UPSC CS Prelims 2020: Great, dates to be announced on 20 May

UPSC CS Prelims 2020, the new dates for the Union Public Service Commission Civil Services prelims exam for 2020 is likely to be announced on 20 May.

The official website of UPSC is also running a scrolling message that UPSC CS Prelims 2020 which was supposed to be held on 31 May stands deferred and the new dates will be made available on 20 May after the situation is reviewed.

UPSC CS Prelims 2020

UPSC exams were planned as per the schedule in 2020 also. However this year exam schedule did not go ahead as per the expectations. Outbreak of corona virus brought the entire nation to a standstill and UPSC CS Prelims 2020 was postponed.

Postponement was not limited to UPSC CS Prelims 2020 alone, CBSE board exams, NEET UG 2020, JEE Mains 2020 and college and university exams too could not be conducted on their earlier planned dates.

Even the personality test for UPSC CS Exam 2019 also had to be put off. The reason behind all the postponements till dates is the outbreak of corona virus.

The motive to postpone was the simple idea of keeping everyone safe from falling prey to the virus. Initially when the nation entered into the lockdown period initially, there were discussion on prospects of other exams like NEET, JEE Mains getting postponed.

However there was no talk about UPSC CS Prelims 2020 being postponed. The reason behind that was perhaps the thought that things would turn normal post initial phase of the lockdown.

The need of postponing UPSC CS Prelims 2020 was not felt as enough time would be available after the first phase of lock down ends.

But that did not happen and lockdown entered into the second phase and the restrictions continued as the corona virus outbreak was still causing concern.

Taking into notice the continuation of the lockdown, UPSC decided that it was not possible to conduct UPSC CS Prelims 2020 and other exams and interviews.

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This was mentioned by UPSC in the notification dated 4 May 2020. UPSC CS Prelims 2020 scheduled to be held on May 31, 2020 therefore stands deferred, said UPSC in that notification.

It further mentioned that since UPSC Civil Services examination also serves as the screening test for the Indian Forest Service Examination, the schedule for the Indian Forest Service Examination is also deferred.

The situation will be reviewed again on May 20, 2020 and fresh dates for these examinations shall be notified on the UPSC website in due course. This has come of a great relief to many civil services aspirants.

Their longwait for the declaration of dates for UPSC CS Prelims 2020 exam has now ended. Ever since the dates were postponed, we have been eagerly waiting for the new dates to be declared, says T.S. Ravikumar, a civil services enthusiast.

By now we would have finished UPSC CS Prelims 2020 and would have moved towards preparing for CS Mains 2020. But that did not happen owing to the outbreak of corona virus.

This year, technology also made itself present in a significant manner, says D. Gautam Kumar, another civil services aspirant. Not that technology was absent in the previous years, but it did not gain visibility significantly.

This year, outbreak of the virus left no room for physical learning and this perhaps why technology enabled learning even for UPSC CS Prelims 2020 took a front seat much like for other competitive exams.

It was not only UPSC CS Prelims 2020 but also notification for Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Examination, 2020, Combined Medical Services Examination, 2020, Central Armed Police Forces Examination, 2020 and NDA & Naval Academy Examination, 2020 was also deferred.

Historical perspective of civil service
Civil Servants for the East India Company used to be nominated by the Directors of the Company and thereafter trained at Haileybury College in London and then sent to India.

Following Lord Macaulay’s Report of the Select Committee of British Parliament, the concept of a merit based modern Civil Service in India was introduced in 1854.

The Report recommended that patronage based system of East India Company should be replaced by a permanent Civil Service based on a merit based system with entry through competitive examinations.

For this purpose, a Civil Service Commission was setup in 1854 in London and competitive examinations were started in 1855.

Initially, the examinations for Indian Civil Service were conducted only in London. Maximum age was 23 years and minimum age was 18 years.

The syllabus was designed such that European Classics had a predominant share of marks. All this made it difficult for Indian candidates.

Nevertheless, in 1864, the first Indian, Shri Satyendranath Tagore brother of Shri Rabindaranath Tagore succeeded. Three years later 4 other Indians succeeded.

Throughout the next 50 years, Indians petitioned for simultaneous examinations to be held in India without success because the British Government did not want many Indians to succeed and enter the ICS. It was only after the First World War and the Montagu Chelmsford reforms that this was agreed to.

From 1922 onwards the Indian Civil Service Examination began to be held in India also, first in Allahabad and later in Delhi with the setting up of the Federal Public Service Commission.

The Examination in London continued to be conducted by the Civil Service Commission.