UPSC Aspirants Seek Removal Of CSAT, Lower Passing Criteria, Extra Attempt For Covid Batch; Know Demands – News18

Ever since the declaration of the UPSC CSAT 2023 results, some students are having grievances from the Commission. These students have also petitioned in the court. However, now the the group of UPSC aspirants in a press conference has shared all their demands. They seek to raise their concerns towards alleged unfair treatment faced by aspirants from Hindi and vernacular language backgrounds, the need to revise the qualifying criteria for the UPSC-CSE CSAT 2023 examination, and the removal of the CSAT paper. The student body also highlighted the importance of a compensatory attempt for aspirants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for an expert committee to evaluate the GS Paper UPSC aspirants, who have been subjected to unfair treatment in the 2023 Civil Service Examination (CSE) preliminary examination.

The press conference was attended by several key individuals, including Sidhartha Mishra, the lead petitioner, Ayushi, Hanumant Lal Patel, Umesh Singh, and lawyers Saket Jain and Umesh Singh. The grieved aspirants demands that their issues be addressed by the central government within a period of 14 days. These students urges the government to lower the qualifying criteria from 33% to 23%, similar to the reduction made in the UPSC-CDS examination of 2019. Alternatively, they propose the exclusion of the 25 out-of-syllabus questions from the evaluation, similar to the actions taken by UPSC in 2020 and 2021. Lastly, they request a re-conduction of the preliminary examination to rectify the exclusion of deserving candidates.

The group has also filed a case at the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) against the preliminary examination conducted on May 28, 2023. Although the court declined to put a stay on the prelims result. The next hearing at CAT is scheduled for July 13, 2023. Further, the group of UPSC aspirants ask removal of CSAT from UPSC-CSE Preliminary Examination. The group claims that the CSAT paper favors candidates with strong mathematical and technical backgrounds, particularly those from IIT and CAT, while eliminating Hindi and vernacular language students. The student body emphasizes that merit at the preliminary stage should be determined by GS Paper 1, not CSAT. In the press conference, the students also alleged that this demand aligns with the UPSC-Vision document of 2019.

Following the passage of previous demands, protesting UPSC aspirants asks for compensatory attempt due to COVID-19 for all candidates eligible for UPSC-CSE in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. The student also cited that there demand is recommended by the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law, and Justice and allegedly supported by more than 100 Members of Parliament from various political parties.

At the conference held in the Press Club Of India, the aspirants raise concerns about the objectivity and specificity of 47 questions out of 100 in GS Paper 1. They argued that these questions lacked clarity, making it difficult to assess whether candidates correctly identified the statements. They call for the constitution of an expert committee, including student representation, to evaluate the rapid change in the exam pattern of UPSC-CSE 2023. Moreover they asked the Commission to change the calculation of a candidate’s age from August 1 to January 1 of the year of application.