Not just in Hindi and English, the constable (general) examination for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) next year will also be conducted in 13 regional languages, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the move as a "parthbreaking decision which will give wings to the aspirations of our youth”. “This is a part of our various efforts to ensure language is not seen as a barrier in fulfilling one's dreams,” he tweeted. The MHA announcement comes days after political leaders in southern states, including poll-bound Karnataka, objected to only Hindi and English being the language options for the recruitment test. Last week, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had shot off a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah and said the exclusion of Tamil from the CAPF exam was “discriminatory” and “unilateral”. He had also sought a revised notification for the exam, with the state languages option included. According to an MHA statement, in addition to Hindi and English, the question paper for the CAPF exam will also be set in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, Manipuri and Konkani. Calling it “historic”, the MHA said the decision to hold the CAPF exam in regional languages will lead to an increase in the number of aspirants and also improve their selection prospects as they will be taking the test in their mother tongue. “The MHA and Staff Selection Commission would sign an addendum to the existing MoU to facilitate the conduct of the examination in multiple Indian languages,” the statement said. Stalin, who welcomed the MHA decision, called it a result of his letter to Shah. “I wholeheartedly welcome this decision and reiterate our demand to provide question papers in Tamil and other state languages in all Union government exams," he said. The CAPFs comprise the CRPF, the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the National Security Guard (NSG). The constable (general duty) examination will be held from January 1, 2024. The test, MHA added, is one of the flagship examinations conducted by the Staff Selection Commission and attracts lakhs of candidates from across the country. Of late, reigniting the debate over Hindi-imposition in Karnataka ahead of the May 10 polls, the Congress party had also been demanding the CAPF test be held in regional languages. Earlier this week, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said that in many cases though the candidates “who studied in Kannada medium are smart, they are unable to clear the exams because of the language barrier”. “This is injustice towards our youth,” he tweeted. JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy had also condemned the earlier policy to use only Hindi and English in the CAPF tests. “Exams should be held again for CRPF recruitment and candidates should be allowed to write in all languages including Kannada,” he had said.
