Aspirants to continue stir till CSAT scrapped

Agitating Civil Services aspirants said on Monday night that they would continue protests as the government had only addressed a “miniscule issue” by doing away with the English component of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). They want the entire paper scrapped.

Lalit Kumar, an aspirant, said CSAT discriminated against Humanities students. Another candidate said: “The government seems to have taken the decision in a hurry to defuse the current crisis. However, it does not resolve the issue as CSAT is based entirely on the pattern followed by top management schools.”

Also, there is no clarity on how the recommendation will be implemented, said C.L. Educate director R. Shiva Kumar.

“Though the government said marks for English comprehension skills should not be included for gradation or merit, it remains to be seen if the UPSC uses the scores as qualifiers.A statement from the UPSC would clear the air.”