Is performance of Muslim candidates in UPSC civil services exam satisfactory?

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Friday announced the final results of civil services 2020. A total of 761 candidates have been declared successful.

Although 31 Muslim candidates have managed to grab a position in the list of successful candidates, the question remained unanswered ‘Is the performance of Muslims in the civil services examination satisfactory?’.

Upon analyzing the results, it was found that the Muslim candidates constitute only 4.07 percent of the total successful candidates. The percentage has dropped from 5.3 in 2019.

In civil services 2019, 829 candidates have found their names in the final selection list. Out of them, 44 were Muslims.

Even in earlier years, the percentage was between 2 and 6 despite the fact that the percentage of the Muslim population in India is 17.22 as per census 2011.

Below is the list of number of Muslims selected in the past five years

YearNumber of Muslim candidates in the selection listTotal number of candidates in the selection list Percentage of Muslim candidates in the selection list
20165210994.73
2017509805.10
2018287593.68
2019448295.30
2020317614.07

UPSC Civil services exam

UPSC conducts civil services exam annually in three stages prelims, main, and interview to select officers for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and the Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.

Lakhs of aspirants take the examination every year to be part of the country’s coveted civil services.

Although, the preliminary examination is qualifying in nature, only a few thousand students clear it out of lakhs of candidates who appear in the exam.

Those who qualify in the preliminary examination become eligible for the main examination.