The Government on Friday agreed to keep in abeyance the March 5 UPSC notification giving more weightage to English in Civil Services Exams. The announcement came after members, cutting across party lines, flayed this decision in the lok Sabha and protested against the “neglect” of Hindi and other regional languages.
“The Government will call a meeting of the UPSC and solve the issue. In the meantime, taking into consideration the views expressed by the honorary members, we will keep the notification in abeyance and the status quo ante will be maintained,” Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy announced in the lok Sabha.
Earlier, slogan-shouting members of the SP, RJD, left, Akali Dal, National Conference, AIADMK and DMK disrupted Question Hour and raised slogans like “Angrezi me kaam na hoga. Phir se desh ghulaam na hoga” (No work will be done using English as a medium. The country will not be a slave again), “Angrezi hatao, desh bachao” (Get rid of English, save the nation), and “UPSC ka galat nirnay, wapas lo, wapas lo” (Withdraw the wrong decision taken by the UPSC).
The House was adjourned twice during the Question Hour.
lalu Prasad (RJD) raised the issue during Zero Hour later and dubbed the UPSC move as a ‘conspiracy’ against the weaker sections of society. He said this was done to ensure that children from SC, ST and OBC families do not succeed in the Civil Services Exams despite having the required merit.
Seeking a rollback of the decision, he said the UPSC may be a constitutional body but it was not above the Government and Parliament.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) alleged that the new UPSC chairman was trying to “marginalise” Indian languages and promote English. “If he fails to repeal this notification, he should be sacked and impeached,” Yadav said.
Gopinath Munde (BJP) described the move as injustice to Indian languages and the backward classes while V Arunkumar (Cong) claimed the changes were not in the interests of anyone.
Dharmendra Yadav (SP) termed the move as ‘anti-national’ and said the decision would have grave implications for a majority of candidates in the Civil Services Exams as the essay paper of 200 marks had been added to the 100-mark compulsory English paper.
TKS Elangovan (DMK) asked: “Who authorised the UPSC to take such a step in the midst of the Civil Services Exams. Who gave it the right to do soIJ”
Basudeb Acharia (CPI-M) said the hard-earned constitutional rights favouring Indian languages were being snatched away by this order.
Describing the UPSC circular as a ‘discriminatory’ move, Tathagat Satpathy (BJD) said while English should continue as a link language, all regional languages should be allowed without promoting just ‘one North Indian cow-belt language’.
M Thambidurai (AIADMK) said Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had written to the Prime Minister on the issue and termed the UPSC move as ‘highly discriminatory’.
Sanjeev Naik (NCP) and Prasanta Kumar Majumdar (RSP) demanded immediate withdrawal of the UPSC circular, while Tarun Mandal (Ind) said the decision was wrong and asked the Government to promote all languages and not just Hindi and English.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has also been critical of the UPSC decision. In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday, Modi opposed the decision to scrap the regional languages.
“A candidate will not be able to write the essay in Gujarati or in any other language. He has to now compulsorily write it in English or Hindi.
“The decision would ruin the dreams of thousands of candidates from Gujarat,” he said, urging the Prime Minister to take remedial steps.