UPSC exam designed to favour English speakers is mired in controversy

The much-coveted Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is mired in controversies, this time with regard to the English component of CSAT.

The debate is not just triggered by anti-English rhetoric; it pertains to sociological equity and balance, upward social mobility, and constitutional propriety.

Conducted in three stages, – preliminary, main, and interview – the CSE is the exam through which candidates for the prestigious IAS, IFS, IPS and the like are selected.

The imbroglio is related to the preliminary stage, which was introduced in a new format in 2011.

This format called CSAT is said to have been designed to favour English speakers at the cost of Hindi or other regional language speaking students belonging to small towns who studied in government schools

The CSAT, introduced in 2011, English language comprehension skill (the 7th component of the 2nd paper 'Aptitude' of CSAT), was inserted through the back door. Curiously nowhere there is any reference to the English language comprehension component in the Alagh committee report, which was submitted after thorough and insightful research
The point is not the difficulty level of these questions, but the inclusion of marks obtained in these questions to the total

According to data from 2005 to 2010, the number of candidates passing through Hindi medium in Preliminary exam was not much less in comparison to English medium candidates.

But introduction of the English language comprehension component in the Preliminary stage, saw a fall in the number of students passing through Hindi medium in comparison to English medium candidates.

In 2011, when CSAT with the English language component was started, 9,324 candidates appeared in the Main exam in the English medium after passing the preliminary exam whereas the number of the candidates appearing in the Hindi medium in the Main exam clearing the preliminary was reduced to only 1,700.

Students protest against the ntroduction of CSAT in Civil service exams outside the UPSC in New Delhi on Monday  July 28,2014

Civil service aspirants reject Govt's proposal not to count English marks Monday Aug 04,2014

Civil service aspirants on Monday rejected the government's proposal to not include English marks for gradation.

The protesting Union Public Service Commission Civil Service (UPSC) aspirants said they were not satisfied with these changes and termed them "too superficial".

Many among them have said they will continue their fight for complete scrapping of the CSAT paper and announced that they would protest at Jantar Mantar from Tuesday Aug 05,2014

"We have been protesting for two months now but our demands are different from what has been 'redressed' by the honourable minister. We are not against English language per se but we want the CSAT to be scrapped because of the nature of the CSAT paper II which puts Hindi and Humanities students at a disadvantage," said Laxman, a UPSC aspirant.

The protests had intensified recently after applicants were issued admit cards. Last week, a section of the protesters had burnt their admit cards as a mark of defiance.

"We demand complete scrapping of CSAT. We have decided to continue our fight from Jantar Mantar," Pawan, a UPSC aspirant who has been leading the protest, said. 

Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh on Monday Aug 04,2014 announced in Parliament that English marks of CSAT-II will not be included for gradation or merit, and candidates of 2011, when CSAT was first introduced, may get another chance to appear for the test next year.

Pawan said this was not what the protesters have been demanding.

"We never asked for modification of CSAT pattern. Instead, our demand is to abolish this test for the welfare of lakhs of students who have studied in Hindi medium," he said.

Another issue raised by students is the English to Hindi translation.

"The question papers have weird translations of English words which do not make any sense. For example the word steel plant was translated into 'Lohe Ka Paudha' in one of the papers. How are we to give exams in such a condition?" said a student, who did not wish to be named.

The earlier format has a paper on general studies and one on an optional subject, which has now been replaced by CSAT-I and CSAT-II.

The CSAT-II carries 80 questions of 200 marks in all, of which 8-9 questions are based on English comprehension. These 8-9 questions, which carry around 22 marks, will now no longer be counted in the overall tally for gradation.

The CSAT comprises questions based on communication skill, logical reasoning and analytical ability, basic numeracy, data interpretation and English comprehension.

Opposition Protests Over 'Language Bias' Stall Rajya Sabha

 

In the Rajya Sabha, opposition members from the Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India–Marxist, CPI, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) staged a strong protest over the issue during Question Hour and demanded the scrapping of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

They also wanted question papers for the preliminary examination in all regional languages.

Nine opposition parties gave a notice to Chairman Hamid Ansari for suspending Question Hour in Rajya Sabha so that a discussion could be held on the issue