UPSC CSAT row: Protests intensify, 4 aspirants on fast unto death

New Delhi: The protest against the Union Public Service Commission Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT), which started on June 27, is gaining momentum. While there have been violent protests at other places in Delhi, the UPSC aspirants are observing a silent protest at Mukherjee Nagar, the hub of preparation for the prestigious examination.

Even without a leader, the aspirants are coming up and voicing their demands to scrap the CSAT, which according to them is biased against students from rural and humanities background.

Four aspirants Ajit Kumar Trivedi, Lokpati Tripathi, Mukesh Rai and Ushapati Tripathi are observing fast unto death. According to the medical examination of the four, all the parameters are fine. Gyan Mishra from Bihar said, "The protest will continue till the demands are met. If there is a need, the protest will turn violent."

The aspirants are also awaiting the three-member Arvind Verma Committee which is likely to come in 3-4 days and are hopeful that the UPSC Civil Services 2014 exam scheduled for August 24 will be postponed.

Allahabad University Student Union leader Rana Yashwant said, "If the demands are not met, the agitation will be carried all over the country."

Two Delhi university professors also joined the protests on Saturday. Associate professor of History, Delhi University, Professor Amarnath Jha said, "We stand by the aspirants. We appeal to the government to scrap CSAT."

Professor Jha added that if the government wants, it can do something like it did in the Four Year Programme of the Delhi University which was scrapped recently after massive protests.

Till 2010, the UPSC preliminary test comprised a General Studies paper and an optional paper. But the pattern was changed in 2011 and Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT) was introduced which included two compulsory papers: CSAT-I and CSAT-II.

According to the protesting aspirants, CSAT-II has questions on quantitative analysis, logical reasoning and English language comprehension. They claim that these sections have been deliberately added to keep out students from Hindi and humanities backgrounds from cracking UPSC.

Unlike the last few days when the aspirants fought a pitched battle with the police force, officers say that the protests were silent and there is no law and order problem.