Allaying apprehensions like last year regarding the civil service preliminary test conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), the Government on Wednesday said the aptitude test based on CSAT format will continue to be part of preliminary test and there is no change in the pattern as of now. The Government, however, made it clear that an expert committee will be constituted to take a holistic view of the aptitude test.
A controversy had erupted in July last year over the pattern of the civil services examination conducted by the UPSC as students demanding change in CSAT or Paper II took to the streets to protest. “An expert committee would be constituted to comprehensively examine various issues raised from time to time namely, eligibility, syllabus, scheme and pattern of civil services examination,” a statement issued by DoPT said.
Till such time, the Government takes decision on the recommendation of the committee, the general studies Paper-II (Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT) in the civil services (preliminary) examination will remain a qualifying paper with a minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33 per cent. “The English language comprehension skill portion from general studies Paper-II of civil services (preliminary) examination will continue to remain excluded,” the DoPT said.
The students had claimed that mandatory English language and other questions asked in the paper put aspirants from rural areas or with Hindi background at a disadvantage. Following the protests last year, the Government had decided that marks of the English section questions, asked in Paper II, will not be included for gradation or merit in the exam. The change had come in force from civil services examination, 2014, onwards.