English not compulsory for IAS exam: Minister

Last Updated: Thursday, March 21, 2013, 14:18

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Tags: IAS exam, Civil Services, UPSC, English, Regional language

New Delhi: The government on Thursday made English optional for those seeking to get into the Indian Administrative Service, and said aspirants will be able to write the exam in a regional language also.

"A candidate will be allowed to use any one of the regional languages under Schedule 8 of the Constitution or English as the medium of writing the exam," Minister of State for Personnel and Training V Narayanasamy said, reading out a statement in the Lok Sabha.

This was the system before a March 5 notification of the Union Public Service Commission made English compulsory for candidates taking the Civil Services Main Examination, 2013.

Following an uproar in the Lok Sabha over the issue on March 15, the minister had assured the house that he would look into the matter.

"The government has reviewed the concerns raised," Narayanasamy said.

Further, the English component of 100 marks from the essay paper will also be dropped. Status quo ante of two qualifying papers of 300 marks each in any modern Indian language and in English shall be restored, the minister said.

The essay paper will now be of 250 marks, to be written in a medium of the candidate's choice, the statement said.

IANS

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First Published: Thursday, March 21, 2013, 14:18

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satya - lucknow
but ,the paper of 300 marks in any modern Indian language will be burden to every one.English is still compulsory. yes, but it is qualifying ,this is more difficult to pass for those who could not pass in English (comprehension and precis ,which was in new syllabus )

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Avadhesh kumar - lucknow
by hearing the new that english has been optional language that it will be so good for uttar bhartiya civil services aspirant. It also follow the indian constitutional system.

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ipsamy - Palayamkottai,Tamilnadu
This shows the ``don,t care attitude`` of the Govt.The states already have class-II,class-I exams by which yjey produce and keep people to suit them,When IAS, is called an all India exam ,then the presence of an all world language is the better way.Here we are trying to find out every tribal dialect and and include them in Administrative exams.Pure vote bank politics and decisions.

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Meets - Varaahi
Hope this ruling extends to all exams. With advanced language translation software available language should not be a limiting factor. Most English countries do not have lengthy essays totest knowledge. They have multiple choice exams. That can be taken at the students convenience many times in the year at multiple locations. Wonder why Bihar has that centralized obdurate examination system to test large. Populations inefficiently. It looks like a sham. And a waste of police resources when imagination can make it easy and uly credible.