UPSC Eligibility

Every year UPSC issues Notification for examinations like Civil services Examination. It can be seen on UPSC’s official website:  https://www.upsc.gov.in/ .

The UPSC notification provides all the details about the civil services examination. Candidate must read the notification before applying online.

Eligibility :

(I) Nationality

• For the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), 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, or.

(e)  a Person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.

Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (b), (c), (d) and (e) shall be a person in whose favour a Certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.

1. A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years; And

2. Must not have attained the age of 32 years

(on the 1st of August, 2020 - i.e., he must have been born not earlier than 2nd August, 1988 and not later than 1st August, 1999 to apply for 2020 examination)

3. The upper age-limit prescribed above will be relaxable:

1. Up to a maximum of five years if a candidate belongs to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe; (i.e. 37 years of age)
2. Up to a maximum of three years in the case of candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates; (i.e. 35 years)
3. Up to maximum of 10 years for Persons with Benchmarked Disabilities (i.e. Divyanga)
4. Up to a maximum of 3 years for Defence Service Personnel disabled in operation
5. Up to maximum of 5 years in case of Ex-servicemen, commissioned officers, ECOs/SSCOs with at-least 5 years Military services (as on 1^st august 2020) and have been released 

Cumulative age-relaxation :

 Candidates belonging to the SC/STs and the OBCs who are also covered under Defence personnel, Ex-servicemen, Persons of Benchmark Disabilities etc Will get cumulative age relaxation under both categories.  E.g.

Disabled and discharged Defence service personnel:  

General Category : 32 years + 3 years                                                             

OBC                      : 32 + 3 + 3 years                                                                                                     

SC/ST                   : 32 + 3 + 5 years

Ex-Servicemen Commission Officer:                                                                           

General Category: 32 years + 5 years                                                                      

 OBC                   : 32 + 5 + 3 years                                                                                                

SC/ST                 : 32 + 5 + 5 years

Person with Benchmarked Disability:                                                                          

 General Category: 32 years + 10 years                                                                      

 OBC                    : 32 + 10 + 3 years                                                                                                

 SC/ST                 : 32 + 10 + 5 years

(III) Minimum Educational Qualifications:

The candidate must hold a Degree of any of Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University Under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification

Are Final Year students eligible?

YES. They can apply for Preliminary examination. However, they must produce proof of having Passed the final year examination that makes them eligible for Civil services at the time of filing Detailed Application Form I (DAF I) for the Main examination if they clear preliminary examination.

            About Medical Students?

Medical students who have passed the final year of MBBS, but have NOT completed their internship can apply.

If internship is not completed by time of applying for Mains Examination such candidate will be provisionally admitted to the examination. However along with the Main Examination application, a Certificate of course completion from the concerned authority of the University/Institution has to be submitted.

Such Candidates must produce Original Degree or a Certificate of course completion from the concerned authority of the University/Institution that they have completed all requirements (Including Internship completion) for the award of Degree, at the time of Interview.

(IV) Number of attempts:  

Every candidate appearing at the examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted Six attempts at the examination (General Category) 

Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise eligible:

Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible, shall be nine.

•  An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Civil Services Examination. If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.

Note: An attempt is counted if the candidate appears in the Preliminary examination even for one paper.

(V) Reservation/ Relaxation available to: SC/ST/OBC/EWS/PwBD/Ex-Servicemen

They must ensure that they are entitled to such reservation/relaxation as per eligibility prescribed in the Rules/Notice.

They should also be in possession of all the requisite Certificates in the prescribed format in support of their claim as stipulated in the Rules/Notice for such benefits, and these certificates should be dated earlier than the due date (closing date) of the application of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020.

The Economically Weaker Section (EWS) Candidate applying for CSE 2020 must produce and Income and Asset Certificate for F.Y. 2018-2019.

Persons with Benchmark Disability

Age limit:

Relaxable up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of (a) blindness and low vision; (b) deaf and hard of hearing; (c) locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy; (d) autism, intellectual disability, specific learning disability and mental illness; and (e) multiple disabilities from amongst persons under clauses (a) to (d) including deaf-blindness.

General category : 42 years

OBC                       :45 years

SC/ST                   : 47 years

Number of Attempts:

A candidate of Persons with Benchmark Disability belonging to the General and EWS Category shall be eligible for Nine attempts.

Those PwBD, belonging to other categories will get same number of attempts as available to other candidates of that category. i.e. PwBD of OBC category will get 9 attempts while PwBD of SC/ST category will get unlimited attempts till age limit.

Scribe:

The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the categories of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be provided the facility of scribe, if desired by the person.

The facility of scribe will be allowed to such candidates on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write, and scribe is essential to write examination on behalf, from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV,  given in Notification.

The qualification of the scribe should always be matriculate or above and not more than the minimum qualification criteria of examination (degree).

Compensatory Time

The Persons with Benchmark Disabilities in the category of blindness, locomotor disability (both arm affected – BA) and cerebral palsy will be allowed Compensatory Time of Twenty minutes per hour of the examination.

In case of other categories of Persons with Benchmark Disabilities, this facility will be provided on production of a certificate to the effect that the person concerned has physical limitation to write from the Chief Medical Officer/ Civil Surgeon/ Medical Superintendent of a Government Health Care institution as per proforma at Appendix – IV.