The percentage of female candidates recommended for appointment in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) has increased over male candidates, the government told the Parliament on Thursday.
In a written reply to a series of queries on candidates in the CSE merit list, by Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions of India Dr. Jitendra Singh furnished the details on candidates’ gender distribution, educational stream, language spoken, and the opted degrees.
The gender-wise data show that the percentage of male candidates recommended for appointment in the CSE decreased from 75.95 per cent in 2017 to 73.13 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile, the percentage of female candidates recommended increased from 24.05 per cent in 2017 to 26.87 per cent in 2021.
The data also showed that the highest proportion of candidates in the CSE was in engineering, followed by humanities and science. In 2021, out of the 748 candidates, 452 were from engineering, 188 from humanities, 64 from science, and 44 from medical sciences, the data said.
In terms of optional subjects, political science and international relations dominated as the top picks in the last three years, followed by sociology, anthropology, and geography.
“In 2021, out of a total of 748 selected candidates, 140 opted for political science and international relations, 92 were from sociology, 90 were from anthropology, and 66 from geography,” a press release by MP Sushil Kumar Modi read.
Lastly, the data by the ministry showed that the total number of candidates with Bachelor’s degrees recommended for CSE was almost four times the number of candidates with higher degrees (Masters, PhD, etc.) in the last five years.
