The newly-introduced Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota may prove to be a boon for the poorer sections from the upper castes in the Civil Services examinations this year as their cut-off marks are likely to be lower than the General and OBC categories.
The assumption is based on the statistics of other recruitment examinations conducted at the national level in 2019 and that is the indication even in Civil Services where the EWS candidates will have some advantage in the final selections.
Trainers who have studied the statistics say that in the Combined Medical service examination 2019, the minimum qualifying mark out of 400 for General category was 224 , OBC (183), SC (192), ST (159) while it was 126 for EWS. Similarly, in the same examination, the cut-off marks at the final stage out of 600 were 306 for the General category and it was 268 for OBC, 271 for SC, 225 for ST and 220 for EWS.
The ONGC GATE marks also indicate the same trend where the cut-off marks for EWS was 396, far lower than the 557 marks for the unreserved category and 433 for the OBC category. The cut-off marks for the SBI clerical grade exam released for Tamil Nadu for EWS were 28.5 as against the cut off for General (61.25) SC (61.25), ST (53.75) and OBC (61.25), according to sources.
If the same trends are considered for Civil Services examination too, the cut-off for EWS is likely to be lesser that General and OBC categories. However, marks and cut-offs are dynamic in nature in selections and none can predict them that easily, agree the same trainers.
“The Civil Services examination has become highly competitive and unpredictable in the recent past and at an average any aspirant needs two to three years of focussed hard work to succeed. Though meritorious, an aspirant belonging to the EWS would find it very difficult to sustain his preparation for a long period due to financial constraints and the compulsion to work. The quota for EWS may give them some hope,” feels Gopalakrishna, director of Brain Tree.
About 18 vacancies in IAS, 15 vacancies in IPS, and nine vacancies in the Revenue services, are expected to be reserved for the EWS in 2019.
Would this trend continue in future? “Being the first year, it appears many candidates have not availed the reservation due to absence of information. The low cut-offs are expected only this year and from next year, they are expected to rise sharply as more and more eligible candidates will try their luck in the quota, argues another Civil Services trainer.
