The government on Tuesday urged the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to postpone next month's Civil Services preliminary exam following protests from aspirants to scrap the aptitude test, which was introduced three years ago.
Hours after some aspirants met him, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said the UPSC should consider postponing the exam, scheduled on August 24, as there is no clarity on the syllabus and exam pattern. He had defended the exam in Lok Sabha on July 9.
Singh said a committee had been set up to look into the grievances of a section of aspirants, who claim that the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), introduced in 2011, was putting Hindi-language aspirants at a disadvantage. The committee's report is to be submitted soon.
“Till the report about the final conclusions in the matter is out, these young boys and girls will not be able to make the kind of preparation they have to for the exam. Therefore, until there is clarity over the syllabus and exam pattern, they should be given sufficient time,” he told reporters.
RJD and Congress members have raised the matter in Lok Sabha. Activists of the BJP's student wing ABVP have also staged protests outside the UPSC office demanding scrapping of the CSAT.
The UPSC is a Constitutional body, and is not bound to take directions from the government. Singh said the government would write to the UPSC and the committee examining the matter to address the concerns raised by the aspirants “judiciously and sympathetically, and not let them go with a feeling that they have been wronged on account of any bias towards any language”.
“There should be no injustice regarding language, and the government does not support this,” added Singh.
However, in a written reply inLok Sabha last week, Singh had defended the new exam scheme, and dismissed protests of Hindi-speaking aspirants, saying the preliminary examination is “language-neutral”.
“Answers for the preliminary (examination) are to be given in the form of shading of circles. The questions being mostly bilingual, it can be concluded that the preliminary examination is language-neutral. Therefore, candidates taking the preliminary exam cannot be grouped into Hindi or other media,” he said.
Changes were introduced in the Civil Service Examination (CSE) in 2011.