Agencies
NEW DELHI, July 25: Replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of agitation by aspirants of UPSC Civil Services Exam today, Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, MoS in Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Space & Atomic Energy, reiterated that Government will in no case allow injustice to any section of students on account of language based bias and informed the House that the three Member Committee constituted to furnish report on this issue has been told in writing to furnish the report positively within one week so that the Government can decide further course of action.
The discussion on the issue came up in Rajya Sabha this morning when members disrupted the House and insisted on suspending the routine business to discuss the subject.
Responding to the Members' concern over the UPSC issuing Admit cards of Civil Services Exam yesterday which instigated anger of agitating students, Dr Jitendra Singh clarified that there is no co-relation between the issuing of admit cards by UPSC and the Government approach on the issue, and therefore he requested the Chairman and the Hon'ble Members to try to convince the student aspirants that the issuing of admit cards by UPSC will in no way influence the decision to be taken by the Government on the issue. The UPSC, as an independent body, follows a definite calendar as a part of which advertisement and the admit cards of this examination are issued, but whenever a decision is taken by the Government, the further course of action will happen accordingly, he added.
Narrating the chronology of events, Dr Jitendra Singh told the House, amid commotion from opposition benches, that the controversial question in preliminary IAS exam paper was introduced way back in 2010-11 but the then Government maintained convenient silent on the issue and acted only when there was a public interest litigation filed in 2012 under the name Deena Nath Batra and others Vs Union of India before the Delhi High Court. Only after that, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out, the then Government constituted a Committee on 12th March, 2014 initially for one month and later just before quitting the Government, the UPA regime gave the Committee an extension with a motive to pass on the buck to the present Government. However, soon after taking over the Government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the present regime took cognizance of the issue and started proceeding seriously but at the same time the opposition parties also made an issue out of it even though they had been silent till one month ago.
Through the Chairman, Dr Jitendra Singh requested the Hon'ble Members of all the political parties to help in convincing the students that the Government is seized of the matter with all the sensitivity, sympathy and seriousness at its command and therefore these youngsters need not subject themselves to in any unwarranted physical or mental agony.
Senior leaders like Sharad Yadav (JD U), Ms Kanimozi (DMK), Raja (CPI), Naresh Agarwal (Samajwadi Party), M.S. Gill (Cong) and Jesudas Saleem spoke from the opposition side while Mukhtar Naqvi and Piyush Goel, among others, spoke from the treasury benches. |
