Hundreds of civil services aspirants took out a march from Mukherjee Nagar to Rajghat on Tuesday demanding compensatory attempts in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) preliminary examination.

“There were major changes in examination of UPSC from 2011 till 2015.  Before 2011 when the new syllabus was introduced, Hindi medium selection as above 35 per cent and after introduction of Common Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), it goes to below 10 per cent. In 2018 only 2.16 per cent Hindi medium aspirants were selected,” said Pratap Chand, a student preparing for UPSC examination.  

“In CSAT exam the marks for English comprehension was removed suddenly three years after its introduction when we started adopting the pattern and kept on studying accordingly. What is ridiculous that applicants were informed about the changes on the examination day? A year later, during prelims examination, students were directed not to attempt question related to English Comprehension as marks would not be awarded for the same,” said Chand.

 “There should be at least two compensatory attempts for the UPSC aspirants who appeared between 2012-15. In 1979 and 1991 Union Government has given attempt to students when syllabus was changed,” said Nidhi Tiwari, a student in protest. 

“We also demand that prelims examination answer key should be released within 2-3 weeks of examinations, like other state Public Service Commissions are doing. ‘Mains’ answer sheet should be shown under Right to Information act. Interview should be based on Nigavekar Committee recommendations. In future for any kind of changes, the same should be informed three years prior, so that aspirants may get prepared,” said Amit Khandelwal.