The Kannada Development Authority (KDA), which was in the news recently for protesting against “imposition” of Hindi in Namma Metro signage, on Saturday, urged the Centre to conduct competitive examinations in all official languages of States.
Taking exception to the absence of question papers in indigenous languages mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, KDA Chairman S.G. Siddaramaiah said this has proved detrimental to the interests of people of various States and regions. He said that “the very fabric of federalism needs to be better appreciated in this selection as well as in any Central government recruitment process.” Prof. Siddaramaiah made a special mention about banking services, as the new rules notified by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is detrimental to thousands of youngsters. “Before this sensitive issue assumes vehement proportions, the Centre has to take appropriate measures to roll back the unscientific policy in IBPS,” he said.
Letter to Centre
In a letter to Union Ministers for Finance and Human Resources Development, Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar, respectively, besides to Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh, he demanded that besides Central civil service examinations, all competitive examinations of national level, especially banking services, must be held in official languages of States.
Pointing to the performance of Kannadigas in the civil service examinations of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Mr. Siddaramaiah said that KDA honoured 59 Kannadigas for their exemplary performance in the recent examination. The statistics of these successful candidates revealed some interesting facts. Of the 59 candidates, 16 are from farming background, and parents of 14 candidates are either engaged in business or working in private establishments. As many as 16 candidates had finished their secondary schooling in rural areas.
“This implies that trends are changing with the UPSC’s constant urge for proactive reforms. This change although constant, still demands a holistic approach for understanding,” he said.
In the recruitment to any job of Central, semi-government and public sectors, candidates should be allowed to choose question papers and answer in languages identified in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, he said. He also suggested that the use of English should be restricted to compulsory English paper in order to avoid unwarranted English supremacy.
