Govt. to consider UPSC exam in all 8th Schedule languages

The Centre on Thursday said there was “force” in the argument that the Civil Services Examination should be conducted in all languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and assured the Lok Sabha that this demand would be considered.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu was responding to a specific demand by AIADMK member M. Thambidurai that students be allowed to take the exam in their native language.

At present, while question papers are set in English and Hindi and the main examination can be attempted in any language in the Eighth Schedule, the preliminary examination are available only in English and Hindi.

As protests continued within and outside Parliament over the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), the government reiterated that the preliminary examination would be held as scheduled on August 24. The Union Public Service Commission is yet to clear the air on whether it has accepted the government’s view that the English comprehension skill component of CSAT — paper II of the prelims — should not be counted for merit or gradation, and how this will be implemented.