Fault in CS main exam? UPSC to consider it during evaluation

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will consider as valid various interpretations used by candidates in answering a question asked in civil services main examination during the evaluation, the government said on Thursday.

Several representations from candidates of civil services (main) examination, 2016 were received in the UPSC pointing out that the Hindi translation of the essay topic “If development is not engendered, it is endangered” was different from the English version leading to confusion amongst the candidates.

“The representationists have been intimated by the Commission that the question papers are prepared and evaluated by the experts.

“The Commission has further informed that it has noted there could be different interpretations of the term ‘engendered’ and the different acceptable interpretations would be considered valid during the evaluation of the essay paper to protect candidates’ interest,” Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The civil services exam is conducted annually by the UPSC in three stages—preliminary, main and interview—to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) among others.