The order states that a qualifying paper in Tamil will be made mandatory in all the competitive exams and the qualifying paper will be of SSLC standard. Persons appearing for the exams have to get 40 per cent marks in Tamil paper to get qualified for evaluating other papers of the exam.

The announcement to make Tamil compulsory in all the competitive exams was made by state Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in the state Assembly, on September 13, following which the state govt has issued detailed guidelines for implementing the announcement.

According to the order, for TNPSC Group-I, II and IIA exams, having two or more stages of examination, Tamil is made as a compulsory paper in the main examination which will be in a descriptive format. Aspirants have to clear the Tamil paper by scoring 40 per cent and only after clearing the Tamil paper other subjects in the main exam will be evaluated. However, there is no change in the preliminary exams for Group-I, II and IIA exams.

In case of single-stage exams like group-III and IV exams, Tamil paper will be made mandatory in the preliminary exams as 'General English' paper will be removed and only 'General Tamil' will be made compulsory for all the candidates. Only after clearing the 'General Tamil' paper the aptitude and mental ability paper will be evaluated.

The same set of rules will be applicable for other recruiting agencies such as the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB), Medical Services Recruitment Board, Tamil Nadu Uniformed Services Recruitment Board (TNUSRB), Tamil Nadu Forest Uniformed Services Recruitment Committee and so on. The respective recruitment agencies will release separate guidelines for each exam conducted by them.