The much-awaited Civil Services exam has now been postponed by the Union Public Service Commission. UPSC formally released an official notice this Monday announcing the postponement of the IAS 2020 Prelims. As the IAS prelims also serve as the qualifying exam for the Indian Forest Service, therefore, the IFS 2020 prelims also stand postponed. The preliminary stage exams of both the IAS and IFS 2020 were earlier scheduled to be held on May 31, 2020. However, as per the latest release on upsc.gov.in, the postponement comes out as a response against the extended lockdown. On the brighter side, the Commission has indicated that fresh dates to conduct the exam can be expected to release on May 20, 2020, after reviewing current situations.
The Prelims of the 2020 Indian Administrative Service exam was earlier announced to be held on May 31, 2020. The exam is held jointly to serve as the screening test for the Indian Forest Service recruitment as well. However, as the government ordered a further extension of the COVID-19 related lockdown, UPSC has acted quickly to officially postpone the exam. An official notice of postponement came out on the UPSC website this Monday as seen in the illustrations here. The Commission has clearly indicated that in light of the extended lockdown after the second phase, it is not possible to resume exams as of now. As per previous public releases by the Commission and in light of the ongoing crisis in India related to COVID-19, it was speculative that without certain improvements in the ongoing situations, the IAS exam was likely to be postponed.
Incidentally, UPSC has notified earlier through a public release that the authorities are in the process of reviewing the dates of all upcoming examinations in 2020. At that time, the Commission clearly cited the Coronavirus outbreak as the prime reason for such deferments. As of now, the Commission has clearly indicated that the extended lockdown is the reason driving the postponement of the IAS prelims 2020 and it will review the situations before announcing further updates.
UPSC has however assured all concerned that fresh dates of conducting the exam will be announced soon. There is widespread uncertainty as to when the lockdown can be removed completely and the entire socio-economic situation can be restored to normal. As per the notice, the Commission is coming up with fresh dates of the IAS 2020 Prelims on May 20, 2020. Even then, UPSC has clearly stated that they are reviewing the situations as of now and the announcement of fresh dates, as promised, depends on how situations may turn out in days to come.
The decision of the UPSC to postpone the IAS 2020 is one that could be speculated well in advance. Through an earlier notice that came out in April 2020, the Commission clearly notified that although the IAS 2020 schedule has been announced, the authorities are continuously reviewing all exam dates. Now that the government has further extended the lockdown for the third time, UPSC has acted quickly to respond to the situation by postponing the exam.
