On April 28th, 2014 a document related to decisions taken by the Government on Second Administrative Reforms Commission’s recommendations, was uploaded on the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) website (It’s a department under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions which is headed by the Prime Minister of India)
The particular document which we are talking about has caused anxiety in the minds of thousands of civil service aspirants. The document talks about lowering the age limit to 26 and number of attempts to 3 for General (unreserved/open) category; 28 years and 5 attempts for OBC and 29 years, 6 attempts for the SC/ST category for civil service aspirants from 2015 exams itself.
On the same website there are other documents uploaded under the heading – “Implementations of recommendations of 2nd ARC’.
Note that the document was uploaded six months ago that too under ‘decision taken’ heading. It was the decision taken by the UPA government. It is not yet implemented.
Some aspirants [ Public Administration optional Student since they have to read ARC report ] ‘discovered’ this document and posted it on public fora. Now, The Hindu has published a front page article on the issue, which is a good development (though the report is stupid and that too on front page)
Now this will create uproar. The government will wake up to the fact that a relic of UPA is still lingering on its website. The government will be forced to take a decision – to implement this particular decision of UPA or not. And common sense tells us that it is very unlikely that NDA will implement UPA’s decision (now please don’t mention Aadhaar!)
Meanwhile those who are giving Mains this year, and those who are preparing for 2015 exams, irrespective of your age, please continue your preparation without worrying about this particular development. What The Hindu has published is an old news. IAS aspirants were fast, journalists were slow. Now we have to wait and see how fast the present government is.
Those who ‘discovered’ this document could have waited till the Mains-2014 were over and put it in the public domain. Well, ethics and EQ!
We believe that this government is sane enough to remove/edit the document on its website and clear things fast. If not, it might have to get ready to face far worst protests than any previous governments have ever faced in recent history.
If you are aware of politics of this country then you know that this decision will never be implemented. So, relax and happily prepare for the Mains/2015 exam. If the government takes an ‘adverse’ decision – don’t worry, ours is democracy. People will be on streets.
Note: If you are an youngster and wants government to go ahead and implement this particular decision, you may have to consider thousands of aspirants who leave their well paying software/other jobs and decide to enter civil services after they celebrate their 27th birthday. You may also consider educated women, who forcefully/voluntarily get married at an early age and then decide to write this exam to achieve something in life when they are nearing their thirties. Most importantly, please consider our rural aspirants and their problems.
You should know that most ‘educated’ Indians discover real education after their graduation. Preparing for this exam is an education itself. Preparing oneself to prepare for this exam itself takes lots of time. We hope the government knows this fact.
Let’s hope for the best. And we request all to calmly go on with your exam preparation until the government clears the air.
INSIGHTS
