VIEWPOINT
AMITABH SHUKLA
A well intentioned move to revamp
the pattern of civil services examination has been put on hold. Predictably,
cutting across party lines, the politicians played spoilsport as the government
had to beat a hasty retreat and revert back to the 34-year old pattern of
examination in which many loopholes have emerged over the years.
It was the steel frame of the
British raj, to some extent it still is in the UPA raj but over a period of
time, it has lost some of its sheen. Still, it remains the most coveted job in
the government sector. But the examination pattern in practice since 1979 left
a lot to be desired and an overhaul was the need of the hour keeping in mind
the changing needs of the country, the globalised environment in which the
bureaucrats are supposed to work and the flaws which had crept in the existing
system.
The flaws could be several. I
will just point out a few. I know of an Electrical Engineer from IIT, who
abandoned his subject of graduation (Electrical Engineering) for the Main
examination and opted for Sanskrit and Geography. He mugged both the subjects
in six months flat and got a decent ranking making it to the IPS. I have
nothing against Geography or Sanskrit, but the flaw here was that one could
simply mug the syllabus and get through forgetting the basic subject in which
you did your graduation. There could be many such cases.
Then when I was studying in Delhi
University
For several years, there was an
unusually high percentage of aspirants opting for subjects like Public
Administration and Anthropology. Coaching institutes claimed that they will
take 2-3 months to make a candidate mug enough to crack the civil services with
these optional provided they were good with their primary optional. Ironically,
there were a handful of colleges offering these courses at the graduation level
but as optional papers in Main examination, there was a time when almost half
the candidates chose one of the two subjects.
So flawed was the system for
several years that it saw an unusually high percentage of engineers in the
civil services. A lot of them opted for Physics which they are taught in their
course along with the subject of engineering. So much so that in one year, 19
of the top 20 in the IAS were engineers and in the top 100, over 85 had
engineering background. One heard of “moderation” of marks which meant that if
aspirants are getting too much marks in a particular subject, the marks were
reduced in some proportion. No one knew how it was done and it remained a
mystery. All throughout this phase, those from the social sciences found
themselves at the receiving end, barely managing to get into the coveted list
and eventually when they got through, it was in the Group “B” Services.
When the changes for the Main
examination were notified by the government, there were basically two
objections. Regional leaders immediately jumped in the fray saying that those
from rural background will have a disadvantage as marks in English would be
counted and the practice of taking the exams in some the regional languages
would be stopped if they had less than 25 candidates.
I would again differ here on
making marks in English count in the ranking and this is by personal experience.
When I was studying for my post graduation in Delhi
University Bihar who had passed all his
exams in Hindi medium and he knew whatever was expected to crack the civil
services exam. He cleared the preliminary exams and appeared for the Mains.
Later on, instead of the result, a letter came from UPSC that his papers were
not evaluated as he could not get pass marks in English. Getting pass marks in
English and a regional language was mandatory and only if one passed in these
that his other papers were evaluated. After failing in the only attempt, he
opted out and instead settled for a job in Bihar through
the BPSC. There must have been a lot of such aspirants whose answer sheets
could not be evaluated as they could not get pass marks in English.
In the pattern which was
announced and now put in abeyance, 100 marks were allocated for English,
triggering protests from political quarters. At least, this is better than the
system prevalent as even if you get poor marks in the Queen’s language but are
good in other subjects, you could get there. And mind, you this is less than 5
per cent of the total marks of 2075 in the exams and the paper is supposed to
be of matriculation standard.
I agree with some critics that
the medium of examination should not be tampered with and one should be given
the opportunity to take the exams in the regional languages of one’s choice
till a consensus evolves. Also, the language of essay should be optional and
all Indian languages should be included instead of just English and Hindi.
But I fail to understand the knee
jerk reaction of the government, keeping in abeyance all proposed changes. It
could have easily put on hold the controversial changes like making the marks
obtained in English count and proposal which allegedly discriminated against
the regional language. But what prevents it from introducing other changes
which no one is criticizing like enhancing the importance of General Studies
having four papers instead of two earlier and going for only one optional
subject instead of two for the Main examination.
Keeping on hold the debatable
changes and going for the new pattern should have been the way out. The reform
measures which no one is questioning should have been implemented. Ever since
the British evolved the civil service, they changed it several times depending
on the needs of the raj. It was time, we changed it keeping in view the needs
of the new millennium. (March 18, 2013)
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/civil-services-exams-time-for-an-overhaul.html
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/2013-03-18-1327.html
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/chandigarh/civil-services-exams-time-for-an-overhaul.html
http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/dehradun/2013-03-18-1327.html
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