Team Herald
PANJIM: Konkani, the State’s official language and mother tongue of Goans, has received a major boost with the Centre including the regional language for the Institute for Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) examination conducted across the country.
Konkani is among 13 regional languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malyalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu – to be included for the recruitment examination.
The Centre on Thursday announced that recruitment examination for employment in regional rural banks (RRBs) will be conducted in regional languages apart from English and Hindi.
“In the present system, candidates educated in local languages are at a disadvantage due to the medium of examination. Various references and representations have also been received suggesting, inter-alia, to conduct the recruitment examination for RRBs in regional languages,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a suo-motu statement on the medium of examination for direct recruitment in RRBs.
“The functioning of RRBs is State specific and rural focused and therefore knowledge of the local language of that State/region would help the candidate in performing his duties effectively. Thus, with a view to provide a level playing field and to expand employment possibilities for local youths, it has been decided that examination for direct recruitment of officers (scale-I) and office assistant (multipurpose) in RRBs will be conducted in 13 regional languages in addition to English and Hindi,” her statement further states. The change will be implemented from the main examinations this year.
At present, there are 45 RRBs functioning in the country with total staff strength of 90,000 employees. The IBPS conducts common recruitment process for recruitment of officers in RRBs across the country.
Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar took to Twitter to welcome the decision. “Language is the roadmap of a culture. On behalf of Goa, I would like to thank Sitharaman for including Konkani as an official language for IBPS exams. This will make a major difference and thousands of Goan youth will benefit from it,” he said.
