The DoPT is said to be examining the report of the Baswan committee which examined the whole gamut of the UPSC plan of examination, number of papers, their structure, and duration, marking scheme, weightage of marks and system of evaluation among others. The committee was set up by the Union Public Service Commission under the chairmanship of former human resource development secretary and retired IAS officer B.S. Baswan in August last year. Following the submission of the report in August this year and its subsequent perusal by the UPSC, the matter has been referred to the DoPT for final processing of the recommendations made in the report. The committee is understood to have recommended a reduction in upper age limit of 32 years to appear in the civil services exam. The upper age limit is further extendable for candidates belonging to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Classes, and those who had ordinarily been domiciled in Jammu and Kashmir during the period from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 1989. Lakhs of aspirants appear in the examination conducted annually by UPSC in three stages-preliminary, main and interview-to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.