The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has effected major changes in norms of civil services examination like granting aspiring candidates two additional attempts and consequential age relaxations from this year onwards.

A notification issued by UPSC for
the Civil Services Examination, 2014 said, every candidate appearing for the examination, who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted six attempts, two more than earlier four. There is, however, no restriction on number of attempts by a candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories.

There will also be consequential age relaxations from this year onwards. A candidate between the age group of 21 and 32 years as on August 1, 2014 can take the prestigious exam.

The examination conducted by the UPSC is to select Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers among others.