IPS lobby not happy with UPSC

Beginning 2012, the UPSC will hold a “limited competitive’’ examination annually for young officers belonging to Central paramilitary and state police forces exclusively into the IPS. The move to allow young officers of the armed forces to get into the IPS under the proposed scheme, however, has been turned down by the ministry of defense.

This newspaper had first reported that the proposed examination would be open to assistant commandants with at least five years experience in the five major Central police and paramilitary organisations — CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF and deputy superintendents of police in the states who have not crossed 35 years of age. There would be further relaxation of norms for the reserved category.

The IPS lobby wasn’t happy with the proposal fearing a dilution of the “elite’’ force. The UPSC too feared a “parallel’’ induction may adversely affect the existing structure. However, determined in its task to plug the gap in the backdrop of mounting internal security challenges — terrorism, Left wing extremism and a rising crime graph — the home ministry had approached the PMO to set aside the UPSC’s decision early this year.

Delhi HC stays CIC order to UPSC on info on marksheet

The Delhi High court yesterday stayed the CIC order directing the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to reveal information about marksheets and the recommendations of the Personality Test (PT) Board of the qualified candidates in the civil service examination in 2009.

Issuing a notice to Kumar Sauvir, whose plea was accepted by CIC for supply of the information, Justice Rajiv Sahai

Endlaw sought his reply by August 24 while granting the stay order on the Central Information Commission's (CIC) order.

Filing a petition challenging the CIC's order, the UPSC said disclosure of the marksheets, recommendations of the (PT) board over the successful candidates would not only endanger the process of secrecy but also damage the confidentiality of the civil service examination.

The UPSC also expressed its apprehension that the interested persons would manipulate or misuse the information supplied by the Commission.

In January this year, the CIC had allowed Sauvir's application in which he had stated that he appeared for civil service examination in 2009 but could not get through.

Aggrieved by the result announced by the UPSC, Sauvir had sought the information from UPSC in May 2009 but the Commission had refused to supply the information to him.

Red Cross - Think before you use that symbol

The emblem of the International Red Cross is “The Red Cross on White Background.” This originated in the 1864 Geneva Convention. It is also known as the Geneva Cross. This is inscribed on humanitarian and medical vehicles and buildings to protect them from military attack on the battlefield.

Unfortunately, we are using the Red Cross emblem wherever we like. Our paramedical personnel and even chemists use it. It is a gross violation and punishable as per the existing laws of the nation. Most of us are not even aware of this.

The common symbol to denote medical services is the caduceus, a figure that comprises a short staff rod with two serpents curled around it, sometimes surmounted by wings. It is the staff of Aesculapius, the ancient mythological god of medicine. Let us use this symbol and stop using the Red Cross symbol.

R. Anandakumar, the Collector of Erode, who put his child in a government school

This month when schools across Tamil Nadu reopened after summer vacation, a school in Erode created a bit of stir. Enrolled in the school, it turned out, was a six-year-old girl called Gopika, whose father happens to be the district collector, R. Anandakumar. The Tamil-medium Panchayat Union primary school has no other child of a government official and, reportedly, even teachers prefer to send their children elsewhere — as it is their legitimate right to do, to enrol their children where they think their life chances are better served. Anandakumar’s decision to send his daughter to the panchayat school is, instead, a reminder of the need for the privileged and well-connected to be invested in state schools and to narrow the gap, both perceived and very real, with private schools.

A seemingly stray development after Gopika’s enrolment is revealing. When news spread that the collector’s child was a student there, officials of the panchayat visited the school to recce the facilities. Education is central to the promise of equality of opportunity, a crucial part of the essential contract of our Constitution. This contract has been dishonoured in many ways. In ways that curriculums have been framed, for instance, so that state schools have been denied a beneficially multilingual mix, in the name of protecting local languages. Yet when in such a policy framework when children of those who make and implement the policy are sent to private schools, mostly English-medium, it raises questions about sensitivity to aspirations. And as the Erode case shows, how facilities are checked when a child of a somebody enlists in state-run schools, the message is also reinforced that when the elites opt out of common schools, the responsibility to maintain them too is often abdicated.

UPSC to divulge Civil Services selection under RTI

The Supreme Court has asked the UPSC to reveal details of civil services selection process for those who seek it under the Right to Information.

UPSC had been resisting demands for divulging the selection process, including scaling system and cut-off marks, despite orders by the Central Information Commission and Delhi high court. The legal battle between UPSC and civil services aspirants finally came to an end in November 2010 when a bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha asked UPSC to withdraw its petition and provide information to students.

Students have been fighting for transparency in civil services examination since 2006, when results for UPSC preliminary examinations were declared. Several students, who had not qualified, filed RTI applications with UPSC seeking information on raw marks and cut-off marks in subjects, the scaling procedure and model answers for different questions in subjects.

The main contention of the students was that the level of difficulty of papers in 23 optional subjects did not match. The students also felt that UPSC did not have a fair scaling procedure to match the performance of examinees who had opted for different subjects.

However, UPSC argued that revealing model answers or cut-off marks would benefit private coaching institutes, which would field dummy candidates and crack the system. When aspirants approached CIC, the commission directed UPSC on November 13, 2006, to divulge all information. But UPSC challenged this order in the Delhi high court.

Later it moved the Supreme Court through a special leave petition. The matter came up for final judgment on November 18, 2010. The bench observed that UPSC examination system would change from 2011 and it should not have any reservations about divulging its old selection process. UPSC would now have to divulge details to the students in a month.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan said: "The Supreme Court observed that a new examination system would be in place in 2011 so UPSC's plea that its system would be compromised does not stand. UPSC was asked to withdraw the petition. Now it would have to divulge details to the civil services aspirants."

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Previous Year's Question Paper - Civil Services (Main) Exam, 2010

Civil Services (Main) Exam, 2010
Essay
General Studies	Paper I
	Paper II
English Language (Compulsory)
Indian Languages (Compulsory)
Assamese	Bengali
Bodo	Dogri
Gujarati	Hindi
Kannada	Kashmiri
Konkani	Maithili
Malayalam	Manipuri
Marathi	Nepali
Oriya	Punjabi
Sanskrit	Santali
Sindhi (Arabic)	Sindhi (Devnagiri)
Tamil	Telugu
Urdu
Optional Subjects for Main Examination
Agriculture Paper I	Agriculture Paper II
Animal Husbandary & Veterinary Science Paper I	Animal Husbandary & Veterinary Science Paper II
Anthropology Paper I	Anthropology Paper II
Botony Paper I	Botony Paper II
Chemistry Paper I	Chemistry Paper II
Civil Engineering Paper I	Civil Engineering Paper II
Commerce & Accountancy Paper I	Commerce & Accountancy Paper II
Economics Paper I	Economics Paper II
Electrical Engineering Paper I	Electrical Engineering Paper II
Geography Paper I	Geography Paper II
Geology Paper I	Geology Paper II
History Paper I	History Paper II
Law Paper I	Law Paper II
Management Paper I	Management Paper II
Mathematics Paper I	Mathematics Paper II
Mechanical Engineering Paper I	Mechanical Engineering Paper II
Medical Science Paper I	Medical Science Paper II
Philosphy Paper I	Philosphy Paper II
Physics Paper I	Physics Paper II
Political Science & Internation Relations Paper I	Political Science & Internation Relations Paper II
Psychology Paper I	Psychology Paper II
Public Administration Paper I	Public Administration Paper II
Sociology Paper I	Sociology Paper II
Statistics Paper I	Statistics Paper II
Zoology Paper I	Zoology Paper II
Literature Subjects for Main Examination
Arabic Paper I	Arabic Paper II
Assamese Paper I	Assamese Paper II
Bengali Paper I	Bengali Paper II
Bodo Paper I	Bodo Paper II
Dogri Paper I	Dogri Paper II
English Paper I	English Paper II
French Paper I	French Paper II
German Paper I	German Paper II
Gujarati Paper I	Gujarati Paper II
Hindi Paper I	Hindi Paper II
Kannada Paper I	Kannada Paper II
Manipuri Paper I	Manipuri Paper II
Maithili Paper I	Maithili Paper II
Malayalam Paper I	Malayalam Paper II
Marathi Paper I	Marathi Paper II
Oriya Paper I	Oriya Paper II
Pali Paper I	Pali Paper II
Persian Paper I	Persian Paper II
Punjabi Paper I	Punjabi Paper II
Sanskrit Paper I	Sanskrit Paper II
Santali Paper I	Santali Paper II
Sindhi (Arabic) Paper I	Sindhi (Arabic) Paper II
Sindhi (Devanagiri) Paper I	Sindhi (Devanagiri) Paper II
Tamil Paper I	Tamil Paper II
Telugu Paper I	Telugu Paper II
Urdu Paper I	Urdu Paper II