Destitute Widow Quota
Reserved vacancies in certain posts for destitute widows, claimed with a certificate from the revenue department; often paired with no upper age limit.
Destitute widow candidates face no upper age limit in Group 1, 2 or 4 and are fully exempt from examination fees. The claim rests on a destitute widow certificate issued by the revenue department, produced in original at certificate verification. Vacancies are earmarked only where the notification specifies them, so read the vacancy table before relying on this quota.
Related terms
Age Relaxation
Extra years over the general upper age limit for reserved categories. For SSLC-level exams like Group 4, several categories have no upper limit at all.
PSTM (Persons Studied in Tamil Medium)
A 20% preferential reservation within each category for candidates who studied their qualifying education in Tamil medium.
Communal Rotation
The 200-point roster Tamil Nadu uses to distribute vacancies across categories (GT, BC, BCM, MBC/DNC, SC, SCA, ST) in a fixed repeating order.
Reservation Roster
The running register that tracks which roster point each appointment consumed, ensuring reservation percentages hold across recruitment cycles.
GT (General Turn)
Vacancies open to all candidates purely on merit, regardless of community. Reserved-category candidates who make the general merit are counted against GT, not their quota.
BC (Backward Class)
Tamil Nadu's largest reservation category, holding 26.5% of vacancies (excluding BCM). Claimed with a community certificate at verification.
This definition follows official TNPSC notifications and Tamil Nadu government orders. Sources: TNPSC official notifications. Figures are indicative and may change with each official notification. Data last reviewed: July 2026.
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