Finance Minister calls for overhaul of TNPSC exams

‘Changes required in basic structure’

December 05, 2021 03:41 am | Updated 03:41 am IST - CHENNAI

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. File

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan. File

Finance and Human Resources Management Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on Saturday made a strong pitch for overhauling the examinations conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Services Commission (TNPSC). The Minister said that the “model is incompatible with the present circumstances.”

“As far as we are concerned, a lot of changes are required in the basic structure of the examinations. You cannot find a better day than today for the changes, as the government has changed after 10 years,” he told reporters.

“There are a lot of vacancies. But the entire TNPSC ecosystem can recruit a maximum of 10,000 persons in best of times. Today’s backlog is around 30,000 and it will take another two or three years for the TNPSC to recruit them. That is why we have relaxed the age limit of employees for two years,” he explained.

Even though Mr. Thiaga Rajan said human resource was more important to a government, he admitted that there was not adequate fund to fill all the vacancies.

Asked whether standardisation would solve the problem since each department’s requirement was different, Mr. Thiaga Rajan said he had not taken any decision.

“It is for the Chief Minister to decide. I do not want to go too far ahead of myself,” he added.

“But I will make some points. There are engineering graduates and diploma holders in government departments. There is no standardised qualification in treasury and audit departments. It is not as if we are already picking up only specialists. There is an image. But the truth is far from the reality. What you scored 30 years ago alone is not enough. Training can equip a candidate with required qualification. Marks scored in the TNPSC examination alone could not be considered as merit,” he said.

When told that a section of English medium students were planning to approach the court against making Tamil compulsory for TNPSC examinations, Mr. Thiaga Rajan said it was an individual’s right to do so.

“But we do not expect a candidate to possess knowledge of a Ph.D scholar in Tamil language. A candidate should have the knowledge of 10th standard Tamil with 40 per cent marks in the examination. It is a sensitive topic and we are not doing it for sloganeering,” he pointed out.

Mr. Thiaga Rajan said the calendar for TNPSC examination would be released soon.

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