Prelims Notification

Union Public Service Commission notifies every year the calendar of examinations. It is customary to notify the civil service exams in the month of February. Accordingly the flag for marathon race to civil services was waved on 18th February 2019. It is one of the prestigious notification for which lacks of candidates await every year to test their luck. Around 6 lakh candidates appear for the prelims which is the first stage in the process.

2019 Notification
As per the notification issued on February  18, there are 896 posts for all the 24 services. Compared to 2017 the number of vacancies has increased by 114 which is a good sign.  Last year there were 782 vacancies. The last date for filling online applications is 17th March 2019.  For the first time the Economically backward communities EBC was included with 10% reservations. As per the recommendations of Baswan committee report 180 posts for IAS have been earmarked. Out of 896 vacancies 89 posts for EBCs and 39 for physically handicapped are reserved.
 
Only online applications are accepted.
It is expected that about 75000 candidates from both the Telugu states may apply for prelims.
 
Prelims 2019
Examination for prelims will be conducted at different centers in India on 2nd June 2019. The centres in both the states are- Hyderabad, Warangal, Anantapur, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. 
For Indian Forest services also it is the common examination. It is only to filter candidates separately for Civil services and Forest services. 

Objective type examination:
Prelims will be on objective mode with 2 papers. 
Paper I General Studies (GS): Based on the highest marks scored the candidates are selected for the mains separately for civil services and Forest services. 200 Marks -  2 hours duration. It is deciding paper for Mains. The marks scored are not counted for merit list. There will be 100 questions with 2 marks each. Negative marking 0.33 
The language option is English or Hindi. 

Cut off Marks for the year 2017 caste wise:
The cut off mark differs from year to year. The reason being the question paper is set with tough questions and the candidates are not able to coupe up.

Syllabus:
Current events of national and international importance
History of India and Indian National movement
Indian and World geography- Physical, social, Economic geography of India and the World
Indian polity and governance- Constitution, political system, Panchayat raj, Public policy, Rights issues etc
Economic and social development- Sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, demographics, Social sector initiatives etc
General issues on environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and climate change- that do not require subject specialisation 
General Science   
  
II paper is C-SAT 
This is known as Civil services Aptitude test. Now it is only a qualifying paper compared to earlier years. 33 per cent marks are to be obtained to qualify for Mains. 80 questions and 200 Marks.  2 hours duration. It is not counted for merit. 

The syllabus include: Comprehension, Communication skills, Interpersonal skills, Logical reasoning and problem solving, general mental ability, basic numeric, and Data interpretation.

English language comprehension skills (Class X level): The questions will be of multiple choice objective types.  

Questions relating to English language comprehension skills of class X level (last item in the syllabus of Paper II) will be tested through passages from English only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
 
Mains examination 2019
The civil services Mains examination will be on 20th September 2019 for 5 days.
Details will be discussed next week.

 -Dr R A Padmanabha Rao
(The author is Additional Director General (Retd), Doordarshan, New Delhi)