UPSC to hold prelims on Oct 4, mains in Jan

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This will give the Commission time to get more invigilators and provide more space to ensure social distancing during the exam

nNEWDELHI: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), India’s principal government recruitment body, on Friday announced the dates for public service examinations that were deferred because of Covid-19 pandemic.

The preliminary civil services exam is scheduled to be held on October 4 and the main exam will be held over five days starting on January 8, UPSC said in a notification. UPSC postponed the exam from its original date of May 31 keeping in mind the fact that many candidates would be unable to reach their examination centres because of the lockdown caused by Covid-19 as well as the inability of states to host such a large-scale exercise.

Nearly 1 million people register for the civil services preliminary exam every year and over 160,000 officials help conduct the exam across 2,500 centres for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service and other services.

“The fresh date will help students reach their exam centres on time,” an official in UPSC said on condition of anonymity.

The Indian Forest Service preliminary exam will be held along with the UPSC preliminary. The National Defence Academy exam is scheduled for September 6 and the combined medical services

BS BASWAN, UPSC reforms panellist

is scheduled for October 22.

BS Baswan, who led a panel on UPSC reforms, said, “This will give the Commission time to get more invigilators and provide more space to ensure social distancing during the exam.”

“If the main examinations are being held in January, then that implies that another seven to ten months have been added to the calendar,” said Padamvir Singh, former director of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, the apex training institute for the civil services.

Anil Swarup, a former government of India secretary, concurred with Singh. “They have no other option,” said Swarup. “They have actually offered more time to prepare. Normally, between the prelims and the mains, you get three-and-a-half months. This time, it is four-anda-half months.”

Swarup added that after the interview, the foundation course will start.