Aptitude Matters More Than Language To Qualify UPSC Exam

A country which is an abode of people from different religions and where language changed after crossing few miles and where almost two dozen of languages are recognised at the national level, the role of civil servants is very dynamic as well as diplomatic. A country stricken by poverty, inequality, regionalism, sectarian violence, communalism and large scale corruption desperately seeking well qualified and smart bureaucrats who may anticipate a problem and can act intelligently to deal a sensitive issue. These civil servants most of the time serve an state other than their native state where tactics and strategies play more dominant role which one acquires from sharp intellect, reasoning abilities and numerical skills. Only an active and smart person can manage a crisis with much ease than a guy who simply mugged-up facts and figures.

Though government assured that there would be "no discrimination based on language" as large crowds of civil service aspirants protested in Delhi against an aptitude test that they believe gives an unfair advantage to English-speaking students."We sympathise with the students, we are looking at their problem with all seriousness," Jitender Singh, Minister of State at the Prime Minister's Office. Thousand of civil service aspirants from the Hindi medium background want to scrap the preliminary aptitude test in the Civil Services examination as they feel the new pattern is not in favour of Hindi and regional language aspirants. The objective type test introduced in 2011 has also been challenged in the court.

The question arises, is the knowledge of social sciences and languages more relevant in settling the practical issues? or various bureaucratic positions demands executives with better aptitude and reasoning. The answer is obvious that only theoretical and factual knowledge doesn't help much in taking bold decisions in case of emergencies. Attributes like good aptitude, managerial skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills and decision making abilities are some of the pre-requisites of a good civil servant. Hence, UPSC should continue to focus on aptitude test to produce quality bureaucrats.