Overview
- The Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee met on Monday to hear the secretaries of the Department of Personnel and Training and the Union Public Service Commission and to review the number of vacant central government posts and recruitment progress.
- Committee chair Brij Lal told reporters the panel found overall recruitment work was progressing satisfactorily, though the committee urged faster, coordinated action to clear long-standing vacancies.
- Members examined the Civil Services Aptitude Test as a qualifying paper in the UPSC prelims, noting it has 80 questions, roughly 0.68 negative marking per wrong answer, and that failing it prevents a candidate’s General Studies (GS‑1) paper from being evaluated.
- The panel highlighted critics’ claims that CSAT’s quantitative focus disadvantages humanities, rural and underserved aspirants and said this shift has contributed to a larger share of engineering graduates among successful candidates.
- In a March report the committee recommended the Ministry of Law and Justice work with UPSC, SSC and DoPT on time-bound recruitment and promotion measures and to finalise rules such as those for Indian Legal Service selection; the panel will continue oversight as the debate over CSAT reform proceeds.