CSAT row: Centre says english marks not to be added in merit, aspirants still unhappy

The Union government’s decision of excluding English language skills marks in Civil Services exams has not gone down very well with the aspirants in Uttar Pradesh. They said they want the controversial Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) to be scrapped completely or translation simplified failing which the protests would continue.

“Government decision is an eye-wash. We want the CSAT to be scrapped completely. We will continue to protest until that happens. Temporary arrangements won’t do,” said Priyanka, an Allahabad based aspirant.

The students also want the government to completely specify as to which section of the paper has been done away with.

“There has to be clarity over the contentious issue. There are around 30 questions carrying 90 marks in the 200 mark paper which have been translated from English. The translation is very poor. It seems like they have put the questions in Google and translated it to be printed on papers. We want complete solutions, not misleading announcements,” Ashish Mishra another student who was not part of the protest but for it.

"This is no response. It does not address the basic demands," said another aspirant Vijay kumar

The Centre announced that English marks in CSAT-II will not be included for gradation or merit and 2011 candidates may get a second chance to appear for the test next year. The students have been demanding that the pattern of CSAT be changed to give level-playing field to those coming from rural areas. There are two compulsory papers of 200 marks each in the preliminary examination. These papers are also known as CSAT-I and CSAT-II.

The CSAT-II paper carries questions on comprehension, inter-personal skills including communication skills, logical reasoning and analytical ability, decision-making and problem-solving, general mental ability, basic numeracy, and English language comprehension skills.

Some students have however welcomed the government move saying it is what it could do at the moment. “I think government cannot do more than this at this point in time. They could have done more though,” said Tripti, another aspirant from UP.

Several students' organizations continued to demonstrate, in protest against the CSAT in Allahabad.