UPSC Civil Services Exam 2022: Notified vacancies increased by 20%

In 2020, the UPSC had advertised 796 posts which was much less than 896 posts notified in 2019. A total of 782 positions were advertised in 2018, despite a shortage of civil servants in the country.

Shortage of civil servants

In a written reply in Lok Sabha in 2019, Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh had said that 5,205 IAS positions were filled as against the total authorised strength of 6,699. “There is a shortage of 1,496 IAS officers in the country,” the minister had informed the House.

It is to be noted that every year only a fraction of the total notified vacancies are allotted to the Indian Administrative Services (IAS). The total number of advertised vacancies is further distributed into other services – IPS, IFS, IRS (IT), among others.

Addressing the situation, the central government, in December 2021, decided to set up a panel to assess the growing shortage of IAS officers and suggest a recruitment plan to cater to immediate as well as long-term needs. The panel is yet to submit its report to the government.

Sieving candidates at each stage

As per the 2020 data available on the UPSC website, a total of 11,54,769 candidates applied to appear for the examination, out of which only 5.68,282 appeared in the prelims exam. Based on the notified vacancies, a cut-off was set and a total of 10,564 candidates were declared qualified to appear in the mains examination. This number however varies year to year.

Candidates who qualify prelims then appear in a total of 9 subjective type papers in the mains examination and after the scrutiny around 2,000 to 2,500 candidates are declared qualified who then appear in the personal interview.

The final selection of candidates is carried out based on the marks secured in the mains and personality test.