No Change In UPSC Civil Services Exam General Studies Weightage

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) which conducts civil service examination has announced that there is no proposal currently under consideration of the government to give more weight age to general studies paper.

This statement was made by The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh in Lok Sabha.

The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh clarified in Lok Sabha that the government is not considering any proposal to assign more weight age to general studies in UPSC Civil Services Examination due to be conducted on June 18, 2017.

The Minister also informed that the report submitted by B S Baswan committee is under consideration by the (UPSC) and the government is yet to receive the commission's recommendations on the report.

According to the report:

• The Baswan Committee was constituted on August 12, 2015, to look into the various issues which were raised about the Civil Services Examination (CSE). The objections raised were related to a vast range of topics such as eligibility, syllabus, scheme and pattern of the exam.
• According to Press trust of India, in response to a question in Lok Sabha, Jitendra Singh said that currently, the government is not considering any change in the weight age given to general studies in the UPSC CSE for both preliminary and mains.
• Highlighting the previous changes in the UPSC CSE exam pattern, Jitendra Singh said that change in the syllabus of UPSC Civil Services took place in 2011 followed by changes in 2013 when four papers of General Studies carrying 250 marks each were included.
• Since 2013, General Studies paper in Mains exam carries 1000 marks out of the total 1750 marks in the written examination. Also in 2015, the General Studies Paper II was made qualifying in nature with minimum marks fixed at 33% of total marks assigned.
• Therefore, the pattern for UPSC CSE 2017 prelims exam for Indian Administrative Services (IAS) remains the same as of now.
• The preliminary exam will have two objective type papers like last year- Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and General Studies.