Aspirants slam changes in UPSC exam

Bengaluru: The Union government’s recent proposal to amend the rules for cadre-based service allocation under the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has been criticised by former IPS and IAS officers and civil service aspirants. 

If the proposal comes through, selected candidates will be allotted service or cadre based on their performances in the Foundation Course. Under the present method, candidates are allotted IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS services, based on the marks scored in the UPSC exam. 

There is a general belief among aspirants that if the proposal comes through, it will pave way for subjectivity and jeopardise the integrity of the civil services exam.

Former DGP Ajay Kumar Singh said, “I think this will bring in an element of subjectivity. The recruitment process should be as objective as possible as it is in the interest of society. I don’t know the details, but for what has been reported in newspapers. I think it will give rise to litigation. When subjectivity comes in, there will be a possibility of candidates questioning the decision, but with objectivity, people will by and large do not raise questions. It is also not clear how the candidates will be assessed based on their foundation. It may be worth considering if they provide a few objective guidelines. The recruiting processes of all-India services have maintained a high level of respect and integrity for the last many years. One should be very careful and try not to hurry these processes through, as it is important that to maintain the integrity of the services.”

Aniruddh Narayan, an aspirant who is taking the UPSC 2018 exam that is scheduled to be held next month, questioned the move saying, “Are they going to turn the ranking based on the exam meaningless? This is a bizarre move. The present selection of UPSC is apt and any change be met with resistance.”