While official state-wise data on the number of civil service aspirants clearing the entrance examination is not available, data compiled by the state government, former IAS officers and private IAS coaching centres shows a steady decline over the years.
In 2014, of the 1,126 people who cleared the UPSC, only 119, or 11 percent, were from Tamil Nadu. By 2017, that number had dropped to 69 out of 990 people, or just 7 percent. The decline continued in 2019, 2020 and 2021, when only 60, 45 and 27 candidates cleared the UPSC exams from Tamil Nadu.
The latest figures from 2024 show that only 45, or 4.4 percent of the total 1,016 successful candidates were from Tamil Nadu.
Some former civil servants say the introduction of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) as a qualifying paper, rather than a merit-based one, has proven to be a hurdle for non-Hindi-speaking candidates because the questions are only set in English and Hindi.
“There is no question about the quality of the education because students were performing well before 2014. It is only in the last 10 years that the numbers have dwindled and the change in the pattern by making the CSAT a qualifying paper is the reason for it,” G. Balachandran, former additional chief secretary, West Bengal, told ThePrint.
Experts said this isn’t the only reason. Independent policy researcher and UPSC trainer Nelson Xavier, who has appeared for the UPSC mains exam thrice, said late preparation, lack of awareness about the exam and the availability of enormous employment opportunities are among the multiple reasons for the decline.
“For a state that has a gross enrollment ratio (GER) over 50 percent, even 11 percent of them cracking the exams around 10 years ago was low when compared to the GER of the other states. There are two reasons: one is lack of awareness about the government exams and two, enormous opportunity students get in the state after completing their college education,” he told ThePrint.
But the main reason is that candidates from non-Hindi speaking states didn’t have a level playing field since the question paper is in English and Hindi, making it difficult for non-Hindi speakers.
“Although answers can be written in any of the 22 official languages, questions will be in only two languages, putting the non-Hindi speaking people at a disadvantage,” he said.
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BJP denies language bias
The BJP maintained that its concerns were focused solely on the quality of the education system, not the language issue. BJP state vice-president Narayanan Thirupathy told ThePrint that the Union government has been conducting all central examinations in Tamil, including the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) examination.
“As far as UPSC is concerned, it is an exam conducted to select officers to be put in place in different states. Hence, it is conducted in Hindi and English. There is no bias over any language and we strictly don’t impose any language,” he said.
Nevertheless, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) accused the BJP of systematically working to reduce the number of civil servants qualifying from Tamil Nadu. DMK spokesperson T.K.S. Elangovan said Tamil Nadu used to produce more the IAS (Indian Administrative Service), IPS (Indian Police Service), and IFS (Indian Forest Service) until the BJP came to power at the Centre (in 2014).
“If the numbers are declining after the BJP came to power, one could easily understand what is happening there. UPSC is under the control of the Union government and day by day, they are making it difficult for non-Hindi speaking rural people to crack the exam,” he told ThePrint.
In response to the declining numbers, the Tamil Nadu government launched the Naan Mudhalvan scheme in 2023, providing a monthly stipend of Rs 7,500 to 1,000 shortlisted aspirants and an additional Rs 25,000 upon clearing the preliminaries.
“The state has taken a serious note of it, and we are already working with the aspirants. Soon, the numbers will slowly increase and will regain the lost legacy of sending more civil servants from Tamil Nadu,” a senior IAS officer told ThePrint.
Did language create a barrier in clearing UPSC exams?
According to experts, one of the two general studies papers in the UPSC preliminary examination, the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), consisting of logical reasoning, aptitude questions and English comprehension for about 80 marks, was introduced in 2011 by the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance government.
With CSAT’s introduction, English comprehension became mandatory, sparking protests from Hindi-medium and regional-language aspirants, who argued it favoured English-educated urban candidates.
Following the backlash, UPSC tweaked the CSAT in 2015, making it a qualifying paper rather than a merit-based one. This means the marks wouldn’t be counted for ranking, but candidates had to score a minimum of 33 percent.
As the Hindi-speaking people felt English comprehension and aptitude were difficult, English comprehension questions were not asked in the prelims after 2015.
Nelson argued that the change in format gave an unfair advantage to the people from Hindi-speaking states as the questions were only in English and Hindi.
The CSAT paper, which includes logical reasoning and aptitude questions, requires critical thinking and it takes more time for non-Hindi speakers to comprehend in English while it’s easier for Hindi speaking people as they get to read the question paper in Hindi.
When CSAT was not a qualifying paper, people from non-Hindi speaking states, especially Tamil Nadu, were performing well in the overall ranking.
“Since there was a huge protest against the English comprehension questions, the Centre tweaked the CSAT paper as a qualifying paper. But for logical reasoning, aptitude and other questions, they still get to read the question in their own mother tongue, which people appearing from non-Hindi states are denied,” he explained.
ThePrint went to the previous years’ question papers to check the number of English comprehension questions asked in the UPSC prelims. It was found that out of 80 questions in the General Studies II paper in the prelims, nine were asked in 2011, six in 2012, eight in 2013, six in 2014. Since 2015, no English comprehension questions have been asked in the UPSC prelims.
“English comprehension passages were included in the syllabus to assess candidates’ reading and analytical skills in English. Those passages will be presented in English and candidates are expected to answer questions in English. Now, just because a section of them protested against it, those questions were never asked in prelims since 2015,” Nelson said.
Former IAS officers thought the CSAT was a barrier for candidates from rural backgrounds.
Senthil argued that the CSAT was unnecessary for an UPSC aspirant since people from all educational backgrounds wrote the exam, while it only favoured people from technical backgrounds.
“If you look at the data, of the total students clearing the exam, about 60 percent of them are from engineering and technical backgrounds. A civil servant should be aware of his society, should be empathetic to people and should have critical thinking, but for that, why should he clear an aptitude test?” the Congress MP asked.
He also argued that the meritocracy determined by the UPSC has not given a level-playing field since the English language used in the question papers was becoming increasingly difficult, putting candidates from Hindi-speaking states at an advantage as they had the choice of reading the question in Hindi.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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