Parliamentary panel discusses filling up of vacancies in central government, CSAT in Civil Services exam
New Delhi, June 23
A parliamentary panel on Monday discussed the filling up of vacancies in the Central Government as well as impact and outcomes of the Civil Services Aptitude Test component in the Civil Services Examination.
Chaiperson of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, Brij Lal, said after the meeting that the progress in recruitment process is appropriate.
The committee will present a report to the parliament after its deliberations.
"The main agenda focused on vacancies within the central govt and its recruitment progress, as well as discussions concerning the DoPT, the SSC, UPSC and the Civil Services examinations," he said.
Asked if the progress in recruitment in filling central government vacancies is fine, he said "yes".
The government informed the Rajya Sabha earlier this year that UPSC has formulated guidelines to release the Provisional Answer Key on its official website after the Preliminary Examination is conducted.
This will be implemented from the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 onwards, for all structured examinations conducted by UPSC. Marks of the Preliminary Examination shall be released only after the declaration of final result of the Examination.
In order to ensure level playing field across optional subjects, UPSC applies inter-subject moderation to ensure that no candidate, regardless of the optional subject chosen, is placed at any disadvantage.
It said CSAT is a qualifying paper and its purpose is to ensure a minimum standard of quality and analytical competence. The level of questions corresponds to the matriculation level.
For challenging factual errors, UPSC has a dedicated portal named Question Paper Representation Portal (QPRep) accessible on its website.
Candidates can submit representations regarding discrepancies in question paper and provisional answer keys (with effect from Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2026 onwards) through the portal.
UPSC also deals with grievances submitted by candidates on Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and emails.
— ANI
Reader Comments
CSAT is just a qualifying paper but it still stresses me out every year. I wish they'd focus more on the actual understanding of governance rather than testing our 10th grade math skills. But at least someone is discussing it in parliament.
The vacancies in central government are a huge concern. Lakhs of posts are empty and it affects the delivery of services to common people. Hope this committee does something concrete instead of just saying 'progress is appropriate'. Time for action!
The inter-subject moderation for optional subjects is a welcome move. It ensures fairness for those taking less popular subjects like Sanskrit or Philosophy. But I'm still skeptical about how well it's implemented in practice. Let's see the report.
QPRep portal is a good initiative but why only from 2026? There are errors in question papers every year that affect thousands of candidates. Should have been implemented immediately. Also, CPGRAMS is too slow for urgent issues during exams.
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.
R Raman K (via Facebook) Brij Lal ji ka kaam accha hai but we need more than just meetings. The unemployment crisis in India needs urgent solutions. Every vacant post in government is a missed opportunity for a deserving youth. Jai Hind! 🇮🇳