UPSC aspirants continue protest, RJD MP extends support

Several civil service aspirants today continued their protest demanding scrapping of Civil Services Aptitude Test, with RJD MP Pappu Yadav and his supporters joining the agitation. The protesters, led by Yadav, gathered outside BJP headquarter on Ashoka Road around 1.30 PM and raised slogans against BJP and CSAT exam. Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Rajesh Ranjan, also known as Pappu Yadav, told reporters, "It is not a question of English or Hindi. It is a question of the rights of youths who belong to poor and lower middle-class families and come from villages, those who have studied in Indian languages and on this issue we will not compromise".

Some members of Delhi-based Akhil Bhartiya Mithila Sangh also participated in the protest. The civil services preliminary examination will be held on August 24 with some changes announced by government including that English marks in CSAT-II will not be included for gradation or merit in the preliminary examination.

There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the civil services preliminary examination. These papers are also known as CSAT I and CSAT II. The CSAT-II paper carries questions on comprehension, interpersonal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problem- solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy, and English language comprehension skills (of Class X level). The CSAT pattern was implemented from 2011. The civil services examination is conducted in three stages--preliminary, main and interview--to choose candidates for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.