The government has approved modifications to the Civil Services Examination, 2013, notified on March 3 that led to a nationwide uproar.
According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions on Wednesday, a candidate can use any one regional language from the 8th Schedule of the Constitution or English as the medium of writing the examination. The conditionality that there should be a minimum of 25 candidates opting for a medium and the requirement that the language should have been the medium of examination at the graduation level have been dropped.
Further, a candidate will be allowed to take up literature as an optional subject (from 22 of the languages in the 8th Schedule and English) without the conditionality of his/her graduation in the literature of that language.
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Similarly, the English component (of 100 marks) from the Essay Paper has been dropped and two qualifying papers of 300 marks each in any Modern Indian Language (MIL) and in English have been restored. The Essay Paper will now be of 250 marks to be written in the language of candidate’s choice.
Papers I and II will be only of a qualifying nature — one in any MIL and another in English — of 300 marks each, while Paper III will be the compulsory Essay Paper, with no English Comprehension test, to be written in the medium of the candidate’s choice. This paper will carry 250 marks.
There will be four compulsory papers of General Studies of 250 marks each — Paper-IV (Indian Heritage & Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society), Paper-V (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations), Paper-VI (Technology, Economic Development, Bio Diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) and Paper-VII (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude).
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For Papers VIII and IX, candidates will have to take one optional subject with two papers of 250 marks each. The optional subject can be selected from a list of 25 core subjects and literature of 22 languages in the 8th Schedule and English.
The personality test/interview will carry 275 marks.