Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal Raises Alarm Over CSAT in Civil Services Preliminary Examination
In a significant development in the Parliament on Thursday, Rajya Sabha MP Brij Lal from Lucknow voiced serious concerns regarding the structure of the Civil Services Preliminary Examination. He specifically targeted the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), urging the Government of India to reconsider or rationalize this component, which he asserted unfairly disadvantages candidates from humanities backgrounds.
Current Examination Structure Under Scrutiny
Addressing the Rajya Sabha, MP Brij Lal detailed the current format of the preliminary examination, which consists of two papers: General Studies (GS) and CSAT. He explained that while the GS paper determines the merit of candidates, CSAT serves as a qualifying paper with a total of 200 marks. Candidates must secure a minimum of 33% (approximately 67 marks) in CSAT to have their GS paper evaluated at all.
MP Brij Lal emphasized that CSAT comprises 80 questions, each worth 2.5 marks, and includes negative marking for incorrect answers. He described the paper as highly technical in nature, which tends to favor candidates from engineering and science streams over those from humanities or arts backgrounds.
Impact on Humanities Candidates
"If a candidate fails to secure the minimum qualifying marks in CSAT, their general studies paper is not even evaluated, effectively eliminating them at the preliminary stage," noted MP Brij Lal. This mechanism, he argued, creates an uneven playing field, as humanities candidates often struggle with the technical aspects of CSAT, leading to their exclusion early in the selection process.
He further elaborated that this disadvantage could deter talented individuals from pursuing civil services, thereby impacting diversity and representation in the administration. The MP's call to action includes either removing CSAT from the preliminary stage entirely or rationalizing its content to ensure it does not disproportionately benefit any particular academic stream.
Call for Government Intervention
MP Brij Lal's appeal in Parliament highlights a growing debate over the fairness of competitive exams in India. By urging the government to review CSAT, he aims to foster a more inclusive examination system that evaluates candidates based on a broader set of skills and knowledge, rather than technical proficiency alone.
This discussion comes amid ongoing efforts to reform civil services recruitment to better reflect the diverse educational backgrounds of aspirants across the country.
