Over the past two months, protests to scrap the Civil Services Aptitude Test Paper II have grown manifold. However, despite the Government making some concessions, aspirants are not pleased with the announcement that the eight questions based on the English skill set will not be added for gradation or merit. The issue has diversified to other points, one being that the Hindi language used in the Hindi medium question papers is too tough.Deebashree Mohanty brings you the details of this nationwide debate
Humne roti maangi thhi, humein pathar pakda diya”. This comment by one of the agitators summarises the raging unrest among the CSAT-II protestors. They are unhappy that the Government has not met all their demands, the prime one being the scrapping of the CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) Paper II.
“Only a fraction of the problem has been addressed. By announcing that the 8-9 questions on English skills set will not be counted for gradation, the Government has given us some relief. But our other big problem has not been addressed — Why is the language used in the Hindi medium so toughIJ It is not possible for an average Hindi medium student to understand the given questions, even though they are in Hindi. For those who have opted for Hindi medium, the language is so tough that they have to often read the English version first and then answer in Hindi. It is time taking and annoying,” Neeraj Jaiswal, leading the CSAT protests at Jantar Mantar and Mukherjee Nagar in Delhi, points out.
“There are places where we feel that there is unnecessary leverage given to English medium aspirants. But our overall demand is that the CSAT-II be completely done away with,” Jaiswal insists.
While Neeraj wants Hindi simplified, many other agitators question the very need to introduce CAT-like mental jogging questions in the UPSC format. They are demanding the scrapping of CSAT II on grounds that the scientific demeanour of CSAT II content is biased against humanities students.
However, former UPSC Board members, academics and tutorial providers say this demand is not at all legitimate. “The UPSC is doing well to sync its format with the changing dynamics of society. Modern problems need modern mores of problem shooting which means that more than their deep academic knowledge, the officers need to race their minds to resolve tricky situations on the ground. CSAT II’s aptitude test model goes a long way in assessing that skill in today’s aspiring IAS officer,” explains Manoj Dwivedi, managing director of Siddhant Career Concepts.
Understanding the format
“The CSAT was introduced in 2011 on the recommendations of the Alagh Committee. That year onwards, students were given two extra attempts and an age relaxation in order to compensate for the new pattern. The CSAT has two parts — I (100 questions) and II (80 questions).
“Part I is a test of general studies (History, Economics, Geography etc) while Part-II is about Basic Numeracy, General Mental Ability, Analytical Ability, logical Reasoning, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Comprehension (Both English & Hindi) and English language Comprehension Skills (Xth level). Paper I and Paper II have equal weightage. The question paper comes in Hindi and English (not in any other Indian language),” Ramdev Burman, an IIT Delhi alumnus and a serving IAS officer in the Jammu cadre, explains. He says, the new format came into being because the Alagh panel members felt that the UPSC examination till then was too difficult and too detailed.
“The CSAT makes it much easier for all students to crack the UPSC. It tests a candidate’s agility, personality and working knowledge about all things around him and also tests his hold over the language. The UPSC has never been biased against any particular segment and CSAT is proof of that. The earlier versions of the test, right since the Indian Civil Services was introduced in 1862, a lot of stress was given to the English language but CSAT is very objective and has very little scope for detailed English language skill test,” Burman says. He feels the Government should not buckle to the demand of doing away with CSAT II. “There is a reason why they included topics under CSAT II. It is meant to guage whether the candidate has the ability and personality to be an administrative officer,” he says.
Issue At Hand
“Their issue now is that the language used in the Hindi version is tough and, at times, even inaccurate. The language should be simple and correct. This is a serious issue and should be dealt with. But is scrapping Paper II the solutionIJ Why is no one bothered about the language used in posing the questions in the Hindi version of CSAT Paper IIJ Why does the problem exist only with Paper IIIJ Is the issue actually language or inability to deal with aptitude questions,” asks Prof KD Mohapatra, guest lecturer with the IAS coaching institute. Mohapatra was involved in setting questions paper for the UPSC Mains Examination for Sociology in 2009.
The serious issue aspirants have is that the paper has 8 questions out of 80 on the English language skill test. These are printed only in English and are supposed to be of Class 10 level. “It is not as if we cannot answer these queries. The problem is with the idea of having a separate English langauge skill set. Why have itIJ Doesn’t that give an edge to English medium aspirantsIJ In the UPSC, even two marks make a huge difference so why are they being served with these 17-odd marks,” asks Manjeet Singh who is heading protests on the Jamia campus and at Jantar Mantar. Although he cleared his preliminary examination last year, Singh says it was a Herculean task for him to complete CSAT II.
Moving on from the Prelims, some aspirants even have a problem with the Mains where they feel there is bias. “In the Mains, each student has to pass two exams of two languages (English is mandatory, second language paper optional). The papers are supposed to be of 10th Standard level. Students only have to pass in them. The marks are not added for ranking. The allegation is that the English paper is usually tough and it is not possible for Hindi and other medium students to obtain even pass marks (75/300). That is absurd. The questions are all very basic. If you cannot answer even 75 of the 300 grammar questions, you don’t deserve to be an administrative officer. There are many State level services for such aspirants,” professor DK Upadhyay, faculty of Pratham Tutorials in North Delhi, says.
Protestors beg to differ. According to many who appeared for the Mains in 2013, the English language questions were definitely not of 10th Standard level. “There were questions asked on onomatopoeic (sound) words. That is not Class 10 level. We prepared with the toughest grammar books we could lay our hands on but we couldn’t even answer 25 questions, let alone 75! Our demand is not that the paper be scrapped. We only want the UPSC to keep its promise of the queries being of Class 10 level,” Rau’s Tutorial’s student Aditi Balsavar, who will be taking the exams again this year, says.
The third issue is about the interview level. As per the format, an aspirant can choose any language (out of 23 listed) as his/her language of interview. The allegation here is that, often, non- English medium students are queried in and forced to answer in English during the interview. While aspirants who have faced such interviews feel this is the interview board’s ploy to guage an aspirant’s stress handling capacity, others say that the idea of asking a Hindi medium candidate a question in English defeats the purpose of having separate languages in the first place.
“It’s rubbish to say English queries test a person’s stress level. There are other ways of doing that. Why strike at a person’s regional or language problemsIJ If the panel feels that only speaking good English guarantees a place in the Civil Services, they should remove other language preferences. Otherwise, it’s is a pseudo approach,” Balsawar asserts.
Academia across the country feels that the demand should have been to make the language simple in the Hindi version and not to scrap CSAT II. It is fine to remove those eight English skill test questions, but questions on Basic Numeracy, General Mental Ability, Analytical Ability, logical Reasoning, Decision Making, Problem Solving and Comprehension must stay.
“In the changing scenario of globalisation, Indian civil servants are expected to deal with a wide variety of jobs which may be that of a district magistrate of a tribal area or a metro city, or as head of industrial development. One may even be posted as a diplomat with the UNO. No services in the world offer such a variety of job profiles. If the aspirant cannot pass an aptitude test, it’s a sign of incapacity and such people are incompetent for the civil services. There are other jobs in banks, State services and the private sector for them. It would be better for them to aspire for those services and leave this elite service for those capable and competent for this profile. If CSAT II is cancelled under political compulsion, it will hamper the much desired reforms’ process in the civil services,” Mohapatra says.
Growing Chant Against CSAT
CSAT was introduced in 2011. That year onwards, students have been given two extra attempts and an age relaxation. CSAT has two papers: I (100 questions) & II (80).
Besides the anger about English being given the edge, he issue has now diversified to other points — that the language used in the Hindi version is tough and needs to be simplified; and that the CSAT II has a bias against students from the Humanities strain.
Agitating aspirants now say that the Mains exam English paper is tough and it is not possible for Hindi and other medium students to obtain even pass marks (75/300) in it.
Often, non- English medium students are queried in and forced to answer in English during the interview.