New Delhi:
Nitin Nayak, 26, came to Delhi in 2008 to prepare for the prestigious civil services examinations. So far, he has made two unsuccessful attempts to clear the exams. With the preliminary exam scheduled less than a month away - it is scheduled to be held on August 24 - one would expect Nitin to be immersed in preparations. Instead, he and his friends have been participating in protests across the national capital, demanding for scrapping of an aptitude test they believe gives an unfair advantage to English-speaking students.
"Before 2011 (when the new pattern was introduced), approximately 25 per cent Hindi language students would be selected... In 2011, that number fell to 15 per cent... And just look at the (final) results of 2013... Of 1,122 students who cleared the finals, only 26 were from non-English language backgrounds," he claims.
The statistics worry Narendra Kumar, who arrived in the city from Kota in Rajasthan two years ago. The 24-year-old had Hindi as his medium of instruction during his schooling and college days, including his stint in engineering.
At the centre of the crisis is the CSAT or the Civil Service Aptitude Test, introduced in 2011.
Under the earlier format, there was a paper on general studies and one on an optional subject, which has now been replaced by CSAT I and CSAT II. The latter consists of a compulsory component that deals with English language comprehension skills. More worrying is the fact that the exam papers use internet translating tools for questions in Hindi, resulting in literal translations.
"If I get a question paper that translates 'steel plant' as '
lohe ka paudha' or 'confidence-building' as '
vishwas bhavan', how am I supposed to answer that?" says Nitin. Narendra adds, "How can we figure out what the question is if a tablet computer becomes a '
goli computer' in Hindi?"
When a single mark determines the ranking of a candidate by several percentile points, these literal translations, students say, could make all the difference between qualifying and losing another attempt.
Though the government has assured that "no injustice" will be done, students are not convinced. Add to that a bevy of politicians from the Hindi heartland, who have voiced their support both inside and outside the Parliament, and the Modi government has another crisis at hand.
(As Protests Intensify, Government Asks UPSC Aspirants to be Patient)