Thursday, April 1, 2010

UPSC increases Civil services intake

Home minister P Chidambaram had in November last year announced the decision to increase the annual batch size of IPS officers from 130 to 150.
THE UNION Public Service Commission (UPSC) has substantially increased the total intake into the Civil Services from 580 in 2009 to 965 in 2010 -- an increase of 385 seats.

The decision to increase the intake of IPS officers was taken on the basis of the recommendation of a one-man committee headed by retired IPS officer Kamal Kumar. The report, submitted on October 15 last year, confirmed the home ministry's earlier concerns that there was grave neglect in determining the number of candidates to be recruited to IPS in the CSE during the four-year period 1999-2002.

According to a recent UPSC release, the decision on increased intake was announced by Commission through its notification for the Civil services examination-2010. In fact, home minister P Chidambaram had in November last year announced the decision to increase the annual batch size of IPS officers from 130 to 150 even the batch of 2009 - which has just taken its CSE (Main) - will see a few more IPS officers when the final result is announced sometime in May. In 2008, UPSC had taken 791 candidates, including 120 in IAS, 26 in IFS and 130 in IPS.

Since the UPSC notification clearly says that the number of vacancies is liable to alteration. The total vacancies (965) to be filled through the 2010 Civil Services Examination (CSE) will be meant for all 24 services, including IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS and others, the police services will see a major jump in intake. The police services include IPS and Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar, and Puducherry services.

UPSC wants babus with aptitude, not attitude

New Delhi: The babus are known for their attitude, but the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) now wants a bureaucracy with aptitude. And to bring this change, the UPSC has recommended an overhaul in the format of the civil services examination.


Among the changes proposed to the government are replacing the preliminaries with an aptitude test comprisingtwo common papers and reducing the number of attempts allowed to a candidate.

The commission has also proposed that the promotion of officers from state services to the all-India level should not be based solely on the assessment of annual confidential reports, but should also involve a competitive examination and an interview.

The civil services examination is an all-India level screening to recruit officers for administrative (IAS), police (IPS), foreign (IFS) and allied services. The commission receives over 10 lakh applications for 14 regular examinations and other recruitment tests it conducts every year. Of these, about 5,000 officers are selected after a rigorous process of screening, testing and personal interviews.

The UPSC believes fewer attempts will remove the premium on cramming, or learning by rote. At present, the maximum number of attempts allowed to a general candidate is four. While the aspirants from other backward classes are allowed seven attempts, there is no such restriction for SC/ST aspirants.

The age limit is 21-30 years, with graduation as the minimum qualification required.
As of now, the preliminary examination has two papers -- general studies carrying 150 marks and an optional paper (selected from a list of 23 subjects) carrying 300 marks.

The UPSC wants to replace this pattern with an aptitude test having two objective-type papers common to all candidates. In its recommendations sent to the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, the UPSC has said that these changes will not only test candidates' decision-making skills and aptitude for civil services, but also provide a level-playing field through common papers.

"The emphasis will be on testing the aptitude of the candidate for the demanding life in the civil service as well as on the ethical and moral dimensions of decision-making," said UPSC chairman DP Agrawal.

On the proposed three-tier process for promoting officers from the state to the national level, he said it would have the "salutary effect of encouraging competition and privileging merit". "Such a system could, in time, be extended to promotions within the central services as well," Agrawal said. The commission is also contemplating holding the examination on computers.

The structure of the civil services main examination is likely to remain unchanged for the time being. There is also no move to lower the age limit keeping in mind the interests of rural candidates, many of whom complete their graduation later than their urban counterparts.

Wajahat Habibullah, former chief information commissioner and also an ex-director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, called the USPC's recommendations "very good". "The civil services examination should be made simpler to bring out the abilities of the candidates rather than giving higher importance to rote learning," he said.

Let’s hold aptitude test in place of civil services prelims, says UPSC chief

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recommended to the government that the civil services exam process be changed to replace the preliminary examination with an aptitude test common to all applicants.



The justification for introducing two objective type tests instead of the preliminary examination, the subject of which is selected by the candidate, is to provide a level playing field to applicants and test their decision-making skills.



“Public service may be rightly described as a ‘calling’ rather than merely as a profession or a career. The structure and process of governance are crucially affected by the nature and quality of public officials... While sufficient guarantees of livelihood and career satisfaction need to be built in so as to attract men and women of ability and character to public services, there is simultaneously a need to ensure that ‘aptitude for service’ is also identified among the necessary qualifications for entry,” UPSC chairman D P Agrawal said at the inaugural UPSC Foundation Day lecture series here.

Reveal cut-off marks in civil service prelims, HC to UPSC

The Delhi High Court today directed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to make public the cut-off marks obtained by candidates in preliminary test of the civil services examination.
"We observed that the documents submitted by UPSC in a sealed cover, are not of such nature that can be characterised as secret, or of a type the disclosure of which would not be in public interest," observed a Division Bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice S Muralidhar in a judgement.
Upholding the April 17, 2007 order passed by a single judge favouring the CIC's decision which had held that disclosure of information pertaining to cut-off marks would not harm the interest of UPSC or any third party, the Bench dismissed a petition filed by the Commission against the single judge's order.
The Bench also dismissed the apprehension of UPSC that by disclosing the working of the scaling methodology for preliminary examination, merit can get compromised and candidates with less merit would be selected and said "...We are of the view that the apprehension of UPSC is not well founded".

UPSC to conduct special exams for IPS

The UPSC will soon be holding special examinations for young officers in Central Police Organisations (CPOs), Central Paramilitary Forces (CPFs) and state police forces to induct them into the elite Indian Police Service (IPS). The Union home ministry, which was working on a proposal to plug the acute shortfall of IPS officers in the country, has firmed up its scheme and is holding consultations with the UPSC to implement the move.
Two attempts to crack the IPS examination will be given to officers recruited as deputy superintendents of police in the states and as assistant commandants in the five CPOs, according to the scheme. Such examinations will be held once a year for at least seven years with the aim of getting nearly 70 IPS officers each year. The officers who make it will be kept on probation for one year. Their service in the CPOs or state police forces will be terminated only when they are confirmed in the IPS.
The eligibility criteria to sit for the examination demands that the police officer should not be more than 35 years of age and should have at least five years of continuous service experience. “Since it will be a competitive examination, the selection will be according to merit. The fixing of seniority and year of allotment to the IPS will be based on their experience,” a government official said. The CPOs and CPFs covered under the scheme are the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and the SSB.
Aiming to start the “limited competitive examination” next year, the government has got down to finalising the examination syllabus and nature of training for the officers taken into the IPS. An expert committee comprising officials of the National Police Academy, Bureau of Police Research and Development, police officers working in state forces, Central paramilitary forces and experts will look into the issue of training.
The Kamal Kumar Committee, tasked to draw up an IPS recruitment plan (2009-2020), has suggested a three- to six-month training course for all such officers inducted into the IPS under the scheme. The committee also suggested that the syllabus for the exam centre around conceptual and practical aspects of policing and internal security. The committee said an added advantage of the scheme is that it would open a fast-track channel for bright officers in the state police forces, CPFs and CPOs to get into the IPS