August 6, 2014
Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien speaks on UPSC issue | Transcript
Sir, before the starting of the Question Hour, hon. Chairman has said that he would permit us to raise the issue of UPSC. He said one minute would be given to each party.
Yes, Sir. We are taking our seats.
Sir, this is not the time to play political blame games. We heard what the Congress speaker said and we also heard what the BJP speaker was saying. Please let us try to depoliticize this very serious issue of young children. I want to make just in two minutes three or four quick points. Number one, there has been a knee-jerk reaction from the Government. We understand the pain of young people who are protesting. But in their hurry, they have come up with a knee-jerk reaction which has compounded the problem.
There are four parts to this, Sir. Let me deal with the second part. When you qualify for the finals, you are allowed to take your papers in the languages of the Eighth Schedule. Let us be practical. You cannot get this done by the 24th. Let us be practical and let us not play politics. This needs to be done in the long-term. The students of regional languages have to be given an opportunity to write those preliminary papers in the regional languages. In CSAT, again, please let us not jump to some conclusions; there needs to be more dialogue. Some people say CSAT is very, very good and some people say CSAT is very, very bad. There needs to be a discussion. We cannot solve this in six days. Now, the Government shot its mouth off, added fuel to the fire and now trying to look for a solution. The third point relates to the interview. That is the third part. Then, there is a fourth part where the students qualify for the IAS or other services; after 18 months, there too, English should be included in the spoken language.
Please for God’s sake, will no one ever make a demand to drop the 300 marks English paper from the Mains? No one is making that demand. So, please don’t pretend that we are making it a fight between English and Hindi. This is all we have to say, Sir. The Government is to give us a clear, reliable and a genuine assurance that they will start a serious dialogue, not do politics and this will come up in the Winter Session of Parliament.
