Aspiring for civil services? Do it fast as UPSC may cut upper age limit

New Delhi: A key panel has recommended the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to reduce the upper-age limit of candidates aspiring to join the civil services.

The panel, headed by former education secretary BS Baswan, reportedly submitted its report to the UPSC on Tuesday.

“The report will first be examined by the commission. A decision will be taken by the government in consultation with the UPSC that will give its views on the report,” the Hindustan Times quoted a senior government official as saying.

The UPSC examination is conducted in three stages - preliminary, main, and interview -- to recruit officers to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS),

Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

Lakhs of candidates sit for the gruelling examination every year even though chances of clearing it is very less. Only the brightest of the brightest succeed.

Currently, the upper age limit for candidates from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes is relaxed by five years while those from other backward classes get a three-year relaxation. Disabled candidates get up to 10 years.

Several panels in the past have advocated a reduction in the upper-age limit but successive governments have raised it, from 26 in the 1960s to 28 in the 1980s and now, 32, according to the report.

The BS Baswan panel has reportedly recommended that “the age limit be reduced in a phased manner spread over several years and not in one go”.

The step was reportedly suggested keeping in mind the thousands of people who spend years preparing for the examination and whose careers might be jeopardized if they found themselves ineligible for the test in the middle of the process.