Of the around 74,000 backlog vacancies, both in direct recruitment quota and promotion quota (26,358 vacancies in direct recruitment quota and 47,650 vacancies in promotion quota), the government says it has filled 53,444 vacancies (20,446 in direct recruitment quota and 32,998 vacancies in promotion quota).

For 13164 vacancies in promotion quota, no eligible candidates were available.

The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions  was tasked with the responsibility of the meeting the national common minimum programme of the UPA government that stipulated that all reservation quotas, including those relating to promotions, would be fulfilled in a time bound manner.

In order to fulfil this commitment, the ministry undertook a  special recruitment drive to fill up all backlog reserved vacancies in the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes category in all government bodies.

To improve access and increase the representation of the physically challenged persons in the civil services under the central government, the government decided that any physically challenged person, selected on the standards as applicable to the non-disabled candidate of his category, would be counted over and above the quota fixed for physically challenged persons exactly on the lines as it happens while implementing reservation for SC / ST / OBC candidates.

Moreover, the number of attempts admissible to physically challenged candidates of general category has also been raised from four to seven. The Union Public Service Commission will recommend physically challenged candidates after ensuring that they meet the prescribed eligibility criteria in terms of abilities / disabilities for identified services where vacancy exists.

The government has also accepted the recommendation of replacing written annual confidential reports (ACRs) with the system of performance appraisal report (PAR) for officers belonging to All India Services from the assessment year 2007-08.

This would help in improving the assessment of an officer's performance and capabilities and to determine capacity building needs and suitability for particular areas of responsibility / assignments.
 
Mid-career training for officers of the Indian Administrative Service (phase III, IV and V) during the 7th to 9th year, 14th to 16th year, and 26th to 28th year of service respectively has also been made mandatory for further advancement in the service and career.