Frame Civil Services examination questions in Tamil too: Karunanidhi

“Present system violates Article 14 of the Constitution”

DMK president M. Karunanidhi, whose party is a constituent of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) at the Centre, on Monday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to ensure that questions for the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) were also framed in Tamil to benefit students from Tamil Nadu.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the DMK leader said if the present system of framing questions in Hindi and English continued, the performance of students from Tamil Nadu was likely to dip further.

Mr. Karunanidhi argument was that while candidates from Tamil Nadu had been answering the English version of the question paper, candidates from Hindi-speaking States had been given the benefit of answering questions in their mother tongue. “Even in those circumstances, students from Tamil Nadu performed creditably over the years,” he said.

He added that the significant changes introduced in the examination pattern by the Union Public Service Commission in 2010 had gone against the interest of students from Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Karunanidhi said a chunk of the questions in the new format was framed in such a way that only candidates who were well-versed in English would be able to answer within the stipulated time of two hours.

“However, such questions are found translated in Hindi and candidates who are conversant with the language can understand them easily. Hence, Hindi-speaking candidates end up scoring more in the CSAT, even though they are not well-versed in English,” he said.

The DMK leader said the present system had emerged as a severe challenge to candidates from Tamil Nadu, who had excelled in the Civil Services examinations on account of their hard work and deep understanding of the portion in the syllabus.

“The impact of the new system has started reflecting on the results. Of the 910 candidates selected from the country in 2011, only 68 are from Tamil Nadu. But in 2010, out of the total 980 candidates, 122 were from Tamil Nadu. Thus, the new system had placed Tamil students at a disadvantaged position,” he said. Arguing that the present system violated Article 14 of the Constitution (right to equality, a fundamental right), Mr. Karunanidhi said the purpose of the examination would not be diluted by providing translation of questions in Tamils as well as in Hindi. “This will provide Tamil Nadu candidates a level-playing field,” he said.