Government to convene all-party meet on UPSC row

Under fire from the opposition on the Union Public Service Commission row, the government on Wednesday decided to convene an all-party meeting on the issue while indicating its unwillingness to postpone the civil services preliminary examination scheduled for August 24.

The matter, which has disrupted parliamentary proceedings during the past week, rocked the Rajya Sabha again on Wednesday with members from Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPI, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party staging a walkout expressing dissatisfaction over Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar’s statement on the issue.

Maintaining that it was a sensitive issue, which has many aspects, the minister said a discussion is needed to determine on whether a major reform of the examination pattern of the UPSC is required.

Referring to the demands of some opposition members and a suggestion given to him by Ramgopal Yadav from the SP in this regard, Javadekar said, “An all-party meeting will definitely take place. If there is need, more such meetings can take place.”

Noting that 9 lakh students are appearing for the August 24 preliminary test of the UPSC, the minister urged the members, “Let us give our best wishes to all those, who are taking the August 24 exam.”

Reacting sharply to the suggestion by the minister, Sitaram Yechury, CPI-M, said the views of all the parties have already come in the House and asked why does the government not take a decision on that basis rather than calling an all-party meeting.

Members from the CPI-M including P Rajeeve wanted to know the “status quo” asking whether the statement given by the Minister of DoPT Jitender Singh earlier on the issue now remains valid after Javadekar’s remarks. “What is the status quo? Is it incorporative of the UPSC notification,” Rajeeve asked.

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to pacify the members saying, “The minister has not said that the statement is invalid.”

Javadekar said the government took two decisions in the matter showing its sensitivity to the issue and “there are still many more questions” like “how relevant is the CSAT” exam pattern and in what language the exams including interviews should be held.

He said that perhaps there was never such a comprehensive debate on the UPSC exam pattern in the past insisting that “this debate is needed” on whether there is need for some change.

Minister of State Personnel Jitendra Singh had said, “Government is of the opinion that in the Civil Services Preliminary examination Paper-II, marks of the question section on ‘English Language comprehension skills’ should not be included for gradation or merit.”

Slamming the government, Pramod Tiwari, Congress, said these suggestions will add fuel to fire and alleged that government did it “deliberately” to divert the attention from the “internal fight within the government” and the problems of the country.

Derek O’Brien from the Trinamool Congress said the government has come up with a “knee-jerk reaction in a hurry” which has further compounded the problem. Maintaining that a solution to the problem cannot be found out by August 24, O’Brien said there is need to have more dialogue and discussion as “some say CSAT is very good and some say CSAT is bad”. He asked for a “clear, reliable and genuine assurance” from the government in this regard.