Madurai MP urges Centre to conduct civil services exams in regional languages too

MADURAI: Madurai MP Su Venkatesan has urged the Centre to conduct the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) civil services examinations in regional languages also, in addition to English and Hindi.
Venkatesan submitted a representation to minister of state for science and technology, state ministry of earth science, PM’s office, personnel and public grievances Jitendra Singh in Delhi.
The MP said the UPSC conducts examinations for 25 posts, including Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service, to cater to the needs of the governance in the country. The selected people occupy key posts in the country that play a pivotal role in the framing of policies and decision making of the Union and state governments nationally and internationally.
“But there is a systemic bias in the process of selection to the above posts since question papers for both the preliminary and main examinations are only in Hindi and English. It naturally affects striking rates of candidates belonging to non-Hindi speaking states as the candidates have to assimilate and comprehend questions in English before answering them,” he said.
Candidates from Hindi speaking states have the benefit of question papers in Hindi. But it is not the same for candidates of regional language speaking states including Tamil Nadu. “It is against natural justice and does not ensure a level playing field for the candidates belonging to non-Hindi speaking states,” the MP said.
Since questions are not in regional languages, coaching materials for preparation also are not available in those languages, Venkatesan said.
The MP said there was a striking decline year by year in the rate of candidates of non-Hindi speaking states, including Tamil Nadu, making it through the exams. On the other hand, the number of candidates on the selection list from Hindi speaking states is much higher than their share of population.
Stating that some all India level examinations are conducted with question papers in regional languages, he told Jitendra Singh that there is every scope to conduct UPSC civil service examinations also in regional languages. “Candidates also feel that there are some imbalances in the question paper setting which needs to be set right taking into consideration the diverse culture of this country,” he said.