The Union Public Service Commission has issued the Civil Services (IAS) Exam notification with some very important changes done this year. These changes were in the news for quite some time and are confirmed in the UPSC Civil Services Notification 2019. There were some news regarding the counting of attempts, but were clarified in the UPSC Civil Services Notification 2019. Let us see the important changes done in the UPSC Civil Services Notification 2019. Moreover, the introduction of EWS category for the reservation in the Civil Services Exam was also finalized after the official UPSC Civil Services Notification 2019 came out on 19 Feb 2019.
The Union Public Service Commission has released the Civil Services (IAS) Notification 2019 on 19 Feb 2019 as mentioned in the UPSC calendar of Exam. This is the most awaited exam notification of UPSC and graduate in any stream is eligible to appear in the IAS Exam. The online application process started on 19 Feb 2019 and will end on 18 March 2019. The UPSC has issued guidelines for the candidates to check their eligibility for the IAS Exam 2019.
Important Things to Know for UPSC IAS Notification 2019
Vacancies/Number of Posts
This year the UPSC has notified 896 vacancies in the UPSC IAS Notification 2019 which includes 39 vacancies reserved for Persons with Benchmark Disability Category, i.e. 8 vacancies for candidates of (a) blindness and low vision; 11 Vacancies for (b) deaf and hard of hearing; 15 Vacancies for (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; and 5 Vacancies for (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (c) including deaf-blindness. The final number of vacancies may undergo change after getting a firm number of vacancies from Cadre Controlling Authorities. Reservation will be made for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes. Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes, the Economically Weaker Sections and Persons with Benchmark Disability in respect of vacancies as may be fixed by the Government.
So for a normal candidate, the number of vacancies will be 857 (896-39). The number of posts for the IAS will be around 180 as per the recommendations of Baswan Committee. The rest of the services have their own share, which is not known.
On reverse analysing the vacancies notified, we can say that for 857 seats, there will be 2.5 times candidates for the IAS Interview. The number of candidates who will be selected for the IAS interview will be 2143 candidates. The number of candidates who will qualify in the IAS Prelims Exam will be twelve to thirteen times of the notified vacancies. So the number of candidates who will be selected for the IAS Main Exam will be 857X12 to 857x13. This will result into 10284 to 11141. This calculation has excluded the number of vacancies for the differently able candidates.
Counting of Attempt
There was a news around that the UPSC has recommended to the Government of India that form filling should be counted as an attempt in the Civil Services Exam. The UPSC notification has not change the attempt counting system and only appearing in one paper in the IAS Prelims Exam will be deemed as the attempt in the IAS Exam.
Reservation for EWS
The recent decision of Govt of India to provide reservation to the Economically weaker Section of the society is also incorporated in the UPSC Civil Services Exam notification. The number of the EWS reserved seats will be around 89 seats in which 18 could be of IAS. The final numbers of vacancies and the reserved seats will be published in the results.
No Attempt relaxation for EWS Category
There is no relaxation provided to the candidates belonging to the EWS category. The EWS category will only have 6 attempts if they belong to the General Candidates.
Interview Marks of the Non-recommended candidates
The disclosure will be made in respect of only those willing candidates who will appear in the Interview/Personality Test for the Civil Service Examination and are not finally recommended for appointment. The information shared through this disclosure scheme about the non-recommended candidates may be used by other public and private recruitment agencies to appoint suitable candidates from the information made available in the public portal. Candidates will be required to give their options at the time of Interview/Personality Test, while downloading the e-Summon Letter from the Commission’s website for the interview. A candidate may opt out of the scheme also and in that case his/her details will not be published by the Commission.
There were the news that various ministries and CPSUs can take the candidate directly, who were not recommended by the UPSC and have faced the IAS Interview. This recommendation can see the day of light next year because the UPSC will publish the IAS Interview marks of the candidates who have appeared in the IAS Interview but were not recommended.
Most Important tips for IAS Interview
Limited Capacity of UPSC Centres
“Applicants should note that there will be a ceiling on the number of candidates allotted to each of the Centres except Chennai, Dispur, Kolkata and Nagpur. Allotment of Centres will be on the 'first-apply-first allot' basis, and once the capacity of a particular Centre is attained, the same will be frozen. Applicants are, thus, advised that they may apply early so that they could get a Centre of their choice.”
The candidates must fill out their UPSC Forms so that as early as possible so that they can get the centre of their choice.
Nationality
There were no changes done in the nationality criteria for the IAS Exam.
(1)For the Indian Administrative Service, the Indian Foreign Service and the Indian Police Service,a candidate must be a citizen of India.
(2) For other services, a candidate must be either:—
(a) a citizen of India, or
(b) a subject of Nepal, or
(c) a subject of Bhutan, or
(d) a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India
Negative Marking
There will be negative marking of one by three in the IAS Prelims Exam as in the previous year exams.
Journey from IAS Form to IAS Officer
Age Limits
There are no changes done in the age limit for the Civil Services Exam 2019. There were anticipations that the candidates, who had given their last attempt when the mark of General Studies II(CSAT) paper were added to the IAS Prelims Exam Merit will get one more attempt this year, were not provided the same even after their repeated agitations at Jantar Mantar, Parliamanet and UPSC.
The official age limit for different categories are
| Category | Age | Attempts Allowed |
| General Category | 32 Years | Six |
| OBC Category | 35 Years | Nine |
| SC/ST Category | 37 Years | Unlimited |
| EWS | 32 Years | Six |
Restriction on Form Filling
A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service will not be eligible to compete at this examination.
In case such a candidate is appointed to the IAS/IFS after the Preliminary Examination of Civil Services Examination, 2019 is over and he/she continues to be a member of that service, he/she shall not be eligible to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2019 notwithstanding his/her having qualified in the Preliminary Examination, 2019.
We hope this will help the IAS aspirants to understand the UPSC Civil Services Notification in a better form.