Rajya Sabha disrupted over UPSC test row

The Rajya Sabha Friday saw a massive uproar over the UPSC aptitude test while Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the house that the government would find an appropriate solution to the row.

"The government would find out an appropriate solution to the problem of language issue in UPSC examination at the earliest," Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

"The government has taken a serious note of the agitation by the students. We have received the report of the committee which was looking into it, and we are studying the way out," he said.

A committee headed by Arvind Verma, formed to look into various aspects of the change in pattern of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, submitted its report to the central government Thursday.

The minister was replying to the concerns several opposition members expressed over the issue and demanded immediate reply from the government on the actions being taken.

Dissatisfied with the Rajnath Singh's reply, opposition members from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, and the Left parties staged a walkout.

Earlier, the upper house saw three adjournments over the issue.

As soon as the upper house met for the day, opposition members were on their feet demanding a response from the government.

Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United said the government had given an assurance that it would resolve the issue which involves the fate of seven lakh students within seven days, but nothing has been done so far.

He said he has given a "privilege notice".

Pramod Tiwari of the Congress said UPSC aspirants are agitating, but instead of resolving the issue, they were being caned.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu's request to take up the issue after question hour was not heeded to and the house saw two adjournments before noon.

When the house reassembled, another 15-minute adjournment was witnessed due to opposition protests.