Regional (M.P & C.G)

Centre should abolish practice of including marks of English in UPSC exams: CM

Bhopal: Opposing the practice of adding marks obtained in English to grand total of UPSC exam results, Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged to remove unnecessary and anti-people practices in the prelims and main exam of the Union Public Service Commission. In his letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in this context, the Chief Minister said that the practice of adding marks obtained in English to grand total of UPSC exam results is an attack on the morale and future of not only rural and tribal youths, but also on the possibilities of youths living in urban slums, urban poor and middle class youths.
Shri Chouhan said that a number of youths belonging to these sections have made it to the Indian Administrative Service, Police Service, Forest Service, Revenue and other services due to their extraordinary talents during last some decades. It is due to such officers that gap between the state and society has been reduced and developed trust among people towards the administrative machinery. These youths became source of inspiration to their counterparts in the same sections from where they have come. Wherever these youths have been posted, they have provided a deep psychological trust to common people. He asked the Prime Minister if this situation is not worthy of continuing in future.
The Chief Minister said in the letter that due to administrative weakness, high-level English-medium could not be established in rural and urban areas of India. But innocent youths are being punished for this incapability even when these youths are not responsible for this. Rather, they are the victims. He said that it is meaningless to hope that such students will be able to compete with foreign-return students. It is also not proper to say that only 100 out of total 2075 marks will play insignificant role since it is a competitive exam in which upto three students stand in the same place of merit on the basis of even a single mark. Under such circumstances, these 100 marks are going to play a decisive role. By the way, there was a provision earlier also with which test of minimum knowledge of this language was taken.
About increasing concern for English language in the age of ever-increasing globalisation, the Chief Minister also wrote that keeping in view the circumstances under which most of our rural and urban youths have to pursue education, they will be in total loss. This competitive exam tests knowledge and aptitude and is not dependent on language. Even after being selected in services, there has been a practice to improve their skills through training. These include linguistic skills also. The level of talent at which these candidates are selected in these services, this mistrust is not proper that strategy of developing English knowledge later is unjustified. This decision shows that English is being given monopolistic place. This will create atmosphere of disinterest in national language Hindi and other regional languages. There is a question not only about admission of youths in administrative services, but responsibility of simultaneous development these languages also needs to be discharged. It is also not proper to say that since these services are of All-India level, therefore there is no justification of regional languages. This notion is, perhaps, founded on the presumption that Hindi and other Indian languages have no unifying role.
The Chief Minister said that constant efforts have been made since Independence to develop civil services as representative services of Indian society and it is the result of this strategy that youths belonging to very poor families of the country could join these services. But now this historic process has been reversed. The notification issued now gives recognition to supremacy of English and will make these service non-representative. When changes were made in favour of English in the prelims, representation of deprived and lower middle class came down. Now change is being made in the main exam. This step has increased apprehensions that the next change will be at the interview level. This will further decrease these sections’ representation in administrative services.
Describing this arbitrary method of change as unfortunate, the Chief Minister said that even the protocol of consultation with states in such matter is not being maintained. English is important for reaching the vast treasure of knowledge. But the role of Hindi and other regional languages is also important. He said that it is very much possible to attain dexterity in government work through later training of English.

 

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