Being one of the biggest government hiring organisations, the SSC's primary responsibility is to fill all Group B (non-gazetted) and Group C (non-technical) positions within several central ministries and departments. English and Hindi have been typically used as the exam languages by the Commission.
Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, said the action is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and that no one is disenfranchised or placed at a disadvantage because of a language barrier.
He claimed that the action will satisfy the long-standing requests of candidates from many states, particularly from south India, for the exams that were previously held in English and Hindi.
"This is likely to benefit a very large number of candidates from all over the country," Singh added.
Following this historic decision, Singh stated that attempts are being made to eventually incorporate all of the languages listed in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule.
He said PM Modi during the inauguration of the the "Kashi Tamil Sangamam" in Varanasi in November last year had pointed out that 'despite having one of the world's oldest living languages, i.e., Tamil, we lack in honouring it fully".
According to Singh, SSC continually works to ensure that all segments of the people have an equal opportunity to succeed in order to eliminate regional inequities and realise the Constitution's principles while also recognising and valuing our nation's linguistic variety.
The minister announced that an expert committee had been established by the Department of Personnel and Training to assess the plan and syllabus of the examinations given by the Commission, as well as the method used to administer them.
In a statement released by the Personnel Ministry, it was noted that the committee had, among other things, recommended that it would be appropriate to hold examinations for lower-level positions in a variety of languages. These examinations could initially be held in a small number of languages before gradually expanding to include all of the languages listed in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule.
(With inputs from PTI)
