UPSC to accept all answers for Essay Paper of the Civil Services Examination

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will accept different versions of answers to the Essay Paper of the Civil Service Exam, 2016, which was conducted on December 03.

The Essay Paper usually has two sections Section ‘A’ and ‘B’ each with 125 marks. Under section ‘A’ there was an Essay Question as “If development is not engendered, it is endangered, which carried 125 marks.

But, this year there was confusion among the candidates in the first question of the Essay Paper due to the framing of the proposition in English and Hindi.

In Hindi, the Essay Question version read as “”Stri-purush kay samaan sarokaroko shamil kiye bina vikas sankatgrast hain” in English which should have been “Devoid of gender inclusiveness, development is endangered” instead the question asked in the UPSC 2016 Mains Essay Paper read “If development is not engendered, it is endangered.

So, aspirants who wrote the Essay Paper in English did not interpret “engendered” as related to gender equality.

Previously, many candidates wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi and members of the commission and also the Speaker of Puducherry Legislative Assembly V Vaithilingam wrote to the commission for a “compassionate evaluation” on the same. 

The Speaker also added that as a huge number of candidates come from different background and languages and in such a case if evaluation is not done judiciously then it would be gross injustices to those candidates who are completely depend on such a question that carries high score.

The UPSC will consider this fault in Civil Services 2016 Exam Essay Paper and during evaluation will accept different versions of answers to the Essay Paper of the Civil Services Examination, 2016.

The Civil Services Main Examination was held from December 3^rd till 9^th and the first day of the exam saw the Essay Paper.

Every year, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the civil services examination (CSE) which is held in three stages i.e, prelims, main and personality test to recruit candidates for various civil services post in the country.