The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Training has asked the UPSC to reduce the time period for the selection process of civil services. The committee emphasized that the 15-month-long process of civil service selection consumes a lot of time of the candidates. Apart from this, the condition of their mental and physical health also starts deteriorating. In view of these reasons, the committee emphasized that the candidate has to face a lot of difficulties during this period. The committee, in its recent report, has also asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to probe into the reasons for low attendance of candidates in the Civil Services Examination.

The committee has asked UPSC to reduce the selection process of Civil Services Examination. The committee said, the data provided to it shows that the entire process takes 15 months from the issue of notification to the result of the exam. The committee said, they feel that normally the selection process of any exam should not take more than 6 months. The Committee, therefore, recommends that UPSC should reduce the time taken in the selection process without compromising on quality.

shortfall in the number of candidates

On the number of candidates appearing for the exam despite having applied, the committee said, in the year 2022-23, about 32.39 lakh applications were received for the UPSC examinations, out of which only 16.82 lakh (51.95 per cent) candidates appeared in the examination. The committee said that 11.35 lakh candidates applied for the Civil Services Examination to be held in the year 2022, but out of them only 5.73 lakh (50.51 per cent) appeared. UPSC should investigate the reasons for the decrease in the number of candidates appearing for the exam.

Answer key will be released soon after prelims

The committee also emphasized that the answer key of the prelims exam should be released only after the completion of the civil services exam. The committee recommends that the time of the candidates should not be wasted, the answer key should be released immediately after the prelims exam, so that the candidates get a chance to raise objections.

committee should be formed

The committee has recommended setting up an expert committee to find out whether the existing process is providing equal opportunities to urban candidates studying in English medium and rural candidates studying in non-English medium.

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