NIL

UPSC row: Parl witnesses ruckus, oppositions demand scrapping of CSAT

by IBNS 05 Aug 2014, 08:44 am

New Delhi, Aug 5 (IBNS): The row over the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) rocked the Parliament on Tuesday with the opposition parties including the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), CPM, AIADMK, DMK demanding clarity on Centre's stand over the issue.

A notice was earlier served for the suspension of the Question Hour in Lok Sabha over the deadlock. 
 
The oppositions demanded that the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) must be scrapped altogether.
 
Amid uproar over the UPSC issue, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned till noon on Tuesday after MPs rushed to the Well of the House.
 
Opposition cornered the government over alleged ‘language discrimination’ in civil services exam stepping up their attacks demanding clarity in the UPSC topic.
 
Earlier on Monday, giving in to the demands by the Hindi preferring Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants, the government said that a 20-mark English section in the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) will not be included for grades or merit.
 
"The government is of the opinion that in the Civil Services Preliminary examination, Paper II, the marks of the question section on 'English language comprehension skills' should not be included for gradation or merit," Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel said in a brief statement in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
 
DMK MPs on Tuesday demanded other Indian languages to be included in the UPSC exam while the Samajwadi Party (SP) said they would not let the house function as solution given by the government is unacceptable.
 
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, said that other Indian languages will be given their due place too. 
 
Blaming the Congress, they said the UPSC row was created by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is committee to finding a solution now.
 
Protests continued even on the streets of the national capital on Tuesday with the civil service aspirants demanding the scrapping of the CSAT examination.
 
There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the preliminary examination -  CSAT I and CSAT II. The latter carries questions on comprehension, interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problem-solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy, and the 20-mark English language comprehension skills of Class X level.
 
The prelims entrance exam is scheduled to take place on Aug 24.