Civils '25: OBCs pip EWS despite interview drag

NEW DELHI: Upending past pattern in the Civil Service Examinations (CSE), candidates of other backward classes (OBC) trumped those from economically weaker sections (EWS) in the final merit list for 2025, despite trailing in the interview round.

The final 2025 cut-off (Mains + interview) for EWS is 926 while that for OBCs is 931. The cut-off in the Mains exams alone was 706 for EWS and 717 for OBCs. Cut-off marks are the minimum qualifying score for a social bloc availing of quota, and they vary across SC, ST, OBC, and EWS categories. The final scores marked a reversal of a trend where EWS had been finishing ahead of OBC quota beneficiaries due to higher scores in the interview round.

That OBCs should this year not only trump EWS, but do so despite continuing weaker performance at the interview stage suggests an interesting development.

‘OBCs’ high written scores result in better cut-off than that of EWS’
Shashank Ratnoo, an advocate specialising in issues concerning OBCs and reservation, said, “Despite a certain drag in OBCs’ marks in interviews, their marks in written exams were so high that it has resulted in better final cut-off than that of Economically Weaker Section.”

The EWS quota was carved out in 2019 to provide 10% reservation to financially weaker individuals among the ‘general’ communities, while the Mandal quotas for backwards has been in operation since 1995.

In 2023 and 2024, Economically Weaker Section trailed the backward classes in the Mains examinations. But the dynamic of competitiveness between the two reserved categories proved complex, as the forwards prevailed in the ultimate test by virtue of greater score in interviews.

In CSE-2024, the cut-off for EWS in the Mains exams was 696 marks as compared to 702 for OBCs. But in the final results after the interview, EWS had a cut-off merit of 917 marks, against 910 for OBCs.

The year before that, in the Mains part, OBCs scored a cut-off of 712 as compared to 706 for EWS. But in the final, OBCs trailed with a cut-off of 919 to EWS which had 923 as the minimum marks.

Shashank Ratnoo said, “Higher interview marks for EWS in such a short time of introduction of its reservation raises a question mark over the need, percentage and strictness of the criteria for this category.”

Interestingly, the contrast in the merit list for OBCs and EWS in the CSEs has been a see-saw. In the wake of the fresh EWS quotas introduced in 2019, OBCs dominated the Mains and the final both in 2019 and 2020.

While it was surprising that EWS, which has groups with less social handicaps, trailed behind OBCs, it was seen as teething troubles of a new quota regime, with the wider eligible umbrella unaware of its procedures and criteria. Later, EWS overhauled the gap with OBCs and came to score higher in the examinations.

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