PM should intervene on UPSC CSAT issue: LJP

New Delhi, July 26: Expressing concern over falling success ratio of students from rural background in UPSC civil service examination, Ram Vilas Paswan-led LJP on Saturday sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention into the matter.

LJP Parliamentary Board Chairman and Paswan's son Chirag, in a letter to Modi, said the Prime Minister should personally intervene on the issue of UPSC's Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) so that no injustice is done to the students of Hindi and regional languages.

"If we see the successful candidates of UPSC since 2011, we will find that the number of those from urban areas is rising while the number of candidates from rural areas is on the wane," Chirag said.

"Among a large section of students, the CSAT system is being seen as discriminatory and an injustice. Students also complain that translation of question papers into Indian languages was also very substandard, due to which they encounter problem in understanding and answering the questions.

"Hence there is a need to understand the feelings of the students and take their agitation sincerely. If the CSAT is an obstruction, it should be removed," he said in the letter.

Paswan said that the UPSC should encourage the students with regional language background to appear in Commission's examination.

"It is necessary as the diversity of India is represented in the UPSC examinations but the current entrance examination pattern obstructs it," he said in the letter according to a release by the Lok Janshakti Party, which is also an ally in the NDA government.

Government had yesterday said that it will not allow any injustice to students on the basis of language in UPSC examinations.

The assurance from Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh had come after members in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha expressed serious concern over the ongoing agitation of UPSC aspirants in protest against the new Civil Services examination pattern.

PTI