Would you opt something that has 99.9% failure rate? Sanjeev Sanyal compares UPSC preparation as 'opium'

Time of India

3 days ago

Economist and PM-EAC member
Sanjeev Sanyal
has strongly criticised the culture surrounding preparation for India's
civil services examination
, calling it a massive misallocation of talent driven by what he described as a 'coaching class mafia'. In a recent podcast with CA Kushal Lodha, Sanyal questioned the wisdom of pursuing an exam with a 99.9% failure rate as a primary life goal.
Questions logic of UPSC as a career goal
'Now tell me how many things are there with a 99.9% failure rate that you would recommend somebody to do unless it has a very large payoff?' Sanyal said, adding, 'If you're going to take such a large risk—why become a bureaucrat?'
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While clarifying that he was not opposed to those who genuinely want to become civil servants, he criticised the prolonged cycles of preparation many aspirants are drawn into. 'There are people who have now become professional UPSC aspirants... they spend years and years doing it. I think it's a complete waste of
human resources
.'
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This is not the first time Sanyal has spoken on this issue. In March 2024, Sanyal was among the first prominent voices to publicly warn about the growing obsession with the UPSC exam. He said, 'Way too many young kids who have so much energy are wasting their time trying to crack UPSC.'
Coaching industry sells 'opium'
Sanyal argued that the most talented students, not average ones, are being pulled into what he called a 'trap.' He said, 'It's the supposedly talented guy in the class because this is the only guy the family will borrow, beg, and send them to live in Mukherji Nagar in Delhi. So we are taking the best people in our system and instead of putting them to some productive use, we are putting them where there is a 99.9% failure rate.'
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He blamed the coaching industry for sustaining the system, describing it as one that 'sells opium' to aspirants. 'Imagine the product they're selling—it's a product that is going to fail you 99.9% of the time. And it's worse than that, because even the 0.1% who get through are not all going to do exciting things in life,' he said.
Calls civil service outcomes 'mundane' for most
Sanyal noted that only a small number of those who succeed in the exam go on to hold top positions such as Cabinet Secretary. 'The bulk of them will do mostly mundane things,' he said, questioning why similar energy is not directed toward other
career paths
such as sports, entrepreneurship, writing or the arts. He added, 'The success rates of entrepreneurs are much, much higher than 0.1%.'
Compares with CAT and CA exams
When asked whether MBA entrance exams like CAT, which also involve high competition, fall in the same category, Sanyal disagreed. 'Many of them get through to something else. I don't think there is a large number of people who take CAT every year for five, six, and seven years.'
On the Chartered Accountancy track, Sanyal said it does not fit the same pattern, as most students pursuing CA have a genuine interest in the subject. 'Two to three years is perfectly fine. That's even true for UPSC if that's what you want to do in life. First of all, be clear you want to do that.'
Criticises aspirant culture and 'poverty of aspiration'
Sanyal said the UPSC craze has turned into a culture. 'My experience is that UPSC giving is actually a culture now. Most of those people don't actually want to be civil servants. If they actually showed them the life of a civil servant, they would not want to be there.'
He added that even successful candidates often reattempt the exam to join what they perceive as higher-ranking services. 'So that tells me one thing—even the successful people are not happy. So they are now on the opium.'