Leftist rag The Wire has once again done it – fumbled numbers to suit propaganda narrative and when exposed, quietly edit everything and pretend as if nothing happened.
Here’s what the portal did – The Wire quietly revised both the headline and portions of its report on caste representation in the All India Services after publishing what was initially framed as a story suggesting an “overwhelming majority” of IAS, IPS, and IFS officers were from the General Category.
The original headline, which circulated widely on social media, read “Overwhelming Majority of IAS, IPS, IFS From General Category.”
However, after the data framing came under scrutiny, the publication altered the headline to, “Govt Evasive on Number of SC, ST, OBC Officers in IAS, IPS, IFS, Only Provides Data of Direct Recruits in Last 4 Yrs.”
An editor’s note was subsequently inserted at the bottom of the article stating: “This copy was edited on February 17, 2026 to correct for some inaccuracies in how we had first represented the data.”
No detailed public breakdown was issued explaining the nature or scale of the inaccuracies.
What the Parliamentary Reply Actually Contained
The report was based on a written reply tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Minister of State Jitendra Singh.
The government provided:
Total officers in position
- IAS: 5,577
- IPS: 4,594
- IFS (Indian Forest Service): 2,164
Direct recruits (2020–2024)
- IAS: 135 SC | 67 ST | 245 OBC
- IPS: 141 SC | 71 ST | 231 OBC
- IFS: 95 SC | 48 ST | 231 OBC
- The reply did not include:
- Category-wise total composition of all serving officers
- General category recruit numbers for the same five-year window
Instead, it confined itself to recent direct recruitment figures.
How the Narrative Setting Occurred
The original framing juxtaposed the total serving cadre strength accumulated over decades with SC/ST/OBC direct recruits from only recent years.
By placing five-year recruitment numbers against the full historical officer pool, representation percentages appeared sharply compressed.
UPSC recruitment follows constitutionally mandated reservation quotas:
- 15% SC
- 7.5% ST
- 27% OBC
These apply to annual intake, not retrospectively to the entire serving cadre, which includes officers recruited prior to OBC reservation implementation and through promotion channels.
IFS Mislabelled in Initial Framing
The parliamentary data referred to Indian Forest Service (IFS), one of the three All India Services alongside IAS and IPS.
The initial article framing, however, referred to “Indian Foreign Service” in places, a separate Central Service with different recruitment data structures.
All India Services data is routinely grouped together in parliamentary replies, whereas Indian Foreign Service statistics are reported separately.
The headline was later modified without a standalone clarification note on this distinction.
Vacancy Context Also Omitted in Initial Framing
The same parliamentary reply also disclosed significant vacancies:
- Total authorised AIS strength: 15,169
- Vacancies: 2,834 (18.6%)
Break-up:
- IAS: 1,300 vacancies (~18.9%)
- IPS: 505 vacancies (~9.9%)
- IFS: 1,029 vacancies (~32.2%)
This structural gap further complicates category representation snapshots, especially when relying solely on direct recruitment figures.
By the time the correction note was added:
- The original headline framing had already circulated widely.
- Screenshots of the earlier version continued to remain in public circulation.
- The revised headline fundamentally shifted the thrust of the story, from cadre dominance to alleged government opacity.
The edit note acknowledged inaccuracies but did not specify what numerical or interpretive elements were incorrect.
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