Aug 04 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Hysteria On English





Steel frame of India must not bend before frivolous UPSC language protest

The absurdity of demands made by aspirants towards the UPSC exam grows more apparent with their daily protests. Claiming that non-English-speaking students are being placed at a disadvantage, the aspirants’ demand – that the UPSC’s CSAT component, featuring eight to nine questions testing Class X-level English be dropped – has been rejected by the Arvind Verma committee. This panel states these questions test the most basic level of English, checking minimum standards an Indian administrative service officer must have. This is eminently sensible – and a recommendation the government must accept.Further, it is ridiculous for aspirants to start demanding how examinations or interviews leading to skilled professions be set. These protests only expose aspirants’ desire to drop sections needing creative cognitive and analytical skills – vital necessities for administrative officers. Instead, these aspirants apparently desire staying in their comfort zones, snuggling in known linguistic blankets and rote learning, not challenging themselves to learn even middle-school English, a crucial link language across India and much of the world. Their protests only emphasise why the Indian administrative service cannot be handed to the intellectually sluggish.

This government – elected on the promise of good governance – must not capitulate to such hysteria, fuelled by cynical political manipulation now.

What it must do is offer aspirants a far better level of English to Hindi translations in the UPSC exam papers, thereby ensuring a fair playing field. But what it must not do is alter the CSAT or water down the rudimentary level of English required by those representing the Indian state. This government must not go down in history as having changed the steel frame of India to a plastic one.