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IAS is the first choice for most civil services toppers
Tina Dabi, the first Dalit woman to top the civil services examination, will not be treated as a general category candidate according to government data, which also
Tina Dabi, the first Dalit woman to top the civil services examination, will not be treated as a general category candidate according to government data, which also shows that the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) was the first choice of most toppers.
A government order issued last week classified Dabi — allocated to the IAS — as a Scheduled Caste candidate despite her outstanding performance in the final examination. The bright political science graduate from Delhi’s Lady Sri Ram College had topped the three-stage exam, scoring 868 out of 1750 marks. It was the highest this year. But a less than impressive performance in the preliminary examination continues to haunt her.
Read | UPSC marks disclosed: Civil services topper Tina Dabi got 52.49%
Dabi had scored less than the cut-off for general candidates. But she got into the shortlist for the detailed Main examination because the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) relaxes the cut-off for candidates from reserved categories.
A government official said she was treated as an SC candidate due to this relaxed standard. The rule is that if candidates avail any concession or relaxation at any stage of the exam, they are treated as a candidate from the reserved category and not a general candidate.
Eight candidates from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) this year were treated as general category candidates since they did not avail any concession in the examination, considered one of the toughest. Nearly half a million young men and women sit for the examination that offers less than a one in 400 chance of success.
A quick analysis of the data also shows that the IAS — and not the Indian Police Service (IPS) or even the glamorous Indian Foreign Service (IFS) — was the first choice for most of them.
Just four of the top 100 successful candidates in the 2015 examination opted for the IFS. Another three were allocated to the IPS while 93 of the 100 candidates got into the IAS.
In 2014, only 84 of the top 100 candidates went for the I AS. There were 10 candidates who got the IF S and the remaining two the IPS.
Pointing to a trend over the last decade, a senior government official said instances of successful candidates who wanted to join the Indian Revenue Service — and not other premier services such as the IAS, IFS and IPS — appeared to be on the decline.
“This is a positive trend,” he said, recalling concerns that it was the prospect of making money and not public service that had attracted the officers to the IRS.
Read | Didn’t force Tina to take science despite top grade: UPSC topper’s mom
