Translation row: UPSC puts up reference details online

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has put details of the methodology used in translation of questions from English to Hindi language on its website to help the candidates of various competitive examinations conducted by it.

The details include glossary of words used in Hindi and in other languages in subjects like geography, administration, history, business and communication, among others, which are asked in the examination.

UPSC, which conducts the civil services examination to select IAS, IPS and IFS officers, among others, uses terminologies or translation of words from Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT).

The move comes following a recommendation of a three- member committee that went into issues relating to Hindi translation in various examinations conducted by UPSC, official sources said.

Some students had complained of anomalies in Hindi translation in questions asked in this year's civil services preliminary examination. After that, UPSC constituted the committee to look into the matter.

A link to CSTT's website--www.cstt.nic.in-- has been put up on the UPSC portal to help the aspirants.

CSTT is mandated to evolve and define scientific and technical terms in Hindi and all Indian languages and publish glossaries, definitional dictionaries and encyclopaedia.
It also ensures that the terms evolved by it and their definitions reach the students, teachers, scholars, scientists and officers.

The committee, under the chairmanship of Prof Purushottam Agrawal, former member of UPSC, recently submitted its report to the Commission, the sources said said.

The committee 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.

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 translation of questions asked in bilingual papers of civil services preliminary examination.

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 UPSC.

As many as 4,51,602 candidates took this year's civil services preliminary examination alone, 1.27 lakh more than last year's test.