Kharidar or Nayab Subba: which Lok Sewa post to sit first
The two entry posts share a syllabus but not a strategy. Sitting the wrong one first can cost you a whole cycle, and the choice is easier than it looks.
Every recruitment season we field the same question from first-time candidates: should I apply for Kharidar or go straight for Nayab Subba? It is usually asked as a status question, as though Nayab Subba were the serious choice and Kharidar the consolation. That framing is where the trouble starts, because the honest answer has almost nothing to do with prestige and almost everything to do with how ready you are and how many seats are on offer.
Both are assistant-level, non-gazetted posts filled by the Public Service Commission through open competition. Kharidar sits at non-gazetted second class and Nayab Subba at non-gazetted first class, so Nayab Subba is one rung higher in pay and in what it eventually leads to. That is a real difference over a career. It is a much smaller difference in how you should prepare this year.
| Kharidar | Nayab Subba | |
|---|---|---|
| Level | Non-gazetted second class | Non-gazetted first class |
| First paper | Objective, general knowledge and general ability | Objective, 50 questions × 2 marks in 45 minutes |
| Pass mark | 45 on the paper | 45 on the paper |
| Wrong answer | 20% of the question deducted | 20% of the question, so 0.4 |
| Syllabus overlap | Large | Large |
| Typical seats advertised | Higher volume | Fewer |
| What decides it | Your readiness and the seats on offer | Your readiness and the seats on offer |
Read that table and the shape of the decision emerges. The papers are built from the same raw material — general knowledge, general mental ability, the constitution, current affairs — and both deduct a fifth of a question's marks for a wrong answer. What differs is the weight of each Nayab Subba question and, less visibly but more importantly, the number of seats.
The seat count is the argument nobody makes
Candidates compare syllabuses and pass marks and forget the one number that moves their odds the most. In a typical cycle the commission advertises considerably more Kharidar vacancies than Nayab Subba ones, because a government runs on clerical hands and needs more of them at the lower rung. We would treat any exact ratio as an estimate that shifts year to year, but the direction is stable: more Kharidar seats, more chances, a shorter queue per seat.
Why a first-timer's odds tilt towards Kharidar
- Seats advertised (typical cycle)higher
A government needs more hands at the lower rung.
- Applicants per seatlower
A shorter queue for each place.
- Nayab Subba seatsfewer
One rung up, fewer places.
- Nayab Subba applicants per seathigher
Everyone who wants the title crowds in.
relative
An illustrative comparison of the two posts. Kharidar cycles typically advertise more seats and draw fewer applicants per seat than Nayab Subba, which improves a first attempt's structural odds.
This is not a reason to look down on Kharidar. It is a reason to respect what a first pass does for you. Once you are inside the service, internal competition and further Lok Sewa attempts open the way upward, and you are doing it from a salary rather than from a study room. A great many serving Nayab Subbas started as Kharidars.
How to actually decide
A decision you can make in an afternoon
Do this before you fill in either application, not after. The choice is reversible on paper and expensive in practice.
- 1
Sit a full mock of each, timed
One Kharidar first paper and one Nayab Subba first paper, under the clock. Do not mark them kindly. You are looking for where you land against 45, not for encouragement.
- 2
Read the current advertisements
Check how many seats each post carries this cycle and whether the reservation categories affect you. The commission publishes this; do not rely on last year's memory of it.
- 3
Weigh the two-mark question
Nayab Subba questions are worth two marks, so a careless error costs 0.4 against Kharidar's smaller deduction. If your mocks show a pattern of avoidable mistakes, that penalty is not abstract.
- 4
Pick the readier fit, then commit fully
If both mocks clear 45 comfortably, sit Nayab Subba. If one is a struggle, sit Kharidar this cycle and target Nayab Subba next. Do not straddle both papers with half your attention.
The straddling is the real failure mode. Because the syllabuses overlap, candidates convince themselves they are preparing for both, and arrive at each exam having practised for neither at full intensity. Overlap in content does not mean overlap in pacing, and the last four weeks before a paper are pacing weeks. A single sheet of notes can serve both posts; a single afternoon of mock practice cannot serve two different clocks.
When Nayab Subba first is the right call
None of this is an argument to always start low. If your mock scores clear the pass mark on both papers with room to spare, and the current cycle carries a reasonable Nayab Subba intake, sitting the higher post first is sensible. You skip a rung and a year, and the deduction penalty only bites candidates who make careless errors, which by then you would not be. The point is to let the mock decide, not the title.
I spent a year preparing for Nayab Subba because it sounded better, missed by three marks, and watched a classmate who sat Kharidar walk into an office.
Frequently asked questions
- Is Kharidar a step down from Nayab Subba?
- In grade, yes — Kharidar is non-gazetted second class and Nayab Subba non-gazetted first class. In career terms it is a first step, not a dead end. Serving staff move up through internal competition and further Lok Sewa attempts, and many Nayab Subbas began as Kharidars.
- Can one set of notes cover both posts?
- Largely, yes. The objective syllabuses overlap enough that a single bank of general knowledge, mental ability and constitution notes serves both. What does not transfer is timed practice — each paper has its own clock, and you must rehearse them separately.
- Does the deduction hurt more on the Nayab Subba paper?
- Yes, in absolute terms. Nayab Subba questions carry two marks, so a wrong answer costs 0.4, against a smaller deduction on Kharidar's paper. If your mocks show a habit of careless errors, that difference is worth taking seriously before you choose.
- Should I apply for both in the same cycle?
- You can, but do not split your final month of preparation between them. Decide which one your mock scores support, put your pacing practice there, and treat the other as a bonus sitting rather than a second front.
The choice is not about which post is worthier. It is about which paper you can pass this cycle and how many seats are waiting behind it. Answer those two honestly and the decision makes itself.
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