The Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2021 will be conducted as per the schedule from today. This decision comes after the Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the petition seeking direction to postpone the schedule of Civil Services (Mains) Examination 2021 till the COVID-19 situation is normalized.

Earlier on 5 January, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday announced to conduct the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2021 as per schedule. The examination is slated to be held on January 7, 8, 9, 15, 16.

The UPSC, in a statement, informed that the state governments have further been requested that public transport be made operational to the optimum level, at least on a day before the examination till the date of conduct of the examination from January 6 to January 9 and January 14 to January 16 for ensuring smooth movement of the candidates and examination functionaries.

The civil services examination is conducted annually in three stages — preliminary, main and interview — to select the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) officers, among others.

All the competent district authorities and the venue supervisors have been provided with the guidelines of the commission for the conduct of the exam in these times of pandemic, it added.

The guidelines include sanitisation of each venue on a regular basis and two surplus examination rooms for accommodating the candidates who would be coughing, sneezing, complaining of breathlessness, feeling feverish so that they can write the examination under appropriate safety protocols, the statement said.