NEW DELHI: In a landmark decision, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has approved conduct of the Staff Selection Commission Multitasking (non-technical) Staff (SSC MTS) examination and CHSL Examination for government jobs in 15 languages in total, that is, 13 regional languages in addition to Hindi and English. This was announced here today by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the Minister Incharge DoPT. This historic decision has been taken at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give impetus to participation of local youth and encourage regional languages, said the Minister. In addition to Hindi and English, the question paper will be set in the 13 regional languages i.e. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, Manipuri (also Meiti) and Konkani, he said. The decision will result in lakhs of aspirants taking part in the examination in their mother tongue/regional language and improve their selection prospects. There had been persistent demands from different States to hold SSC exams in languages other than English and Hindi. Government appointed an Expert Committee to look at this aspect too amongst other things (review of scheme and syllabus of examinations conducted by the Commission). The Expert Committee in its report had inter-alia recommended the following: “Study of posts of SSC especially Group ‘C’ post indicates that these posts are at cutting edge of Government-citizen interaction. India being a country where multiple languages are spoken, it would be in fitness of things to conduct 12th and 10th exam in multi languages. To begin with SSC can start with 14 languages as used by Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) / Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) in their exams and gradually increase to include all the languages mentioned in Schedule VIII of the Constitution.” Government accepted this recommendation of the Expert Committee and asked SSC to work out the modalities. To start with the Commission has decided to conduct MTS Examination, 2022 and CHSLE Examination, 2022 in 15 languages (13 regional languages + Hindi + English) as used by Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) / Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) for conducting their examination. The notice of MTS Exam has already been issued. Notice for CHSL Exam in Multi-Language will be issued in May-June 2023. Union Minister for State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh said that attempts are being made to eventually incorporate all of the languages listed in the Constitution’s Eighth Schedule. He added that 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 said that the action is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to ensure that everyone gets an equal opportunity to apply for jobs and that no one is disenfranchised or placed at a disadvantage because of a language barrier. The Minister added 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. The Minister said that the MTS 2022 exam notice has received positive response amongst the candidates especially belonging to South India and also on social media. The first exam in multi-language (MTS 2022) will commence from May2nd. Dr Jitendra Singh said that States/UT governments are expected to launch a wide campaign encouraging local youths to use this opportunity of taking the examination in their mother tongue and participate in huge numbers to make a career serving the country. Department of Personnel and Training under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and guidance of Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh is fully committed to encourage use and development of regional languages.