Informal Exchanges In CPP On Language

NEW DELHI, DEC. 18. Informal exchanges have been going on in the Congress Parliamentary Party on the evolution of a formula for recruitment to Central Services which will satisfy the non-Hindi speaking States.

Under the official resolution passed by the Lok Sabha on Saturday, entrants to Central Services are required to possess compulsory knowledge of either Hindi or English at the stage of recruitment. In the opinion of members from non-Hindi speaking States, candidates from these areas would be at a disadvantage since they would no be as proficient in English as students from Hindi-speaking States in Hindi. They point out that in most of these States regional languages have become media of instruction.

Several MPs from Hindi speaking States said that they fully appreciated the fear of candidates from non-Hindi speaking states in this regard and would like these to be removed. The suggestion they put forward was that since the Government had already decided to introduce regional languages as media of examination for All-India Services by the Union Public Service Commission, there should be one compulsory paper in English for nonHindi speaking States and in Hindi for Hindi speaking States. While it would be mandatory for a candidate to pass in the compulsory paper, the marks he obtains should not be taken into account when result was drawn up. This would place the students from the two regions on an equal footing.