The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on April 15 that the examinations to recruit constables in Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will be conducted in 13 regional languages, other than Hindi and English. The new arrangement will kick in starting from January 1, 2024.
The decision comes days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Telengana minister K.T.R. Rao urged Home Minister Amit Shah to revise the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) national recruitment notification to include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and other official languages.
The ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Mr. Shah took the decision to give impetus to participation of local youth in the CAPFs and encourage regional languages.
In addition to Hindi and English, the question paper will be set in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, Manipuri and Konkani languages.
Improve selection process: MHA
The decision will result in lakhs of aspirants taking part in the examination in their mother tongue, regional language and improve their selection prospects, MHA said.
MHA and Staff Selection Commission (SSC) would sign an addendum to the existing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to facilitate the conduct of the examination in multiple Indian languages.
Constable General Duty is one of the flagship examinations conducted by the SSC attracting lakhs of candidates from across the country.
MHA said that State Governments are expected to launch a wide campaign encouraging local youths to use this opportunity of taking the examination in their mother tongue and participate in huge numbers to make a career in serving the country.
The ten-lakh strong CAPF comprises forces such as the CRPF, Border Security Force (BSF), Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Assam Rifles.
Serious disadvantage to non-Hindi speaking students: K.T. Rama Rao
On April 7, Telengana’s Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister K.T. Rama Rao, in a tweet, requested Mr. Shah to revise the CRPF national recruitment notification to include Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and other official languages
“These competitive exams are being held only in English and Hindi, which is a serious disadvantage to students who did not study in English medium or are not from Hindi-speaking States The National Recruitment Agency has decided to facilitate a Common Eligibility Test (NRA-CET) to replace multiple examinations & conduct these in 12 Indian languages However, it’s not being implemented properly including in notification below,” he said, attaching a recruitment notice by CRPF.
M.K. Stalin welcomes move
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday welcomed the announcement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah that CAPF examinations would be conducted in all state languages. In his social media message, he said the announcement had come as a result of his letter to Mr. Shah. “I wholeheartedly welcome this decision and reiterate our demand to provide Question Papers in Tamil and other state languages in all Union Government. examinations,” he added.
On April 9, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Mr. Shah urging him to conduct the recruitment in Tamil and other regional languages so that the youth from non-Hindi speaking States get an equal opportunity to serve the paramilitary force.
Following this, the CRPF said in a statement that it has “never conducted written examination for any in-house recruitment in regional languages”, and that the computer-based test for recruitment of constables is conducted in “Hindi and English only”.
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