Civil Services Examination: India
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Candidates that succeed: discipline-, geography-, gender-wise
2019
New Delhi : The success rate of women candidates who reached the conclusive interview stage of the Civil Services Examination in 2019, in getting recommended to the civil services by the UPSC, impr oved to 14. 6% from 14. 2% in 2018. In comparison, only 7% of the male candidates who appeared for interview a fter clearing the mains examination, were recommended for selection — down fr om 7. 9% recommended on the basis of CSE-2018.
The higher selection rate of women, vis a vis men who qualified for the interview, cuts across a ll categories like general, S C, ST, OBC and economica lly weaker sections (EWS). However, in absolute terms, the 1,510 women candidates who took the interview as part of CSE-2019 were far outnumbered by their 9,964 male counterparts. Of these, 220 women were recommended for various civil services including IAS, IPS etc, as against 702 successful male candidates.
As per the UPSC annual r eport for 2020-21 released last week, of the 922 candida tes recommended for civil services based on CSE-2019, 63. 1% were from engineering background (up from 62. 7% in CSE-2018), 24. 2% from humanities (down from 24. 5%), 6. 6% from science (dow n from 6. 9%) and 6% from medical science background (up from 5. 9%).
Interestingly, despite 63. 1% of the recommended candidates being engineers, only 4. 7% had opted for engineering as their optional subject in mains exam. The optional subject of a whopping 82. 6% of the recommended candidates related to the humanities stream. This shows that most of the candidates con tinue to make a cross-domain shift from their original stream (i. e. , engineering and medical science) to humanities.
The UPSC report for 2020-21 does not contain information on CSE-2020 as its results had not been declared until March 31, 2021.
An analysis of educational qualifications of the interviewed CSE candidates shows that the success rate of those above graduate le vel (44. 2%) was higher than that of graduate candidates (38. 7%). While 672 (72. 9%) of those recommended to civil services were graduates, 250 (27. 1%) possessed post-graduate or higher qualifications.
Over 11. 35 lakh candidates had applied for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2019, of which only 5. 68 lakh (50. 1%) actually appeared. As many as 11,474 candidates qualified for the mai ns examination, and 2,302 appeared for the interview. Finally, 922 candidates were recommended by the UPSC for various civil services.
Geography was the most preferred among optional subjects for the mains exam, followed by political science & international relations. Amongst the subjects opted by 100 or more candidates, the highest percentage of successful candidates opted for Kannada languag e literature (13. 7%) followed by Malayalam language literature.
While the candidates appearing for mains who chose Hindi literature as their optional subject fell to 191 from 236 i n 2018 exam, English literature was optional subject for 31 candidates as against 21 in CSE-2018. The highest percentage (27. 2%) of male candidates recommended, were from the age group of
26-28 years (unlike CSE-2018 when most were from 24-26 age group), while the highest percentage (32. 3%) of the successful female candidates were between 24 and 26 years.
While 55. 5% of candid ates appeared for the prelims exam in 2019 in their first attempt, only 7. 7% of finally qualified candidates could clear the examination in their first attempt. In the second, third and fourth attemp ts, the percentage of recommended candidates was 16. 5%, 19. 7% and 19. 9%respectively.
2017-21: 76% of those selected from science stream, 64% engineers
Bharti Jain, Dec 8, 2023: The Times of India
Engrs 64% of those picked for civil services in 2017-21
New Delhi : Engineers have been dominating the list of successful candidates in All India Civil Services, such as IAS, IPS and IFS, making up 63.6% of the list between 2017 and 2021.
However, such candidates made a cross-domain shift from their original stream to opt for political science, international relations and sociology as their optional subjects for the exam, according to data shared by Union junior minister for personnel Jitendra Singh in a written reply to BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi in the Rajya Sabha.
The percentage of women selected to the civil services has fluctuated between 24% and 28% from 2017 to 2021, the data shows.
Details
Bharti Jain, Dec 8, 2023: The Times of India
Civil services: 76% were from science stream
Of 4,371 candidates recommended to All India Civil Services between 2017 and 2021, over 76% were from science stream, covering engineering, sciences and medicine. Only 23.6% were from the humanities stream, though humanities subjects were the most preferred as optional, minister Jitendra Singh informed the RS. Over 650 successful candidates opted for political science and international relations as their optional, followed by 577 who chose sociology and 514 candidates chose geography. Over 76% of the successful candidates in the civils, held bachelor degrees.
YEAR-WISE RESULTS
2020 examination for the 2021 batch
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Graphic courtesy: [ The Times of India]
The final result of Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2020 was declared on Friday with Shubham Kumar from Bihar’s Katihar emerging as the topper and number 2 rank going to Jagrati Awasthi from Madhya Pradesh.
Of the 761 recommended by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the annual exam for selection to civil services including IAS and IPS, 216 or 28.3% are women. In fact, just like in 2019, 12 among the top 25 rankholders are women. Among the successful women candidates is also Ria Dabi, sister of Tina Dabi, the topper of Civil Services Exam 2015.
The percentage of women recommended for civil services this year is better than the last three years, having risen from 24.2% in 2017, 23.9% in 2018 and 23.7% in 2019. The recommended candidates this year include 25 people with benchmark disability.
Delhi bagged five places in the top 20 and Bihar three, including the No. 1 rank. Three positions in the top 20 have gone to candidates from Kerala.
2020 RESULTS
If given equal chance, what is it that women can’t do: UPSC topper No. 2
Shubham Kumar is an IIT-Bombay graduate. This was his third attempt, after having been selected to Indian Defence Accounts Service in the second attempt in 2019. He told TOI that while he was expecting to figure in the merit list this year, he never imagined that he would top the exam. Having sought Bihar cadre as his first preference, Shubham, a civil engineer, wants to work in areas like flood relief, food-processing, health, education and also improve the economic condition of people of his state.
Jagrati Awasthi said it felt great to be the topper among women and also No. 2 rankholder. “If given equal opportunity, what is it that women can’t do? With the support of family and others, they can do wonders,” she said.
Jagrati, who worked for two years in BHEL before quitting her job to prepare for the civil services, said she would like to work for rural development in MP.
Ria Dabi cleared the civil services exam in her first attempt, much like her sister Tina, who had topped the exam in 2015.
As many as 10,40,060 candidates applied for civil services exam 2020, of which 4,82,770 appeared. Only 10,564 qualified for appearance in the mains examination and 2,053 underwent personality test based on which 761 candidates were recommended for appointment to various services.
2022 examination for the 2023 batch
New Delhi : Women secured the top four slots in Civil Services Exam 2022, with Delhi University graduates Ishita Kishore from Greater Noida in UP, Garima Lohia from Buxar in Bihar and Smriti Mishra from Noida bagging all-India ranks 1, 2 and 4 respectively. IIT alumna Uma Harathi N of Hyderabad took the third spot.
This is the second year in a row that the top three slots have gone to women.
It’s also a repeat of the performance of CSE 2014, the results for which were declared in 2015 and where female candidates outshone men with the top four ranks.
Even in overall performance, women have shown remarkable improvement in the CSE 2022, the results of which were declared on Tuesday. Of the total 933 candidates recommended for appointment to various elite services like IAS and IPS, 320 or 34. 2% are women. This is way better than the 25. 8% share of women among the recommended candidates based on CSE 2021, 28. 5% in 2020, 23. 8% in 2019 and 23. 9% in 2018 and even the exams held earlier.
North East
Assam doctor ranks 5th, tops among men in UPSC exam Kangkan.Kalita1@timesgroup.com
Guwahati : Riding on selfstudy, Assam doctor Mayur Hazarika topped this year’s UPSC among male candidates and bagged the 5th rank in his first attempt. All the top four positions have been bagged by women candidates. Apart from Hazarika, whose performance is the best-ever by anyone from the state, 17 others made the cut this year from the northeast — five from Assam, three from Arunachal Pradesh, four each from Nagaland and Manipur, and one from Meghalaya.
Hazarika was engaged as a rural practitioner at a governme nt hospital at Kaliabor in central Assam’s Nagaon district for a year till mid-2022, following which he devoted himself to preparing for the UPSC exam. He was among the state toppers in both Cl ass X (10th rank) and Class XII (9th rank) board examinations before he joined Gauhati Medical College and Hospital from where he completed his MBBS.
“Even before joining the med ical college, I was interested in joining civil services. But there was no such proper guidance about cracking civil services in 2015 (when he passed Class XII). But in the third and fourth year, again Ig ot enthusiastic about civil services,” said Hazarika.
“I did self-study for civil services despite joining online classes,” Hazarika added.
His father Krishna Hazarika said, “Without doing postgraduation, he was doing focused study for the competitive exam. We never dreamt of such atop-level position in the rankings. It’s a rare feat for Assam. ”
(With inputs from Manosh Das)
60% of civils top-20 are women, 25% from UP
New Delhi : An analysis of 20 all-India toppers in Civil Services Examination 2022 (CSE 2022) shows that 60% of them are women, 45% engineers and 40% from the humanities stream with one-fourth hailing from Uttar Pradesh.
Sharing these statistics during a meeting with the 20 top rankers in CSE 2022 here on Tuesday, minister of state for personnel and PMO Jitendra Singh said the fact that the first four rank-holders and 60% of the top 20 are women “is a great reflection of demographic changes in the past nine years of the Modi government, where India is moving from women’s participation to women’sleadership”. Three women — Ishita Kishore, Garima Lohia, Uma Harathi N — were the top three scorers in CSE 2022, repeating the trend from last year.
Top 20 of CSE this year includes 9engineers, 1 med professional
Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com
While 12 of the 20 CSE 2022 toppers are women, CSE 2021 and CSE 2020 had eight and 10 women, respectively, among the top 20 all-India rank holders.
Sharing the educational profile of the 20 CSE toppers this year, the minister said they comprise nine engineers and one medical professional, while eight have a humanities degree and two from science. He welcomed this change, describing it democratisation of services through opti-mum use of technology.
Singh also took note of the demographic change happening over the last few years and said the top 20 candidates this year represent a pan-India coverage, with five hailing from UP; three each from Bihar and Delhi; two each from Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir; and one each from Kerala, MP, Rajasthan. Telangana and Assam. The minister underlined that even candidates who did their schooling from Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya School and other government schools are cracking the exam, unlike earlier when it was largely ‘elite’ schools.
2023 examination for the 2024 batch
IITian Aditya Srivastava tops civils exam; two women among top 5
The Times of India/ 17 Apr 2024
New Delhi : Aditya Srivastava from Lucknow, an IIT Kanpur alumnus who is currently undergoing training for the IPS, aced the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2023, even as NIT Rourkela graduate Animesh Pradhan from Talcher cleared the elite exam in his first attempt, barely a month after his mother succumbed to cancer, reports Bharti Jain . There are two women in the top 5 and 10 among the top 25 candidates. Donuru Ananya Reddy, a BA (Hons) graduate from Miranda House who hails from Mahabubnagar district of Telangana, was the topper among women with overall third rank. Ruhani, who ranked 5th, had cleared the Civil Services Exam 2022 and was allocated to IPS and is undergoing training at National Police Academy.
31 from Jamia academy, 11 of them women
Youngsters from marginalised communities can aspire to become civil servants at Jamia Millia Islamia’s Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) in southeast Delhi, reports Shreya Ghosh. On Tuesday, the academy celebrated the success of 31 of its 71 students in the top UPSC exam — with the 2023 result showing an increase of eight over the previous year. Since its inception in 2010, RCA has provided free coaching to students from the SC, ST and minorities communities and women. Out of the 31 aspirants who made the final cut, 11 of them are women.
Ruhani, who ranked 5th, had cleared Civil Services Exam 2022 and was allocated to Indian Police Service. She is also undergoing training at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA), along with all-India topper Aditya. Fourth-rank holder is P K Sidharth Ramkumar, an architecture graduate of Ernakulam, who had also cleared CSE in 2021.
Aditya quit his well-paying job at Goldman Sachs to aim for a career in the civil services. He told TOI that his decision was based on the realisation that he will be more content working at the grassroots level. “This was my third attempt. While preparing for CSE, rather than studying long hours, I focused on completing my assigned tasks for the day and setting targets,” he shared, adding that his first choice will clearly be his home cadre, Uttar Pradesh.
Top 20 candidates recommended by UPSC to various civil services like IAS, IPS, IFS etc based on CSE 2023, come from a cross-section of cities and towns across India. While sixth-rank holder Srishti Dabas hails from Delhi, No. 5 Ruhani is from Gurugram but a graduate from Delhi’s St Stephen’s College. At No. 18 and 20 are candidates from Noida. Those ranking from seventh to 20th positions belong to Jammu, Jaipur, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Navi Mumbai, Jhansi, Meerut, Jhajjar, Bhopal, Jamshedpur and Bengaluru.
Total 1,016 candidates, including 664 men (65%) and 352 women (35%), were recommended by UPSC for appointment to civil services based on the 2023 exam.
Speaking to TOI, all-India No 2 Animesh Pradhan said he was working with Indian Oil Corporation since 2021, but decided to aim for a career in civil services. He said his preparation for CSE coincided with his mother’s battle with cancer. She was with him right till his interview round, but succumbed a month ago.
