The very thought of tinkering with the format of the country’s premier examination — the Civil Services — has evoked strong reactions, not only from those within the service, but also others who have moved on.
It has nothing to do with urban or rural, regions or languages; the latest controversy has to do with politics. This is what present and former bureaucrats believe.
Dependent on these exams is also the future of young aspirants and the coaching institutes.
Many feel the stakes are high for these institutes, which are minting money, and a sudden change in format will rock the boat. A section also believes the controversy should not be used by political parties as a tool in the forthcoming elections, particularly in States such as Bihar.
While agreeing that there is always scope for improvement, they unanimously say the decisions should not be taken randomly. There should be a proper debate.
“Why should this exam be treated any different from other professional entrance tests? The existing system is good…the bias, as it is emerging today, seems more against those holding professional degrees taking the exams,” said Ajoy Kumar, an IPS officer of 1986 batch, who left after serving for a decade and subsequently joined politics.
Take, for example, the number of students from a Hindi-speaking background making it to IITs, IIMs or law school. Most exams are taken in English. Therefore, to say that scrapping CSAT will create a level-playing field is not right.
Interestingly, most government and judicial historic records are either in English or Urdu.
Chandrika Garg, who cleared the exams last year, but is attempting them again this year to get into a better service — a calculated risk — said: “The English comprehension passage which is under controversy is the easiest portion of all, with direct answers…Scrapping the CSAT does not make sense because, before this, aspirants used to crack the exam on the basis of rote learning.”
Equal footingBesides, those who qualify for services like the IAS and the IPS have to learn to read and write the language of the cadre they are allotted.
On whether the exam favours students from professional courses like engineering, she said: “If engineering students opt for humanities papers and prepare for it in a year, why can’t students from non-engineering courses brush up their maths and aptitude in the same time. Moreover, there are only five-seven maths questions in the paper.”
Sunjoy Joshi, a 1983 batch IAS officer who moved out of the profession in 2009, feels that UPSC exams should be tough, as long as the format does not differentiate in terms of language. “To make the format clearer, a healthy debate should take place.”
Echoing this thought, Reva Nayyar, former IAS officer who was once in race to become Cabinet Secretary, said: “The debate should involve students and teachers, professors and aspirants. If decisions are taken randomly, we will create a situation like what happened in the judiciary — posts will go vacant.”