Does age relaxation mean a candidate has compromised on merit? Let's use a simple Anology.
Suppose a UPPSC exam has an upper age limit of 40 years and the open-category cutoff is 370 marks.
Churchill, aged 32, scores 390. Neha, aged 25, scores 290.
Churchill qualifies. Neha doesn't.
Why? Because the selection is based on marks, not on who is younger.
Age determines eligibility, and marks determine merit.
Now introduce a third candidate: an SC candidate, aged 42, who is eligible through age relaxation and scores 400 marks.
Should this candidate be denied an open-merit seat merely because age relaxation allowed them to appear?
My argument is simple: the benefit that enables someone to compete is not a benefit that improves their performance.
Let's take help of these three concepts to explain this:
1. Variable separation: Eligibility and examination performance are two distinct variables. One determines entry into the competition and the other measures performance within it.
2. Causal independence: Age relaxation does not, by itself, cause a candidate to score higher marks. The candidate still has to earn those marks in the examination.
3. Controlled comparison: Compare candidates on the same final selection criteria. If one scores 400 and another scores 370, the former has demonstrated higher performance on that measure.
Did you get the difference between "access to the competition" and "performance in the competition".
Of course, recruitment rules must be followed. But unless the governing rules expressly make a particular relaxation a bar to migration, why should the mere fact of receiving age relaxation erase a candidate's higher examination score?
So, what should people like Neha do, who have shared a donation link?
Well they should actually debate on "Should reserved category candidates be given relaxation in eligibility of a competition?" because their current campaign has hit dead-end even before starting
UPPSC Assistant Teacher (Home Science) result:
Total UR=114
OBC in UR=59
SC in UR=15
EWS in UR=11
GC in UR=29
Means only 25% of UR seats go to GC (75% seats are taken by reserved candidates, 52% only by OBC).
& Reserved candidates take UR seats after taking relaxations!
This is systematic apartheid going on against GC candidates.
Wake up GC!!