The Indian Express recently reported the decrease in the number of aspirants taking the examinations in Hindi.NCP MP Vandana Chavan said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday that civil services aspirants from regional language background suffered from 2011 to 2014 after the introduction of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and urged the government to provide them an age relaxation and additional attempts to appear for the exam.
“Sir, the CSAT turned out to be advantageous to students only from the English medium over the students from the regional language background. Sir, prior to CSAT, the proportion of candidates selected to appear for the Mains between those choosing the regional language and those choosing the English language as a medium of instruction was 40:60. Sir, with introduction of the CSAT, now it is totally skewed. It is 20:80. So, in 2015, realising that the aspirants from rural area and non-technical background were being hit very badly, the UPSC did take up corrective steps. The young aspirants were affected from 2011 to 2014… lost four valuable attempts amongst the six that they are entitled to,” Chavan said during the Zero Hour.
The Indian Express recently reported the decrease in the number of aspirants taking the examinations in Hindi. Data accessed by The Indian Express shows that there has been a sharp dip since 2013 in the number of students taking the civil services exams in Hindi and in the number of recruits who studied in Hindi-medium universities or schools.
Chavan said there is a precedent in 1979 and in 1992 when the UPSC compensated candidates with additional attempts and age relaxation. “I urge the government to consider this issue very, very seriously. It is not their fault. If at all, it is the CSAT format which gave them a real bad hit. Hence, I urge the government to give them age relaxation and a few additional attempts,” she said.
The issue of regional language candidates missing out on central government services was raised by DMK MP Tiruchi Siva in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
“The Staff Selection Commission has seven regional offices at Allahabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Guwahati. It also has two sub-regional offices. Earlier, the Staff Selection Commission used to conduct these examinations at the zonal level. But, now, these examinations are being conducted at national level. And, these examinations are conducted only in English and Hindi languages,” Siva said.
He asked why the Staff Selection Commission could not conduct examinations and interviews in all regional languages when the UPSC could.
