proposal, only then UPSC can go ahead and implement it.
- But we all know, that no Government has the guts to reduce age or attempt limit, because it’ll have severe vote-bank implications, particularly in the Gangetic plains.
- At most what can happen in short term future: UPSC may increase the length of interview to half hour, UPSC may implement few objective questions in mains exam. If you’re a serious and hardworking player, such minor changes shouldn’t bother you at all.
Sadistic pleasure of rumor mongering
- After Every two months, UPSC bomb hits the rumor market. Some rumors are exaggeration of newspaper reports. Some rumors are totally baseless and fictional stories. There are three types of players in this rumor-market.
| Player | What’ll he say | What is his agenda |
| Coaching thug | Yes UPSC is likely to introduce these things in 2-3 years. So time is running out for you! |
|
| Orkut trolls | Yes UPSC is going to introduce these things from next year. |
|
|
Dukhi aatmaa (sad soul) |
“Guys check this out: UPSC is gonna change the exam-rules! I got the news from my friend, orkut, Delhi or newspaper. What are we gonna do now?? |
|
In short, rumor mongering is part of UPSC game. But how should you handle it? Before answering that question, allow me to digress from the main subject of this article.
The widow remarriage
- Once upon a time our society was extremely orthodox: child marriage was permitted but widow remarriage wasn’t permitted. So a widow had to ‘pay’ for her past mistake of getting married in childhood, despite the fact that child-marriage wasn’t her own decision.
- Now consider following
-
To become an officer in Army, Navy or Airforce, you’ve to pass CDS or NDA exam but
- They give extra marks for NCC certificates;
- They reject you for slightest falling in medical checkup, even if you’ve decent score in written exam.
- Army: a candidate with more than +3.5D eye-glass number is not eligible.
- Navy and Airforce: candidate must not have eye-glasses of any number.
- + Laser eye surgery not allowed.
-
To get admission in IIMs, you’ve to pass CAT Exam but
- apart from CAT score, most of them have special admission rating system:
- You get marks according to your score in 10th and 12th board exams.
- If you’re a non-engineer or female, you get extra-marks.
- So you’ll find people with 99 percentile in CAT, not getting interview calls from IIM-Ahmedabad, because of these things.
Some people don’t get selected due to above rules, they file PIL in high courts and supreme court. Cases go on for years, nothing comes in their favor.
Your opinion on above rules of Army or IIMs will depend on which boat you’re sailing into. So, I’m not interested in discussing the pros and cons of such policies, what I’m trying to say is……
These people are basically ‘widows’. They’ve to pay for their past mistake: being born in a family where height DNA is low, having eye-glasses, getting admission in a state education board where no one gets above 80%, getting admission an engineering college, not doing extra-curricular activities and so on…. Even if it wasn’t their own conscious decision, they’ve to pay for it.
If you’re unlucky, A day might come, when you’ll become a ‘widow’ for UPSC. When, where and how exactly, nobody knows, nobody can predict. Only an official UPSC notification, press release or RTI reply can confirm or deny such rumors. But UPSC too gets sadistic pleasure, by keeping things uncertain and not dispelling the rumors by giving official press release. And there is nothing you can do about it.
- When will UPSC remove optional subjects from mains exam or
- When will Sachin retire?
There is no exact answer to these questions.
So, Study hard and have backup plans ready. Don’t panic after every article that comes in newspaper or every rumor that spreads from coaching factories of Delhi or bogus communities of Orkut.
Do your best and Leave the rest in the hands of God.
One of the most authentic, genuine and very pragmatic article i have ever read. Straight talk, no beating around bush. Mrunal, your writing is very very encouraging.
Really encouraging.
Thank u very much
nice article sir but.. some words in conclusion were needless – widows punished for past deeds… got your point though
@Mrinal I don't think UPSC is an autonomous body (any body that does not come under the per view of "State" -Article 12) it is a Constitutional Body (Article 315-320). And even the decisions made by UPSC on any matter is subject to parliamentary sanctions (Article 320(5)). So I don't believe anything is going to happen. Correct me if I am wrong
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions25-April, 2012 17:40 IST
Changes in Civil Services Exam
There is no proposal to introduce changes in the Main Examination of the Civil Services Examination, at present. However, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has appointed a committee of experts, headed by Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, Ex. Chairman, UGC, to review the existing structure of Civil Services (Main) examination and suggest necessary changes.
Also there is no proposal to increase the number of attempts for all candidates appearing in Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC.
This was stated by Shri V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and PMO in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
But if this the way the UPSC board feels , won't they prefer unmarried , no-work ex and young freshers during interview ?
But if this the way the UPSC board feels , won't they prefer unmarried , no-work ex and young freshers during interview ?
But if this the way the UPSC board feels , won't they prefer unmarried , no-work ex and young freshers during interview ?
EXCELLENT..!!
Sir,will u plz write an article about assistant commandant in CPF?i have cleared it but there seems to be no clarity regarding Bonds,extension and other such issues.
HELLO MRUNAL
I M LITTLE BIT CONFUSE I WANT TO KNOW THAT I HAVE DECIDED TO GAVE MAIN IAS EXAM IN HINDI MEDIUM INSTEAD OF ENGLISH THE MEDIUM OF GIVING ANSWER IS IN HINDI, I HAVE READ SO MANY BLOGS AND IN EVERY BLOG IT IS MENTION THAT MEDIUM OF GIVING ANSWER IS IN ENGLISH IS MUCH BETTER THAN HINDI,I M NOT SO GOOD IN ENGLISH SO I WILL DECIDED FOR HINDI,I WANT TO KNOW THAT HOW MUCH ASPIRANTS ARE GAVE AN EXAM IN HINDI MEDIUM.
Medium of instructions is not a problem you can just concentrate about your studies.
Hello vishnu never use capital letters in comments it may irritate others or not able to read
kya baat hai.. phod dala.. dood ka dood pani ka pani..
Congratulations for doing a noble job. You are lucky to have that strong a faith in God. May He bless you!
What is “vaayada karobar”? I dont know the english meaning of this. Let me hint you, this term is related with share market and recently NSE become the worlds second largest share market in terms of “vaayada karobar”. Smbdy help
http://mrunal.org/2011/03/economy-q-badlaa-system-or-carry.html
Already explained.
Sir,
WHAT COULD BE THE REASON FOR EXTENDED TIME GIVEN FOR MAINS 2013 ?? IT STARTS ON NOV 8 2013..
COULD BE RELATED TO PATTERN CHANGE ???
how did u come to know about this??
Hi sir, myself Jyoti . Presently im 25 years old .
I started my preparation from january this year…I have completed the indian polity , bio, history and PA second paper….by self ..
Im in a doubt wethere the UPSC is going to remove the optionals in 2013 OR 2014sir tell me SHOULD I JOIN COACHING THIS TYM OR NOTFOR 2015 ??????
I seriously think that the government needs to also think about the 98% youths who fail to clear ICS exam every year and are thrown into oblivion in this vast ocean of competition.
India is projected to have the youngest population in the world by 2020. We all talk of demographic dividend that India must leverage. But tell me, those who havent qualified IAS exam despite 4 attmepts and giving their best, whose fault is it? Ofcourse, one can always fault his/her hard work and inability to perform better than others. But the system is also partially responsible for the same.
Where should there be a cap on the number of attempts? More a person spends time in preparation, the better he will get with his knowledge and also worldy wise. Is that an asset or liability I do not know?
In any case, those who cannot qualify in 4 attempts are useless as they have already crossed age of around 27, are not married and do not have a job!!! Besides, any job they take cannot match the expectations they had set for themselves and their families. What is more, eventually when they get married, their wives also feel that my husband was so brilliant but could not get through, so he should continue to try in PCS exams as “luck changes after marriage”!
But here comes the next round of depression as the PCS exams are even more notorios for wrong/ unfair selections. So the almost-there IAS officer now sits for PCS exams, clears mains of almost all states but fails to crack interview every time as he is categorised as an “outsider” in states like Rajasthan, Haryana etc (Delhi doesnt even have an PCS exam!).
Anyway, so he does not qualify states PCS. All this while, he is, obviously, not able to excel in whatever job he has taken as even in office he used to prepare for PCS. The poor guy now thinks of what to do as there is no job whihc can match his level of kknowledge and ambition!
So he keep looking. His though process is as follows: “Can i apply for Civil service exam in Pakistan or Bangladesh, or even Nepal or Bhutan for that matter? Nah.. its too weird.. I have a family, 2 kids, wont be worth taking the risk. But i just heard mt\y father tell me that the United Nations has a vacancy called UN Civil Services. Oh! maybe thats what i am made for!….But nah…better to leave it”.
It doesnt end here, what he could not achieve, he will inculcate in his children. So he thinks” My kids will be an IAS for sure”. There goes the demographic dividend of India down the drain! What a pity….
Suddenly one fine day he reads in the newspaper- United Nations Civil Service exam.
My best wishes and prayers for all your future endeavors and I’m not saying this the sake of formality but from my heart, because I’ve been through many of those phases myself.
Things get more worse when you see United nation civil service exam.. after filling up the form.. and after evaluating the pay band.. 50 prcnt of guys start thinking about the luxurious life they will have even before they get convoked for the mere written exam(1st level).. But the sad part comes when you don’t get convoked for even the written exam..
The Competition seems to be more tough than the UPSC because UN evaluates your profile(Cover Letter) and after evaluating they will call only 40 people from each country in each field.. so in total it accounts for around 200 candidates from each country** who will sit for the written exam….
i don’t get what UN expect ..they should change the exam name to
“United nations Scholars exam”.. the competition is like hell even before the written exam…
The Worst Part comes after you clear the written exam.. you will be called for interview.. and for these candidates they have only 120-125 vacancies in total for all 5 fields and from all countries… and even if you clear the interview process they won’t give any assurance of job.. The selected candidates will be put in Roster(portal kind) and when their will be need, the concerned HR will select the Candidates as per his/her requirement..
So you never know what’s gonna happen even after you clear the Interview…
** From India alone they got more than 20-25,000 applications and now you can imagine how tough the competition was based on your profile.. Urrrrrgghhhhh
Thanks Mrunal bhai. This UPSC is such a vicious circle. I also gave the ACPF exambut the end result is not in my hands. I strongly propose to the govt a scheme called” UPSC fail samajik kalyan yojana (UPSC fail social welfare programme). Watch out the economic survey-2013-14, this might be coming!
What a waste of time, energy, money, faily life and social life. A total frustrated life after the UPSC debacle.But ofcourse, im an ever optimistic person just like you.
hi, Murnal i have recently joined your website and really happy to be a part of it and the attitude u carry in providing the articles, and material related to different exams is very nice and up to the mark. thanks for providing all this………….
sir i am appearing next year. i would like to know how should we study for the next 3 months. there are rumors of mains pattern change next year. i am confused whether i should complete my optionals or wait for the notification.
plz someone tell me being a doctor, cud i appear in the indian forest exam. next year, i am preparing for civilservice exam also. when wud we come to know that whether optionals have been dropped or not for nex year.?
Is zoology a safe n scoring subject as an optional.I know its tough but i have interest in it and want to appear in ifos exam also. plz someone guide me. i cant even go for coaching and dont have anyone to guide me.
If,the upper age limit changes,it wl create a rebel in youth aspiring for IAS specially for General category.Bcoz if a SC or ST candidate z not old enough after 26 then how could a general student be.Its really unfair and new rebel groups more danger thn ALQUIDA wl be produced due to this nonsense politics.plz stop these.
2014 ias mains will be changed ?????????????????????????????? discoss with our god mrunal…..
2014 ias mains will be changed…..is it yes r not??? mrunal sir clarify me
NO 1 knows my dear friend..
Mrunal thanks for this article.
Its logical.
Thanks for your blog.
It means a lot to me.
Superb article..SIRE..!!
Awesomest :)
@mrunal your insight on few topics is excellent…but using word like orkut troll is uncalled for..you visit orkut to collect information and paste here and still using such words…
friends don’t bother about pattern change….try your best….rest leave to god…
Hi Mrunal
Was reading some of my fav articles to calm myself last few weeks before this years notification
thats when i noticed the
“When will Sachin retire?”
part…
reading it now is kind of ironic and funny…
SUPER MAN.. CLEAR TH PICTURE
“It did not happen in 2008, not in 2009, not in 2010 but finally in 2011″
Is it so, Mrunal? I heard that UPSC sent the proposal to Personnel Dept in 2010. Kindly correct me if I am wrong.
I am sorry. I have been acting like a “dukhi aatma”. I beg your pardon.
sir is this true news…
Prime Minister approves changes in UPSC Civil Services Exam pattern
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday approved the new format for the Civil Services exams, which will give more weightage to general studies.
The decision came in on the recommendation of a Committee constituted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the examination annually.
At present, the civil services (main) examination has general studies Paper I and II of 300 marks each, including compulsory and optional subjects, but as per the new changes, both the general studies papers will have more weightage.
The report of the Committee, under the chairmanship of Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, former chairman, UGC, was examined by the Department of Personnel and Training, and then put up before the Prime Minister for final approval.
“The new format has been by and large approved by the PM. A notification will soon be issued,” said P. K. Misra, DoPT Secretary.
V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, had in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, said the UPSC had suggested certain changes in the existing scheme of civil services (main) examination to make it more relevant with the present day, on the basis of the report of the committee. (ANI)
Courtesy: PIB
Yes this is true but the thing is that when it will be implemented..
nice article…..sir. !!!!!!!
Very good article sir
Kindly suggest me which college I should apply in US
Hi Mrunal, I want to let you know that the answer sheet of CS(P)-2011 provided by UPSC is erratic. See ques. no. 11 (GS-I, Set-A), UPSC has given ans. option “D” while it is crystal clear that it should be “C”. What I want to communicate is, 2 marks can make remarkable difference in result, take an example of Rukmani Riar (Rank-2). She got 199 in prelims and cut-off was 198. Now imagine she might have been out of list, and similarly many candidates would have been out OR in. So now my request to you is, can anyone file the case against UPSC and can there be change in result ??
(I would have pasted that question and UPSC ans. sheet but I am not able to paste .jpg files)
Sir…..
Mains Pattern have changed now…
new pattern contains only one optional subject..
what will be the strategy in rest of the papers?
so finally UPSC appear with new mains avatar…mrunal sir any comment and suggestions now …
Mrunal,
thanks for the updates. I have couple of questions.
I was a working professional with about 5 yrs of experience. Now i am 28 . and by the time i appear for 2014 civils interview, i shall be 30. I am a divorcee as well. I have tattoos.
Are the above factors going to act against me ?
I just read your article.
Incidentally, Sachin retired from ODI’s this year.
UPSC removed optionals, keeping only one optional subject.