Never held written tests for in-house recruitment in regional languages: CRPF

Sources said there are no instructions to CRPF from the Ministry of Home Affairs yet after objections raised by all these leaders, and there is no plan at present to conduct the exams in other languages.

In a statement, the CRPF said it is conducting recruitment of CT/GD (Constable-Ground Duty) through Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and Constable (Tech and Tradesmen) through in-house recruitment. “The computer-based test is conducted for both posts in Hindi and English only. The CRPF had never conducted written examination for in-house recruitment in regional languages,” it stated.

According to CRPF, the advertisement for 9,212 posts of tech and tradesmen have been issued to conduct recruitment on a regular pattern, in which the Computer Based Test (CBT) is scheduled to be conducted in English and Hindi. The department had never faced any problem regarding participation of candidates due to language problems, it stated.

In earlier recruitment of CT/GD, the CRPF stated, “CBT was conducted in English and Hindi only and participation of candidates from Southern States like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh was found normal”.

“During the recruitment of CT/ GD 2018, 819 vacancies from Tamil Nadu; 3460 vacancies from Andhra Pradesh; 2,349 vacancies from Telangana and 1,586 vacancies from Karnataka were filled,” the CRPF stated. “Similarly, during the recruitment of CT/ GD Exam-2021, 816 vacancies from Tamil Nadu; 1,296 vacancies from Andhra Pradesh; 574 vacancies from Telangana and 719 vacancies from Karnataka were filled.”

Besides leaders from Tamil Nadu and Telangana, opposition parties in Karnataka also objected to the policy of only using the two languages for the nationwide test. Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately allow candidates the option of writing the recruitment exam in Kannada, Congress leader Siddaramaiah said that candidates who studied in Kannada medium are often “unable to clear the exams because of language barrier”, and called it “injustice towards our youth”.

JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy also decried the policy and said that the Centre has continued imposing Hindi, even after opposition by the southern states. “Exams should be held again for CRPF recruitment and candidates should be allowed to write in all languages including Kannada,” he had said.