Centre gives panel a week for report as students intensify stir
The NDA Government on Friday made it clear that it will wait for the report of the three-member panel before taking any decision on the Civil Services examination pattern of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). However, the panel’s time to give the report has been cut down from one month to a week now and the Government hopes to clear the air over the burning issue by next week.
While saying that the Government will not allow any injustice to students on the basis of language, Minister for State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh urged the protesting aspirants to be patient for at least one more week. He added that the Government was looking into the matter with all seriousness and sensitivity.
However, despite the Minister’s assurance, both aspirants and Rajya Sabha members remained dissatisfied. They demanded immediate withdrawal of online Admit Cards and asked for the examination process, scheduled for August 24, to be put on hold.
“The UPSC has already issued admit cards. In the next three days the situation will become worrisome. The Government cannot walk on two separate paths,” JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said while leading the attack on the Government in Rajya Sabha.
BJP ally Ramdas Athawale of RPI raised a point that those with engineering and other technical qualifications and with science background had an edge over those from a humanities background.
The Minister clarified that the UPSC examination schedule is made in advance and cannot be stopped as of now. “The issue of Admit Cards is not in any way going to influence the decision to be taken by the Government. The cards have not been issued by us, but by the UPSC which follows a calendar. But I can promise that the issue of Admit Cards is not going to influence the further course of action of the Government. The controversy is related to the syllabus and a satisfactory solution will be sought accordingly,” Singh said.
“The Government sympathises with the aspirants and it should be clear that under no circumstance will we tolerate injustice on the basis of language. The Government and the Prime Minister are more concerned than the agitating students and are trying to find a satisfactory solution,” Singh said. The Minister said that even though it is not responsible for the mess, the Government is working overtime to sort it out. Meanwhile, a large number of Civil Service aspirants scaled up their protests in Delhi. On Friday, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav led the demand with 14 members across all parties speaking on the issue.
Even as treasury bench members expressed concerns, Congress member MS Gill was the only one who did not favour a change in the present system. The bureaucrat-turned-politician argued that English was the language of employment, diplomacy and since all international work is done in English, diluting the present form of exam will compromise the quality of bureaucrats. However, Sharad Yadav said regional language students were facing discrimination in the UPSC exam and the number of regional language students successful in the exam was going down drastically while the success rate of those who were fluent in English had almost doubled.
Interestingly, the NDA Government is facing a strange situation where the bureaucracy is concerned, ever since it came to power. One of its first Cabinet decisions was to bring an Ordinance in favour of a bureaucrat for the PMO; its first Bill in Parliament was TRAI (Amendment) on regulating the bureaucrat’s appointment. Its first DoPT order was relating to bureaucratic postings including PS and OSD and the first agitation it is facing too is connected with the bureaucracy.