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UPSC exams: Committee led by Purushottam Agrawal submits report on translation errors

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A three-member committee has submitted its report on issues relating to Hindi translation in various examinations conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The committee under the chairmanship of Prof Purushottam Agrawal, former member of the UPSC, was formed following complaints of alleged errors in Hindi translation of questions asked in different examinations, including the prestigious civil services examination to select IAS, IPS and IFS among others, conducted by the Commission, official sources said.

The details of the committee report was not immediately known. The committee was mandated to look into various issues relating to the Hindi translation in the bilingual question papers of various examinations conducted by the Commission and to develop an appropriate system, the sources said. The report of the committee has been submitted and is under examination of the Commission, they said.

When contacted by PTI, Prof Agrawal said the committee has completed its task and the report has been submitted to the UPSC. "We have submitted the report to the Commission last month," he said, without divulging any details. The committee led by Agrawal had Prof S K Sopory, Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Prof A K Singh of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) as members.

The committee is understood to have given in detail the methodology to do away with the possibilities of errors in Hindi translation, the sources said.

In this year's civil services preliminary examination conducted on August 24, students complained of alleged errors in Hindi translations of some of the questions. A controversy had erupted in July over the pattern of civil services examination as students demanding change in Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) or Paper II, had taken to the streets in a violent agitation, claiming it put aspirants from rural areas or Hindi background at a disadvantage.

The students had then demanded error-free Hindi translations of questions asked in bilingual papers of civil services preliminary examination. In the wake of such protests, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh had on August 4 said in Parliament that marks of the English section questions, asked in Paper II, will not be included for gradation or merit in civil services exam. However, there were no official statements made either by the government or Commission on the matter of erroneous Hindi translations.

Lakhs of students from across the country appear in various examinations, including Civil Services Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Combined Medical Services Examination, Indian Forest Service Examination, National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination, among others, conducted by the UPSC. As many as 4,51,602 candidates took this year's civil services preliminary examination alone, about 1.27 lakh more than the last year test.

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