BHUBANESWAR: In a major step that could open up better job opportunities for the youth, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recommended the Central Ministries and agencies to recruit candidates of civil services exams who do not make past the interview stage.

“We have proposed to Central Government and the ministries to recruit people from the list of candidates who make it to the interview stage in civil services and other exams but fail to get picked up,” said UPSC Chairman Arvind Saxena on the sidelines of the 21st National Conference of Chairpersons of State Public Service Commissions here.

Around 11 lakh youngsters apply for the civil services every year, half of whom appear for the preliminaries. Their number keeps on reducing through the exam stages and eventually only 600 candidates are picked up. 

However, there are a large number of candidates who make to the final stage of viva voce but fail to secure the ranks. The Government and other organisations can consider them during recruitment as they have already undergone the strict screening process and only failed at the last stage. This will also help in reducing examination stress among the youth, he said.

Saxena said steps are being taken to make UPSC examination process more candidate-friendly. Candidates applying for the upcoming Civil Services examinations will soon get an option to withdraw their application forms voluntarily, he said. 

“When a candidate applies for the exam online, a (registration) number will be generated for the application. At this stage, we will give candidates an option to step down and there will be no problem at all,” Saxena said, while clarifying that it will be done purely on voluntary basis.

The main objective of this move is to make candidates conscious that if they are not well prepared, they should not take the exams and appear for it next year, he added.

The UPSC is also taking several other measures to make the examination process transparent. “The Commission is gradually doing away with paper and pencil-based exams and is increasingly shifting towards computer-based tests,” he said.