SC/ST Quota at different levels of IAS Exam

UPSC Civil Services Prelims Exam 2016 will be conducted on 7 August 2016. It is the right time to start the preparation with the help of past year questions papers and their analysis. Reservation policy has made the necessary arrangements to cater the need of the socially and educationally backward candidates. But it is a matter of debate that how far this policy is serving its real purpose.
The constitution of India, under article 16, gives authority to the state to provide special benefits to the weaker section in recruitment for public employment. The Government of India provided reservation to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in government jobs, so that their representation could be improved.
There are several benefits for the candidates belonging to SC and ST communities. The first benefit is related to age. The candidates from SC and ST communities get five years of relaxation in age. The second benefit is regarding the number of attempts. The candidates get unlimited number of attempts in the civil services examinations.
The government is providing pre-examination training to weaker sections. This helps the candidates from these communities to enhance their capabilities and perform better in the competitive examinations. In addition to this, many coaching institutes related to civil services examinations have started offering discounts in fees to the candidates from SC and ST quota. In this way, the coaching become more affordable to the concerned candidates.
The foremost advantage of applying through SC/ST quota is the difference in cutoff marks from the general category candidates. The cutoff marks for last two years have been mentioned below.

Cut-off marks 2014

Cut-off marks 2013

From previous years’ cut off marks, it is clear that there is a good margin of difference in the cut-off marks of general and SC/ST category candidates.