With no offences to all I would like to say that the age limit for CSS is just perfect at 28, because an average student completes his education upto the age of 23 to 24 (if he is to do masters which is not necessary to appear in CSS). He has enough time to avail all of his chances. In this way he also gets a better chance and longer period say 30 years at least to repay his country which has invested in him by providing trainings etc while this is not possible if one joins at the age of 35. Nor a person at the age of 35 is as enthusiastic as a person will be who is a decade younger than him. Another thing is that switching your career at the age of 35 is definitely not a wise decision, 28 is enough to decide what a person wants to do in life. If only 7000 appear in CSS that is the personal choice of graduates of the country you cannot blame government for it, if more than 30,000 graduates can apply for AD ISI then why they can't in case of CSS. This is the most prestigious and most competitive exam of Pakistan and it will remain as. Ask those who have burned the midnight oil for the preparation that whether it is a piece of cake or not. Your views about this are just too far from the reality dear Witchdoctor. Although I myself am a government servant but I am against the age relaxation given to the government servants, whats special in them? The age relaxation given to the people of certain backward areas is right but govt servants should not enjoy it, they do not deserve it. Moreover, though we punjabis are most worstly hit by the qouta system prevailing but I still think that this is the right thing to do in order to protect the rights of other small provinces and Civil Services should represent people from all parts of the country.

Regards,

interesting discussion..


but what about increasing number of attempts from 3 to infinite till one acquires the age of 28..

in my view 3atempts till age of 28 are well enough!!!!!

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consistency is key to success.

Dear Usman, css has lost its charm due to governmental negligence. It is by no means a prestigious exam anymore. Quota system, direct recruitments from army introduced by Mr. Ziaul Haq, lateral entry system introduced by Bhutto, devolution plan devised by Musharraf, abrogation of AC, DC posts, and other such steps have stripped the civil services of its active charms. We need reforms, extending age limit is just a trick to attract more people into the civil services.
Are you sure a 35 years old dude has less enthusiasm than a 25 years old chap? I seriously doubt it. Has the world advanced enough to now measure the degree of enthusiasm and inspiration in each individual based on their ages?
All of us have seen the speeches of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and the excessive enthusiasm he was charged with, and hey he was no 25 years old chap rather his children were Bachelors and Masters degrees holders at that time.
What about Martin Luther King and Hitler and many many others who shaped the world politics, the future of generations to come? They were no teenagers.

28 years of age limit for civil services is an implausible argument and put forth by those who fear competition.
Age limit is 59 years in the USA for joining their Foreign Services. Richard Halbrooke was a wise old man (69 years) sent to take care of the diplomatic affairs in pakistan and afghanistan. Trust me that man had more enthusiasm behind his quiet exterior than one can imagine. And don't forget Faiz Ahemd Faiz and other great poets like Allama Iqbal, Ghalib, and their enthusiasm.
Css exams need radical reforms in terms of syllabus, screening tests, psychological procedures, age limit, basic qualification criteria, interview and everything that concern it. Only then it could be called a prestigious exam, a noble career. Unfortunately civil services have become spoils among the few powerfuls in the government who are recruiting their sheep through underhand tactics and that has ruined the image of the whole civil services idea.
Only 7000 students opt for css while there are hundreds of thousands of university going students. What does that prove? Simply that people have lost interest in css and they have lost faith in their country as well. I know of many brilliant students, docs, engineers, lawyers, and others you know position holders in Matric, Fsc, straight As in O and A levels who opted to go to foreign. Well I personally pleaded with some of them to go for css and serve their own country but they wouldn't listen. Pakistan is affected by the worst brain drain. All our competent people go to London, Paris, New york for better life opportunities, for better safety and security living. Pakistan is a known 3rd world country and yes it is far behind those developed countries. But things need to change.
Raising age limit alone won't do the job. If all the graduates from all the professional colleges of pakistan begin to take css only then we could call it a competitive exam. Only then will it display some prestige.
Some people called me a fool when I told them I wanted to join psp and serve the poor people of my 3rd world country. Instead of css, they did Plab and Usmle and left for those cities, far away from these broken roads, these terror afflicted cities of pakistan, these double faced politicians of ours, hypocrite religious muftis and maulvis, far from this country where people were honoring the killer of Governor Panjab with roses, from this place where paedophiles are on the loose, every other day raping and murdering little girls of 4 and 5 years old, this land cursed with sectarianism and countless social evils and blah blah blah. Sir this is the reason all the sane people are leaving for London, Paris and New York where they can lead proper lives, raising their children in safe environment and giving them the best education in the world that there is, in schools and colleges like oxford, cambridge, columbia, harvard, yales, UCLA, london school of economics, imperial college, london school of economics; cities where they can go to theatres, movies premiers, grand musical orchestras without terrorist threats to those places; where they can work from 9 to 5 with dignity and later go fine dining with their spouses in the world's finest restaurants, seeing their kids going to schools and growing up sweet and healthy; leading good rather beautiful lives with loads of beautiful memories.
Salute me man for having the choice of such a life but still I want to stay here in my war trodden country, join only psp to bring some positive changes in the misreable lives of my countrymen, those helpless poor who keep waiting for jutice, who are victimised by our injudicious system, the victims of favouritism, nepotism, feudalism.
I know staying in pakistan and joining psp will be highly a risky job but some people have to give sacrifices, have to sacrifice their own heads to bring the change and you talk of age relaxation being unfair?
Broaden your vision, think in the greater interest of the country, think of those wishing to join civil services purely for the sake of the country. And there are those who would be joining civil services just because they have no other good option to lead their lives with, who just want to get a place to go to and start getting their pay. Reality bites.
Time has come when the two must be demarcated and distinguished from each other-- those who are joining civil services by chance and those who are joining it by choice. I am joining it by choice and having other better choices than css, my choice is my sacrifice too. Pakistan needs sacrifice otherwise one day the world will gather to annihilate it altogether from the face of the earth. Now don't give me your shallow patriotism; wars are won with sacrifices, with sophisticated technologies, with robust economies, with sincere leaderships and not with hollow and misplaed slogans like Pakistan ka matlab kiya......, etc etc. We need to open our eyes, when nuclear weapons will be hurled at pakistan then I don't think angels will come to our rescue, they didn't come to save Baghdad as well.
Extremism, terrorism, corruption, hypocrisy, acts of violence against the freedom of speech, sectarianism, external threat, internal chaos-- these are the identifying traits of pakistan now.

I will conclude with Faiz who had to go into exile for several years to save his life:

NISAAR MEIN TERI GALIYON PE AEY WATAN,
KEH JAHAN RASM CHALI HAI KEH KOI NA SAR UTHA KE CHALAY.

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It has been my wish; just don't want to pay thousands to the palm readers, already did. Save me a couple of thousands, and quench my curiosity. Want to talk about Tarrot and magic. Just a request!

Firstly, CSS didn't lost its charm. The number of candidates increased this year compared to previous year (I read this on this forum in some post giving statistics about CSS). The exact figure is not 7000 but 7759 (almost 8000) and those who applied for the exam numbered 11887 (almost 12000)

Secondly, there is no age limit to be appointed as an ambassador even in Pakistan.

Thirdly, no one is leaving this country because the age limit of CSS exam is 28 years. There are other reasons behind this brain drain.

You are increasingly getting over emotional for another chance. 28 years with 3 chances is good enough. These limits are everywhere. You can not take admission in medical colleges of punjab after you are 22. You can not be a regular morning student of Punjab University after you are 26. And yes there is an option of you know special consideration by PM. You may write an application to PM. Remember the lady who recently took admission in class 1 in a primary school as a class fellow of her daughter and that lady was granted a special permission to sit in the class by EDO education, but still she is not granted the permission to take exams with class 1 kids

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He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

Intersting Discussion....
As far as Reforms in CSS Exams are concerned, we have to take overview of our neighbouring countries.

IN INDIA:-
IAS age limit:- 30 years , relaxable upto 35 years on certain conditions
Language to attempt:-Can attempt in 18 languages as prescribed in INDIAN COnstituion. but one paper of ENGLSIH is compulsory (A paper of essay is also there, which can be attempted in any language among 18)
Fees for Exam:- 10 Rupees

ARE INDIAN OFFICERS LAGGING BEHIND IN PROGRESS THAN OTHER COUNTRIES OF THE REGION DUE TO AGE RELAXATION OR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ?

Match The fees of Rs 1000/- by FPSC against Rs 10 in india...(though Rs 1000/- is affordable)

I am not sure if its right to think that css has lost its charm...maybe for a particular section of the society its no longer something to hanker after.But for the vast majority,this is the only vista of opportunity to make your way up the social ladder.I guess its more of opportunity than charm thats drawing hordes upon hordes of people towards this particular career path.

Extending the age limit does not make sense because learning abilities sure wear down with age.

HOWEVER,there are certain other practices that don't quite make sense either.For instance,the govt goes on extending the tenure of civil servants who are heading for retirement.Now when that kind of unfair practice goes unchecked,it does constitute ground for people like witchdoc to demand extension of age limit.

Well, the thing is I have almost lost the interest in the civil services after knowing the bitter truths about our barbaric society. These politicians are draining your blood like parasites, these false religious leaders are misguiding you in the name of islam, these terrorists are misrepresenting islamic ideology, these blasphemy laws are bringing a bad name to the universal ideology of our prophet of love and peace. No thanks, I don't even want to be called a pakistani when I'm abroad. I'm truly ashamed of this country. Maybe this land is pure and good but the people (majority of them and not all) who are living here, the people who are in charge of this country (all of them) are the ones who have stigmatized this country for their own selfish ends.
Jazib is right that its not about css or age limit that all the sane people are exiting pakistan. Of course there are other more severe reasons. The bitter truth is I feel very unlucky to be born a pakistani, excluding the enlightened few, all other in this country sucks big time, I feel suffocated, need to depart for London, Paris, or New york where a beautiful life is waiting for all.
But its not about you or me, its about the next generation. Fine the government shouldn't bring amendments, neither to blasphemy laws nor fpsc policies for the next 5 or 10 years. But one day the country has to take the enlightened road if you dont want too see your children and grandchildren growing in this same God forsaken society. In good old days kids used to watch cartoons and knew nothing more than that. Now kids see and witness daily bomb blasts, violence and terrorism on their television screens. Their innocent minds have become dirtied with social evils.
The truth of pakistan is that it will always stay a slave country due to its strategic location, and it will always stay a 3rd world country due to the hypocrites living in this same country. Kashmir issue is never going to resolve, India will always be a threat, all the budget will keep wasting on defence, a stable and independent Afghanistan will be another threat since Afghanistan claims that Nwfp is one of its provinces and for that reason Durad Line will never get the status of an international border, terrorism will keep infiltrating, destabilisation will keep worsening. when pakistan applied for UN membership, Afghanistan was the first country to oppose it. The present Iran is carrying grudges against pakistan as well because pakistan was against the iranian revolution and friends with Shah-e-Iran Reza shah. China claims to be a friend but it never really helped pakistan in 1965, 1971 or kargil. Pakistan has always to depend on the super powers to protect its limited and perceived sovereignty and for that matter it has to stay a servile country forever. It can never become a master. This CIA guy, Raymond Davis who emptied his gun in the skulls of pakistani citizens right in front of all seeing eyes-- my dear fellow citizens attention!!!! you and I will see him flying back to America safe and sound right in front of our eyes. Compare that to Aafia siddique, Aimal Khansi, Faisal Shehzad and many more.
The irony is that we will see Raymond Davis flying back to his country and still we will keep boasting that pakistan is a free state, a sovereign nation, a brave nation and all those big lies our politicians and leaders forged to keep you enslaved in the chains of patriotism.
When are we going to open our eyes and admit the truth? When will we wake up and bring reforms to our corrupt systems and anciet laws and evil institutions? How long more we got to wait? Excluding few, pakistan is a crowd of hypocrites, of murderers and terrorists and there is no hope in sight, no hope for our next generations. Those people who wanted to change the status-quo, who loved this land were murdered in cold blood ( Many police officers, human rights activists, professionals, governors, even BB two times ex prime minister was not safe here). The story does not stop here, we all will see more bloodshed in the coming days-- that blood could be yours, that blood could be mine. . Think!

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It has been my wish; just don't want to pay thousands to the palm readers, already did. Save me a couple of thousands, and quench my curiosity. Want to talk about Tarrot and magic. Just a request!

Dear everyone!
If i am correct, the css age limit was 30 in pakistan until Musharraf changed it to keep his own self in power by by passing provincial governments and all intermediary institutions which sought to verify the legality of his own rule! For these same reasons he tried to weaken the judiciary.

The age limit is 30 still now in India and Bangladesh!

I think that alone makes sufficient grounds for age limit to be brought back to 30!

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Thanx very much!
Regards!

Fahad F. A.

AGE RELAXATION


Age relaxation is the due right of the CSS aspirants.

The maximum age should be 30.i m 100 % agreed with u.

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paesh