A significant demand was voiced in the UPSC Civil Services: Conduct Civil Services Exam in native languages. This proposal was put forth by CPI-M member Ritabrta Banerjee in the Rajya Sabha on March 22, 2017.
Banerjee's demand was met with unanimous support from the members of the Rajya Sabha. He referred to this demand as an effort towards 'upholding of linguistic rights'. This issue was brought up during the Zero Hour and it sparked a crucial conversation about linguistic bias in the Civil Services Prelims Exam.
Banerjee claimed that the CSAT Paper of the Civil Services Prelims Exam, which was previously conducted exclusively in English, was biased against Hindi and the other eight Scheduled Languages. The CSAT Paper has since been made non-compulsory, but Banerjee pointed out that the damage had already been done to those aspirants who lost opportunities before the change was made.
Banerjee further stated that the government was yet to announce a compensatory attempt for those aspirants who were affected by the linguistic bias. He strongly advocated for candidates to be allowed to write the exam in their native language.
His demand was echoed by all opposition party members during the Zero Hour of the Upper House of Parliament.
For further reading:
| The Debate on Age Limit and Number of Attempts in the UPSC Exam |
| The Journey to Becoming the Youngest IAS Officer in India |
