In a big disappointment to pro-Kannada activists, the competitive exam conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) recruitment agency has yet again not offered the option of writing the exam in Kannada.
The IBPS has issued a notification, announcing the next common recruitment exam for selection for probationary officer/management trainee posts. However, the notification has fixed only English and Hindi as medium of exam.
The demand for making Kannada medium available has gained prominence in recent months, with many pointing out that the exam needs to be held in all official languages as per the Constitution.
The tentative list of candidates qualifying in the preliminary exam will be out soon. The final exam is set to be held on November 28, following which candidates who make the cut will be selected by the participating banks through interview in January. However, qualified candidates who hoped to crack the exam in Kannada have been disappointed.
Last year, after protests by language rights organisations, the government had conducted the exam for rural banks in 13 languages. In the days that followed, the organisations had stressed the need to conduct exam for other banks in regional languages, a demand that was echoed by MPs during the Parliament session.
"Those who know Hindi will ace through the exam, while well-qualified candidates suffer because they can't write the exam in regional language," Arun Javagal of Banavasi Balaga said.
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