HPPSC to follow UPSC pattern for HAS

Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission has decided to follow the UPSC pattern and abolish one optional subject of 300 marks in Himachal Administrative and Allied services examination and substitute it by two papers of 150 marks each.
The two papers of 150 marks each would be of General Knowledge to give equal playing field to all candidates, HPPSC Chairman K S Tomar said.
The decision, taken at a meeting to consider the preliminary report submitted by three member committee headed by Commission member J C Sharma will be implemented from 2016, Tomar said adding that the UPSC was having one optional subject which will be applicable to HAS and Allied Services main written examinations from 2016 batch.

"Now instead of two optional subjects in HAS, candidates will be required to opt for one optional subject of 300 marks", he informed.
The Chairman said that the expert committee had studied the written examinations pattern of UPSC, Punjab, Uttrakhand and Karnataka, prior to submitting the report to him.
The existing system of two optional subjects of 300 marks each, tilted the balance in favour of those candidates who opted for the papers as they are having very high scoring potential thereby creating imbalance, he added.

He disclosed that Commission would send the new proposal to introduce two new General Knowledge (GK) papers to the government for approval by the cabinet.

The New pattern would also help those candidates who compete for IAS exam as retention of one optional subject will prove beneficial to them for Civil Services examinations, he added.
Henceforth, the Commission will add two new GK Papers of 150 marks each (GK Paper-II and GK Paper-III) and syllabus will be formulated by an expert committee and members will be drawn from Universities and different fields.
However, General Studies Paper-I will be retained by adding new topics besides updating the entire syllabus.
The new papers will cover wide ranging topics like General Studies Paper-II (Indian constitution and polity, governance and international relations, freedom struggle, Economy, Statistics and Security issues).

General Studies Paper-III would cover (science & technology, environment, disaster management, problem solving and decision making and interpersonal skills including communication skills and handling the situation.
The current papers of English (Qualifying) and Hindi (Qualifying) will also remain unchanged.
Similarly, essay paper will be part of main written examinations.