On 31st August, during Mann Ki Baat Episode 125, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about ‘Pratibha Setu’, a digital platform designed to give new opportunities to UPSC aspirants who narrowly missed making it to the final merit list. PM Modi said, “All of us have heard many inspiring stories from the toppers of the Civil Services… but friends, there is another truth about the UPSC exam. There are thousands of such candidates who are very capable; their hard work is no less than anyone else’s, but they are unable to reach the final list by a small margin.”
UPSC की अलग-अलग परीक्षाओं में जो होनहार प्रतिभागी आखिरी मेरिट लिस्ट का हिस्सा नहीं बन पाते, उनके लिए ‘प्रतिभा सेतु’ Digital Platform बनाया गया है। यह बहुत खुशी की बात है कि इसकी मदद से उन्हें नए अवसर मिलने लगे हैं।#MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/7SFjGxt7Ra
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 31, 2025
Explaining the motivation behind the initiative, he added, “That is why, now a digital platform has been created for such sincere students and its name is ‘Pratibha Setu’. Through this portal, private companies can obtain information on these promising students and employ them. Friends, the results of this effort have also started coming in. Hundreds of candidates have got jobs immediately with the help of this portal and those youth who had got stuck by a small margin are now moving ahead with new confidence.”
What is Pratibha Setu
UPSC ‘Pratibha Setu’ is short for ‘Professional Resource and Talent Integration – Bridge for Hiring Aspirants’. It is a databank of over 10,000 candidates who cleared all stages of various UPSC examinations but were not recommended in the final merit list.
The platform was launched in July 2025. It was previously known as the Public Disclosure Scheme (PDS) and has been in operation since 2018. The new portal comes with login IDs for organisations to voluntarily select or recruit candidates from the non-recommended list. Private organisations can also register through the Commission’s portal.
The portal allows verified employers, including ministries, PSUs, autonomous bodies, and private companies to access details of the willing candidates for recruitment. It features dashboards for shortlisting, documentation, and candidate profiles with educational qualifications and contact details. Examinations covered under this scheme include the Civil Services, Indian Forest Service, CAPF, Engineering Services, CDS, CMS, and others.
A forward-thinking approach
In July, following the launch of the new portal, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh had hailed the scheme as a “forward-thinking approach” to talent utilisation. He said that the portal is emerging as a meaningful gateway for aspirants who clear the written and interview stages of the Civil Services exam but narrowly miss the final selection.
Notably, institutions such as IIM Udaipur have already been recognising the calibre of UPSC aspirants who clear the Civil Services (Main) examination by exempting them from submitting CAT, GMAT or GRE scores when applying to its PhD programme in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management. This exemption acknowledges their intellectual rigour and aligns with IIMU’s focus on socially relevant, research-driven work. Now, with the launch of ‘Pratibha Setu’, Prime Minister Modi has urged private companies too to tap into this exceptional talent pool.
Growing interest from employers
UPSC officials confirmed that interest from employers has been steadily rising. Over a hundred organisations have already registered on the platform, with several more approaching the Commission to access the pool of candidates. What sets Pratibha Setu apart is that it transforms a passive disclosure model into an interactive recruitment bridge. Unlike the earlier system where data was only published online, recruiters can now log in, shortlist and directly contact candidates for recruitment.
