Unsuccessful IAS Aspirants Be Recruited To Other Govt Posts: UPSC

New Delhi: Civil service aspirants who make it to the interview stage but fail to make the cut, need not lose heart. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recommended recruitment of such candidates in other government posts.

Since those who make it to the interview stage have already gone through the grind of two stages of elimination process in their quest to qualify for IAS/IPS/IFS, they can be utilised by the government for posts outside of the civil services, UPSC chairman Arvind Saxena has said.

“We have proposed to the central government and the ministries to recruit people from the list of candidates who make it to the interview stage in civil services and other exams, but fail to get picked up,” news portal The Print quoted Saxena as having said on sidelines of the 21st national conference of chairpersons of state public commissions in Bhopal recently.

About 10 lakh candidates on an average appear for the civil service exam every year. About 10,000-12,000 make it past the preliminary examination, while around 3,000 make it past the mains examination to the interview stage. Eventually, 600 are recruited by the government into the civil services.

If approved, the move would go a long way in reducing stress among those trying to enter the civil services, which offer the most prestigious and coveted government jobs in India.

A senior official of the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the nodal ministry for the UPSC, said the recommendation was made to us by the UPSC in 2016, and cleared by the Cabinet the same year. But, the UPSC is figuring out the modalities, he told the news portal.

“The idea is that the candidates can be considered by a number of government employers since they already have their UPSC marks and ranking,” the official said.

“It would take the load off other recruitment agencies, as well as ensure that those who reach the final stage, but do not make it to the civil service even after several attempts, are not left stranded.”

Describing the move as a “good idea”, IFS officer Parveen Kaswan said candidates were often eliminated in the interview round because of a point or two since competition is quite stiff at the final level of selection.

“It does not mean that they are not intelligent, since they have come to the final stage…” said Kaswan. “So, it is a good idea to use those candidates’ talent within the government since they would, by then, have adequate knowledge of governance,” he added.

“It is as though the government is giving eligible candidates another opportunity to get a secure job,” he said, adding that the initiative would also work to the benefit of government agencies.

The UPSC is a reputed agency, so if they already have a database of eligible candidates, it is always a good idea to make use of it in some way, he said.