State Congress general secretary Anand Singh Rawat said on Tuesday that the State Government should change the current syllabus of provincial civil services (PCS) initiated by Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) to ensure that the youths of the State get the major chunk of the prestigious jobs.
“The second paper of the preliminary test of PCS- General Aptitude Test- which is popularly known as Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) paper was framed almost on the UPSC pattern. This must change in the interest of the State youth. We have served, a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister on the matter. Now, its step is awaited,” the State Congress leader who is also the Chief Minister’s son said while interacting with the media persons in a hotel in Dehradun.
Rawat said that UKPSC examination results reveal that very few youths from the State clear UKPSC. “This is mainly due to their failure to successfully negotiate the CSAT paper. Questions are asked in English-a subject in which the youths, particularly the girls, from the rural and mountainous areas of the state are weak. They subsequently fail to qualify for the main examination,” he said, adding that Uttarakhand’s youths should not be placed at such a disadvantage, given the fact that the state came into being by way of sacrifice of countless people.
“I delved into the matter of the State’s youths failing to qualify for the exam and came to the conclusion that UKPSC syllabus is the principal stumbling block. I also talked to some examinees who had earlier appeared in the examination and they confirmed that I am right,” he said.
“Uttarakhand would not be the first State if it changes the syllabus. Several States, including Jharkhand, have removed CSAT from the examination to ensure that the youths of such States secure the maximum number of berths in this examination,” Rawat said.
He further said that 40 per cent of the questions to be asked for the GS paper should be related to history, geography, culture and tradition of the state while the present figure stands at 12 per cent. In states like Himachal Pradesh, the figure is 40 per cent and Uttarakhand should follow it, he stressed.
Furthermore, the importance of Mathematics should be diluted in the seventh paper of the main examination -General Interest & Conduct Science, Rawat said presently around 60 questions relate to Mathematics. “This is proving another impediment to the youths of the state to come out successful of the examination. The Mathematics-related questions should be reduced to 40 per cent,” Rawat said.
