Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress and the CPI, on Tuesday gave notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking a short-duration discussion on the UPSC row.
The parties took the step after the Chair suggested that they could give notice which may be considered.
The House was disrupted and adjourned twice as Opposition members sought suspension of question hour for a debate on the issue. Agitated members raised slogans and walked into the well, forcing Chairman Hamid Ansari to adjourn the House.
Mr. Ansari was visibly upset when Congress member J.D. Seelam insisted on making a “valid point.” As the member came into the aisle, the Chair said that he was “a nobody from the aisle” and should return to his seat. Later, the member agitated on this point.
Mr. Ansari was also upset with AIADMK members trooping into the Well of the House shouting slogans. He said he could call a meeting of the rules committee on not having question hour.
The members echoed the demand of the agitating civil services aspirants to scrap the Civil Services Aptitude Test rather than exclude for gradation or merit the English comprehension paper.
Even as Mr. Ansari pointed out that the government had made its position clear on Monday, the uproar continued with several members speaking at the same time. Satish Mishra (BSP) said in view of Indian languages, CSAT should have been scrapped. SP leader Ramgopal Yadav said instead of English, all Indian languages should be allowed in the UPSC examination.
TMC MP Derek Obrien wanted an option to answer the preliminary multiple choice questions in any language of the Eighth Schedule. CPI MP D. Raja demanded that the preliminary question paper be prepared in all 22 languages.
Pointing out that the participation of language students in the civil services examination had gone down since CSAT was introduced in 2011, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said the format should be scrapped.
Raising his voice above the din, BJP MP Muhktar Abbas Naqvi said the problem was of the UPA’s making and had been resolved with “sympathy” and “honesty” by the NDA government.
