@Those who cleared Prelims-2013, UPSC Has uploaded the Detailed application form (DAF) for the Mains 2013.

upscdaf.nic.in/daf_csm_2013/mainmenu.php

One important change / development is (as per DAF instruction Page 13, point number 28):

  • In Mains 2013, instead of separate Question Paper and answer book, a consolidated Question Paper-cum-Answerbook, having space below each part/sub part of a question shall be provided to them for writing the answers.
  • Candidates shall be required to attempt answer to the part/sub-part of a question strictly within the pre-defined space.
  • Any attempt outside the pre-defined space shall not be evaluated.

In other words,

  1. You’ve to be extra cautious before writing the answers, any scratching of lines/paragraphs for correction, will only reduce the space.
  2. You will not get any extra supplementary answersheets, if you run out of space.
  3. You cannot bring the question paper home and going by the previous trend: UPSC doesn’t immediately upload mains question papers on their website and won’t disclose them under R.T.I saying “exam process” is not yet over: Meaning those who’re not appearing in Mains 2013, you will have to wait for few months before you get to see the official Mains questions, particularly for the fabled ethics paper . But  there are good people, who’ll appear in Mains-2013 and reveal the questions in online comments/forums, based on their memory. So all is not lost (unlike CAT, where candidates are legally prohibited from revealing official questions in forums/websites/books.)

on an unrelated note: with respect to some comments made earlier by readers: yes I’m alive and working on food processing: supply chain-upstream-downstream article series. It’ll start very soon :)