Row Over "Political" Question Papers In Chhattisgarh Civil Service Exams

A controversy is brewing over the preliminary examination of the Public Service Commission in Chhattisgarh with students alleging many questions in the paper were "political" and not academic. Over one lakh students took the exam in Chhattisgarh's 28 districts.

The BJP too has raised questions on the standard of the question paper.

Some of the questions that the students said were not appropriate in the exam include: how many individual forest rights letters were uploaded on the Bhuinya portal till July 4, 2022? When was the "Bhent-Mulaqat" organised by the Chief Minister in Rajnandgaon Vidhan Sabha? Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan visited which Gothan in Godhan Nyaya Yojana in 2022? What is the meaning of the Chhattisgarhi word "fusar-fusar"?

Rohan Ghosh, a student, said many of the questions were controversial and the paper's standard was poor. "Many students miss the cut-off by half or one mark. And questions like these make life difficult," Mr Ghosh said.

Another student, Navditya Khambari, who cleared his prelims five times, said he is worried. "We can remember when the Chief Minister started meeting people under Bhent-Mulaqat. This scheme started in May last year. But it is not possible to answer on which date he visited a particular area," Mr Khambari said.

The BJP has criticised the exam body in the Congress-ruled state.

"Question No. 66 which said Tahutdaris was built by British Captain Sandy, Lormi and Taranga are the right choices but they are nowhere under the multiple choice answers. In question No. 57, they asked on which date the meeting programme was completed in Rajnandgaon district," BJP General Secretary OP Choudhary said.

"These questions are more about self-praise and irrelevant facts? PSC of other states have improved their quality, standard and transparency on the lines of the UPSC. Unfortunately, the Chhattisgarh body is sub-standard and encourages corruption because of which poor students of Chhattisgarh are suffering," Mr Choudhary said, referring to the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (CPSC) and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The Congress has denied any interference in the exam.

"It (CPSC) is an independent body that decides its own rules and questions. There is no role of the state government in it. In such a situation, it is futile to blame the state government," Youth Congress national spokesperson Subodh Haritwal said.

"The aspirants should know about the dates and schemes launched by the state government as they want to serve the state, so there is nothing wrong if questions were asked related to the schemes of the government," Mr Haritwal said.

The CPSC conducted the exam for 210 posts in 28 districts; 1.82 lakh candidates had applied for the preliminary examination.