DMK president Karunanidhi against new civil services exam norms

Chennai: Accusing the central government of trying to impose Hindi by making changes in the civil services exam norms, DMK president M Karunanidhi on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to withdraw the notification as it would filter out candidates from rural India.

In a letter to the prime minister, the text of which was released to the media, Karunanidhi said, "The changes notified by the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) are being construed as obvious steps to impose Hindi. This is a serious violation of the assurance given by Pandit (Jawaharlal) Nehru to our nation."

He said the norm change would lead to an unhealthy and unequal competition among rural and urban students.

Karunanidhi said his party has been demanding making all regional languages as official languages of the Indian union.

According to Karunanidhi, the restriction on choosing regional language for writing the exam only when there is a minimum of 25 candidates is a major blow to rural aspirants.

He said the condition that civil service aspirants had to give the main exams in the medium of instruction in their degree course would also filter out a large number of candidates opting to write in the regional languages.

Karunanidhi said his party has been demanding making all regional languages as official languages of the Indian union.

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