The notification for the Civil Services Examination 2014, which was scheduled to be out on May 17, has been delayed.
Aspirants are eagerly awaiting the notification, expecting clarification on the enhanced age limit for the eligible, along with the relaxation in the number of attempts.
Earlier in the year, the government had issued a notification granting two additional attempts to all aspirants, with a ‘consequential age relaxation’. Since the term seemed ambiguous, aspirants were keen on the Union Public Service Commission being clearer on the matter in its notification.
Exam patternAspirants are also anxious about the possibility of changes in the exam pattern. Rumours abound of a possible deletion of the optional papers from the Main examination.
V. GopalaKrishna, director of coaching institute Brain Tree feels that there may not be change in the structure of the examination.
“Recruitment is a sovereign function and it is only the government of the day, through the Department of Personnel that can take a decision on any major changes,” he said. He says the UPSC can only suggest changes but the new government is not expected to take any such decision in the near future.
Many aspirants feel that removal of the optional would entail removal of the “Literature of various languages”, which would seriously impede the chances of rural students educated in a milieu where skills in English are not emphasised upon.
Replying to a RTI query, the UPSC had also supported this argument, saying that there was no proposal to remove the optional subject.
