UPSC encourages women to apply for civil services

The Central government strives to have gender-balanced work force and women candidates are being encouraged to apply for the civil services examination, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has said.
The Commission conducts civil services examination to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
"The government strives to have a workforce which reflects gender balance and women candidates are encouraged to apply," it said in a notification issued for this year's test.
The examination is conducted annually in three stages-- preliminary, mains and interview. The preliminary test for this year will be held on June 18.

The government has decided to hire 980 officers this year for various civil services post through the exam.
The applicants have also been advised by the UPSC to apply early so that they could get the examination centre of their choice.

The applicants should note that there will be a ceiling on the number of candidates allotted to each of the centres, except Chennai, Dispur, Kolkata and Nagpur, it said.
The total number of examination centres across the country are 72.
"Allotment of centres will be on the 'first-apply-first- allot' basis, and once the capacity of a particular centre is attained, the same will be frozen. Applicants, who cannot get a centre of their choice due to ceiling, will be required to choose a centre from the remaining ones.

"Applicants are, thus, advised that they may apply early so that they could get a centre of their choice," the Commission said.
The last date for receiving the applications for the preliminary test is March 17 till 6 PM.