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UPSC Cadre New Rule: The government has made a major change to the cadre allotment system for the Civil Services Examination (CSE). IAS, IPS, and IFoS officers will now be allotted cadres under a four-group allotment system. Young people preparing for government jobs, especially the UPSC Civil Services Examination, should understand this new UPSC cadre allotment system.

The new rules, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), have abolished the old five-zonal system for UPSC Civil Services. The government has changed the cadre allocation policy for candidates selected through the Civil Services Examination (CSE), which will significantly alter how IAS, IPS, and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers are assigned to their state cadres from 2026 onwards.

Five-Zone Cadre System Abolished, Allotment to be Done Through Four Groups
The five-zone cadre allotment system, in effect since 2017, has been discontinued. Instead, cadres have now been divided into four large groups in alphabetical order. This move aims to ensure a more equitable distribution of officers across states. This process has been implemented to make it more balanced and transparent.

What are the four new UPSC cadre groups?
Group I: AGMUT, Andhra Pradesh, Assam-Meghalaya, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh
Group II: Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh
Group III: Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu
Group IV: Telangana, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal

Failure to Follow Rules May Result in Loss of Home State Cadre
The new UPSC cadre policy does not currently change the insider-outsider policy. Candidates will still be given the option of their home state cadre. However, candidates must now correctly choose their cadre from the four new groups. If there is any error in choosing the correct option, they will not be considered for insider cadre vacancies, regardless of their rank, even if they topped the UPSC Civil Services Examination.

Why was the UPSC cadre allotment system changed?

Under the UPSC cadre allocation system that had been in place since 2017, approximately 33 percent of officers in each batch were allocated to their home state (insider) cadre, while the remaining 66 percent were assigned to other states (outsiders). This led to some zones becoming very popular, while other states faced a shortage of officers. This also raised questions about the cadre allocation policy on several occasions. The new policy aims to ensure a balanced distribution of officers across all states, increase transparency, reduce the high demand for popular states, and provide sufficient IAS, IPS, and IFS officers to smaller and northeastern states.

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