Indian Public Servants are increasingly reaching out to underprivileged candidates seeking to take the annual Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination, helping them with study plans, notes and advice.
This trend, which has been noted by observers, comes from an increasing feeling that the Public Service is not properly reflecting the nation as a whole.
Observers said the movement could be traced back to 2019 when Indian Forest Service officers launched the joint initiative Being IFS, where exam candidates were provided with one-on-one communication to ask questions and be provided with a strategy for all stages of the examination.
Since then the movement has spread, with Tina Dabi (pictured), who topped the examination in 2015, saying she now shares her views on the examination and how to study for it with her vast army of social media followers.
Meanwhile, a member of India’s Upper House of Parliament has called on Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray to relax the age limit on candidates for the State’s Public Service examinations.
Rajya Sabha MP, Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati said that for the past two years there had been no examinations in the State due to COVID-19 lockdowns but now the exams had been resumed many of the original candidates had crossed the maximum age requirement — “this is an injustice”.
Mr Sambhajiraje said students prepared for the examinations for years in an effort to win a place in the Public Service “therefore, I have written to the Chief Minister urging him to relax the age-related criteria by at least two years to give back to the students the opportunity they lost due to the pandemic”.
He pointed out that other States had relaxed the age criteria for students appearing for their Public Service examinations.
New Delhi, 1 November 2021
