Do SC Candidates Get Less Marks in UPSC Interviews?

IIM Alumnus Alleges Discrimination Against SC Candidates in UPSC Interviews

By MANISH ANAND

NEW DELHI, May 17, 2025 – An IIM alumnus and author on BR Ambedkar claimed on basis of a statistical analysis that candidates from scheduled castes backgrounds are discriminated in the UPSC interviews. He argued on basis of statistical analysis that general category students will lose 10 positions in top 100 if “they are not given favourable interview marks by the UPSC.”

Nethrapal posted a statistical analysis with charts to show that the candidates from the SC backgrounds get lesser marks in the UPSC interviews. Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) holds recruitment examinations for all-India services such as IAS, IPS, IFS, and others.

“UR (unreserved) candidates held 84 of the top 100 spots, but by written merit alone that would drop to 74 (a 10-person decrease) as more reserved category candidates move up. This suggests that interview scores had been a factor giving some UR (and a couple of ST/EWS) candidates an edge in final rankings,” Nethrapal claimed in his analysis.

The IIM alumni applied a raw statistical plotting of selected candidates to draw charts to make his conclusions. He ends up almost alleging that the UPSC interview panels on intention give less marks to SC candidates. He also presumes that the UPSC interview panel is provided with written scores in the Mains examinations before it hold personality test (PT) for the candidates.

“In UPSC, do SC candidates get lower interview marks if they get higher written marks? I took the recent marks list of 2025 and did an analysis to check this out. Scatter plots of Written vs. Interview marks for SC and UR candidates, with trend lines,” said Nethrpal in a post on X. He added that “the SC plot shows a downward slope (negative correlation): many top written SC performers cluster at lower interview scores.”

“The UR plot shows a mild upward trend, indicating a positive correlation between written and interview marks in the UR group. This divergence is evident in the exam results,” added Nethrapal.

He further claimed that “the UR group with strong written performance often met with decent or even high interview marks (e.g. an UR candidate scoring 825 written was awarded 210 in interview.”

“Despite having comparable outstanding written scores, SC candidates in the top quartile received lower interview scores on average (164) than their UR counterparts (177). This 13-point difference in interview means suggests a disparity,” alleged Nethrapal.

The IIM alumnus seems to generalize his claims on the basis of data. A serving official in the government said that the analysis errs on premises, as well as sampling. “The sample with rejected candidates from general category may have thrown contrasting conclusions,” he said.

The official also argued that a “SC candidate who is a son or a daughter of an IAS official will also perform at par with selected general category candidates”. “The basic flaw in the statistical analysis lies in the premise that all candidates have same personality skill sets when they appear for the UPSC interviews,” said the official.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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