Gaps in UPSC poor quota reveal candidates from well-off families

Around 64.4 per cent of the candidates were enrolled in prominent coaching institutes and 44.4 per cent had private schooling.

New Delhi: The composition of the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota for India’s civil services exams was not limited to the poor alone, an investigation by The Indian Express found. Many were traced back to families with better financial backgrounds, from alumni of private schools in Delhi charging over Rs 1 lakh per year in fees, to IIT graduates and children of businessmen.

The reservation quota, introduced in 2019 through the 103rd Constitutional Amendment, provides a 10 per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutions for candidates belonging to the “general category” who fall under the economically weaker sections as per the income and asset criteria.

A family with an annual income of Rs 8 lakh is deemed eligible for the EWS category, with particular asset limits. It excludes Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC) quotas.

The investigation gathered data from 2025, when 104 candidates were selected under the EWS category out of 958 candidates. Around 64.4 per cent of the candidates were enrolled in prominent coaching institutes, 44.4 per cent had private schooling, 26 per cent were children of business owners and 9.6 per cent held jobs in the corporate sector.

All 104 candidates’ details were reviewed, including their social media profiles, school and college information and records of coaching centres. Their names were not published to protect their identities, The Indian Express said.

67 went to premium coaching centres, 46 studied in private schools

Around 67 of the 104 candidates attended prominent coaching institutes in Delhi and other cities, such as Drishti IAS, Vajiram and Ravi and Vajirao and Reddy, where fees reach Rs 2.65 annually.

At least 84 candidates benefited from formal coaching, attending UPSC Wallah, KingMakers IAS and NextIAS. The count excluded those who went to government-sponsored or university-backed programmes.

As many as 46 candidates finished their secondary education from private institutions in the National Capital Region (NCR), Lucknow, Jaipur and Raipur. The school fees for such schools ranged from Rs 45,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per year, the investigation found.

From trading to steel fabrication, shops to cloth and confectionery, around 28 candidates’ parents owned businesses. Five of these families were based in NCR.

Notably, nearly 10 individuals in the EWS list were working professionals in the private sector, with some even employees of multinational companies (MNC) and large construction and software firms, before they began their UPSC preparation. According to the report, some of them come under high-income brackets.

Among the 104 candidates, at least 14 were found to be graduates or postgraduates from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), with around three from National Institutes of Technology (NIT). As many as 27 were students of Delhi University and three studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

List includes actual EWS quota candidates too

While the report revealed that several candidates did not qualify for the EWS quota, it also found that candidates who stood to benefit from the scheme were included in the list.

Among them is the daughter of a former railway porter, alongside the son of a retired army veteran who now works as a security guard. Another candidate is the son of a school bus conductor, while many others are supported by families of daily-wage labourers or unemployed parents.

Around seven completed schooling from Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, the residential government schools which are mainly for children of rural backgrounds. Multiple candidates were students of Hindi-medium schools from rural backgrounds with farmer fathers. Parents of 29 candidates were farmers.

Seven candidates hailed from Uttar Pradesh, four each from Bihar, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh and two from the south.

The investigation revealed that the 104 candidates were from across the country – 25 from UP, 17 from Bihar, 14 from Madhya Pradesh, nine from Haryana, eight from Rajasthan, five from Gujarat, four from Uttarakhand, four from Karnataka and three from Kerala.

Civil service officials have raised concerns about the EWS category and the system, as those with comparatively “better financial and educational backgrounds” can qualify under the list while receiving premium coaching, specifically in the national capital, and afford private tuition fees.

“EWS relies on income and asset criteria. Issuing authorities must exercise rigorous due diligence, going beyond self-declarations and Income Tax returns, when verifying claims,” Satyananda Mishra, ex-Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), told The Indian Express.

“If well-to-do individuals corner this benefit, the entire purpose of EWS reservation will be defeated,” said Mishra.