India, Jan. 25 -- The Union government has notified a new cadre allocation policy for the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service, and Indian Forest Service, changing how officers will be allotted to state cadres from the Civil Services Examination 2026 onwards. The new rules do not apply to the Indian Foreign Service, which does not have a state cadre and remains a single Central service. IFS officers will continue to be handled separately by the Ministry of External Affairs, and their selection, training, and postings are unaffected by this order.

The revised policy, issued by the Department of Personnel and Training last week, moves away from a system where cadre allotment was decided largely by all-India rank. Under the ...