No bias on basis of language in UPSC: Govt

New Delhi, Jul 18: Government on Friday assured students agitating against the Civil Services Exam that no bias will be allowed on the basis of language and has asked the Committee looking into the grievances of students to expedite its report.

"We wish to convey to the members as well as the students that there will be no bias allowed on the basis of language," Minister of State for Personnel and Training Jitendra Singh said in the Rajya Sabha. He said the Government has constituted a three-member Committee to look into the grievances of agitating students and put forward its suggestions.

"We have written to the Committee to expedite the process and furnish its report at the earliest, considering the urgency of the matter," Singh said. The Minister said the government is fully aware of the issue and is taking a sympathetic view of the same. "We are glad that in response to our appeal, the students on hunger strike ended their fast," he said.

The statement was made amid din in the Upper House cause by opposition members seeking a discussion on the Gaza issue. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Javadekar asked as to why the Opposition members were not discussing the UPSC issue and focussed only on Gaza.

"Why are you not discussing it...This relates to problems of thousands of aspirants of UPSC. It is the right of Parliament to seek clarification. They are not interested in getting justice to UPSC students," Javadekar said.

Civil Service aspirants, mainly students, held prolonged protests and resorted to hunger strike for several weeks demanding scrapping of Civil Services Aptitude Tests (CSAT), saying the exam pattern was putting Hindi and regional language aspirants at a disadvantage.

Singh had earlier said UPSC has been asked to postpone the preliminary exam scheduled on August 24 till there was clarity on the syllabus and exam pattern.

PTI