‘Voice of Telangana’, a group of like-minded people, has urged the UPSC that by December, when the Mains of the Civil Services are scheduled, question papers should be made available in all regional languages.
At a press conference here on Wednesday, the group’s president, Capt. L. Pandu Ranga Reddy and others said the practice of the Civil Services exams being held in English and Hindi had led to an ever-widening North-South divide.
In a letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, he said that ever since the Civil Services Aptitude Test (C-SAT) was introduced in the preliminary examination in 2011, the representation of rural and regional languages had plummeted.
As the question papers were in English and Hindi, Hindi medium candidates were benefited, he said, pointing out that those taking the prelims in their regional languages could not answer the questions well only because of their linguistic handicap. Capt. Reddy charged the UPSC with ignoring Article 16 of the Constitution that envisages equal opportunity in public employment.
‘Voice of Telangana’ urged the UPSC to give question papers in all regional languages enshrined in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, beginning with the Mains this year, saying it was a fundamental right to have information in the regional languages mode, according to Article 345. If the UPSC did not accede to the request, they would be forced to move the Court for redressing the grievance, he said.
