The recently released SBI Clerk Exam's preliminary results' cut-off list for Tamil Nadu took applicants by surprise. While the cut-off for the General category was a decent 61.25, the cut off for the Scheduled Caste and the Other Backward Caste categories were also 61.25 as well. But what stood out was the cut off for the Economically Weaker Section category with a strikingly low 28.5.
The cutoff of SBI Clerk Exam is based on multiple factors — the total number of candidates appearing for the exam, the total number of vacancies, the difficulty level of the exam and also the trend of the previous years along with some other criteria. "What might have brought down the cut off for the EWS category might be the lesser number of students applying for it. Less than 10 per cent of the students who had applied from Tamil Nadu did so under the EWS category," said Ranjit Kumar, who takes care of Banking exams' coaching at the Shankar IAS Academy. "Since it is just the prelims, we should not jump to any conclusions yet. The Mains might see a much higher and plausible curt off for the category. For the rest of the categories, the cut-offs are within the range," he added. On the basis of previous years' scores, experts had predicted that the cut-off would be around 60 to 65 marks for General, 55 to 65 for EWS, 53 to 63 for OBC, 48 to 58 for SC and for the ST around 42 to 52 marks.
DMK President M.K.Stalin on Wednesday tweeted that the low cut-off marks for the EWS as against that for Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and other categories show how the Central government has thrown social justice into a deep pit. He urged the Central government to remove the 10 per cent reservation for EWS.
Experts also predicted that the low cut off might even be to encourage more students, who qualify, to apply under the EWS category. "The calculation of cut-offs is a complicated process with numerous attributes. We cannot just jump to conclusions. It is difficult for the EWS as there are no reference points to refer to as this was the first year of its implementation. It was an easy exam and candidates who had prepared for it would have no problem securing at least a 30 above score," said another expert.
