Overview
- UPSC ran the face-authentication check during the Civil Services and IFS Preliminary Examination on May 24, verifying about 5.49 lakh candidates across 2,072 venues with more than 7,000 invigilators.
- The commission built an Android-based app in-house with technical support from the National e-Governance Division under MeitY so the system could run on standard smartphones without dedicated hardware.
- Invigilators used the mobile app to match a live candidate image to the photo uploaded at registration, with typical checks taking about six to eight seconds and peak throughput near 12,000 authentications per minute.
- UPSC issued a detailed standard operating procedure and delivered multiple rounds of training to invigilators to integrate real-time verification into entry protocols and avoid queueing at centres.
- The move targets long-standing impersonation risks in India's largest recruitment test and could cut logistics costs and malpractice if the commission decides to extend the technology to Mains and the Personality Test.