UPSC Civil Services Prelims Postponed Due To COVID-19 Pandemic

NEW DELHI: Civil Services Preliminary exam 2020 has been postponed and deferred by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the country.

The UPSC will announce the new exam date of the Civil Services Preliminary Exam – 2020 on May 20.

The UPSC was supposed to organise this Prelims exam on May 31, 2020, for the recruitment in the civil services.

A meeting of the Commission, chaired by Arvind Saxena, was held on Monday to take the call to defer the exam with senior UPSC officials. The decision comes after the Central government extended the lockdown for two weeks starting May 4.

“UPSC has done what needed to be done,” said an official privy to the developments. “In the current scenario where Covid-19 is spreading, it is not feasible to hold such a large scale exam.”

The Commission, the official added, has not taken a call on a fresh date for the prelims. “The date will be decided in due course of time after evaluating the situation,” the official added.

“From inaccessibility of exam venues during the lockdown as schools had been turned into quarantine centres, to ensuring students had enough time to book tickets to reach the centres, the UPSC had to address a host to issues to be able to hold the exam on May 31, it would have been very difficult,” said the second official.

Nearly 10 lakh people register for the civil services preliminary examination every year. Nearly 1.6 lakh functionaries participate in conducting the exam across 2,500 centres.

from League of India