Cong slams govt over UPSC exam row

Congress today rejected the government's response on the UPSC examination row as an "eyewash" and asked it to come up with a "consensus solution" by holding consultations with all stakeholders.

Ridiculing the decisions 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, party spokesperson Randip Surjewala questioned the relevance of the English exam if its marks were not to be included and whether giving one more chance will solve the problem.

Surjewala also asked whether taking a decision just twenty days before the preliminary examination will give students from rural background enough time to prepare.

"Government needs to come out with a consensus solution by talking to UPSC, students, their parents in which the both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and DoPT minister Jitendra Singh failed," the Congress spokesperson said posing questions before the government.

The party's student wing National Students Union of India (NSUI) also rejected the government's decision.

"The decision is nothing more than an eyewash to the millions of students who have been relentlessly protesting against the CSAT," NSUI spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey said.

"Government doesn't talk about the translation part which was a major demand of protesters. CSAT issue was not just about English vs Hindi, it was also about Humanities vs Science students. That issue remains unaddressed. Humanities students will be continued to be discriminated," NSUI said in a press release.

It also alleged that students who have studied regional languages are going to be on the receiving end and are going to be treated as second class citizens.

"Why did government wait for two months to reach this decision which is not even satisfactory to anyone? This shows the policy paralysis and lack of vision of this government.

The statement said that NSUI  will continue its protest in support of the students and will launch a nationwide movement to mobilise support.

Reacting to a newspaper report that nearly 100 students had to swim across a river everyday to attend a school in Gujarat, Congress attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his development model of Gujarat, when he was Chief Minister there.

"Hundreds of boys and girls swim across river Hiran to attend to their school in Utavadi village. Villagers had appealed to both Modi, who was the Gujarat Chief Minister in past and the state's first woman CM Anandiben Patel.

"We want to draw the attention of the state government so that its solution could be found," Surjewala told reporters at the AICC briefing.

He also referred to figures from the 2011 census and said that while on one hand, 70.3 per cent women of Gujarat have no direct or indirect employment on, the Gujarat government is observing women empowerment fortnight on the other hand.