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.
Related terms
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.
A 20% preferential reservation within each category for candidates who studied their qualifying education in Tamil medium.
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.
The running register that tracks which roster point each appointment consumed, ensuring reservation percentages hold across recruitment cycles.
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.
Tamil Nadu's largest reservation category, holding 26.5% of vacancies (excluding BCM). Claimed with a community certificate at verification.
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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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