Centre to lower age limit for CS aspirants

The Union government intends to reduce the upper age limit and number of attempts of applicants of the UPSC Civil Service Examination with effect from 2015.

According to information published on the website of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, the upper age limit will be 29 years for SC/ST candidates, 28 years for OBC and 26 for the unreserved category. There will be an additional two years for physically challenged candidates in each category.

At present, the upper age limit for SC/ST, OBC and unreserved candidates is 37, 35 and 32 years respectively.

Similarly the number of attempts allowed for candidates appearing for the Civil Services Examination would be unlimited for SC/ST candidates, nine for OBC and six for unreserved candidates.

The measures, recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) and almost entirely accepted by the government, were put up on the website.

The Centre has decided to retain August 1 in the examination year as the cut-off date for eligibility and not to review the structure of the examination (both preliminary and main) since this was only recently changed.