UPSC IAS Eligibility – Age Limit

 

Long story short – Gen:32, OBC:35, SC/ST:37, PWD:42

Compared to the criterion of educational qualification, the UPSC eligibility criteria of age limit, and nationality are things over which you, as a candidate, have no control.

The most you can do is be done with your minimum educational qualification as soon as possible.

That way you’ll be able to save yourself the required number of attempts that you’d need to crack the UPSC exams.

However, there are certain variations to this rule as well, depending on a number of factors.

I will be enumerating each one in detail in the lines below.

I mention the issue of attempts here because it is common knowledge that very few candidates are able to crack the UPSC IAS exams in their first attempt itself.

Do you think you are one of them?

Well, if you do it’s well and good, but my experience as an educator over the years and the statistics stack the odds against you. Let me explain.

Over the years, I have seen, from my own experience and also from the experiences of several of my students that cracking the UPSC exam in your first attempt is near impossible.

With that, I think I have said enough about the importance of starting way before you reach your upper age limit, and subsequently saving the appropriate number of years for your UPSC attempts.

In the lines below I have mentioned the UPSC exam eligibility according to age limits and attempts for the various categories.

UPSC Age Limit and Number of Attempts

If you are a candidate of the general category, you must belong to the age bracket of 21 to 31 years on the 1st day of August of the year of examination. The upper UPSC age limit and all the other services are relaxed for aspirants belonging to the categories of SC/ST/OBC/others.

Age limit relaxation in UPSC for ST/SC/OBC

• There is an age relaxation of up to a maximum of 5 years if you belong to a Scheduled Caste (SC) or a Scheduled Tribe (ST).
• If you belong to one of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) the age relaxation is up to a maximum of 3 years.
• Relaxation up to a maximum of 10 years in case you are a deaf-mute, or blind, or orthopedically handicapped person.
• Age relaxation is up to a maximum of 5 years if you had been a domiciled resident in the state of Jammu & Kashmir from the period of 1st January of 1980 to the 31st of December 1989.

Other special relaxations:

• You’d be granted an age relaxation of up to a maximum of 3 years if you are a Defence Services personnel and got disabled while in combat with a hostile foreign country or in a disturbed area and are released as a consequence thereof.
• There is an age relaxation of up to a maximum of 5 years in case you are an ex-serviceman, Commissioned Officer, or SSCO/ECO, and have served a minimum of 5 years in the Military as of the 1st of August and have been released. The aforementioned holds true in case of completion of service assignments, including the ones that are due to be completed within a year from the 1st of August, other than the way of discharge or dismissal on account of inefficiency or misconduct, or on account of being physically disabled due to military service, or on being invalid.
• You’d be granted a relaxation of up to a maximum of 5 years in the case that you are an ECO/SSCO and have completed an initial assignment period of 5 years of military service as of the 1st of August, and your assignment has been extended beyond the 5 years period. In such a case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate through which you can apply for civil employment. Through this certificate, you are eligible for release on a 3 months’ notice period in the case that you are selected, from the date of receipt of the appointment offer.

Cumulative Age-Relaxation on UPSC Age Limit

• If you belong to any of the categories of ST/SC/OBC and also come under the category of ex-servicemen/domiciled in the state of J &K/blind/deaf-mute/orthopedically handicapped etc, you will be eligible for the grant of cumulative age relaxation under both the categories.
• The term of ex-servicemen will be applicable to the persons that fit the definition of ex-servicemen as per the Ex-servicemen (Re-employment in Civil Services and Posts) Rules, 1979, which are also subject to amendments from time to time.
• The age concession under the aforementioned points of, f. and g. would not be granted to the ex-servicemen and commissioned officers, and ECOs/SSCOs who are released on their own request.
• As per the provision of age relaxation under point g. written above, if you are physically disabled, you will be considered eligible only if you are found to satisfy the level of disability required for a person with a disability to be allocated under the category of physically disabled. This can be proved after you produce a certificate of disability issued by the government or a valid appointing authority.

Number of Attempts as per Age Limit

The UPSC had raised the number of attempts and of the upper age limit criteria for applicants of the Civil Services Exams in the year 2015.

According to the amendment, the candidates belonging to the general category had been granted an upper age limit of 32 years with a maximum of 6 attempts.

For the OBC candidates, the upper age limit is 35 with a maximum of 9 attempts.

The ST/SC candidates have the upper age limit is 37 years with an unlimited number of attempts. As for the physically handicapped candidates, the age limit is 42, 45, and 47 years for the general, OBC, and ST/SC categories respectively.

However, the maximum number of attempts for the physically disabled general and OBC candidates is 9, whereas, for the ones from the ST/SC categories, it is unlimited.

Table of Age Limit Eligibility for UPSC & Attempts

Category	Maximum Age	No. of Attempts
General	32	6
OBC	32+3=35	9
SC/ST	32+5=37	As many as he/she can until upper age limit reached
Physically disabled	32+10=42	General: 9 attempts
(Blind, Deaf-mute, Orthopedically handicapped)		OBC: 9
		SC/ST: As many as he/she can until upper age limit reached
J&K domicile	General: 32+5=37	as per categories mentioned above, i.e., Gen, OBC, SC/ST, Disabled
	OBC: 32+5+3=40
	SC/ST: 32+5+5=42
	PH: 32+5+10=50
Ex-serviceman discharged from duty due to disability	General: 32+3=35	same as above
	OBC: 32+3+3=38
	SC/ST: 32+3+5=40
Ex-serviceman discharged after 5 years duty	General: 32+5=37	same as above
	OBC: 32+5+3=40
	SC/ST: 32+5+5=42

I hope the table above helps you view all the exhaustive texts written before from a comprehensive and birds-eye point of view.

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Source by: https://www.anujjindal.in/upsc-eligibility-criteria-and-salary-of-an-ias-officer/