CHENNAI: As many as 50 out of 200 questions asked in the Group I preliminary examination conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) were related to EVR Periyar, CN Annadurai, Thirukkural, the Justice Party, and Tamil literature.
The exams, which conventionally contain 10 per cent of questions related to the State, witnessed a sea of change after the TNSPC introduced two subjects — Developmental Administration and Thirukkural — in the syllabus of Group I and II exams in 2019.
“Out of the 28 questions under ‘Developmental Administration’, 10 were on Periyar and the Justice Party alone. The remaining were on Annadurai, Rettaimalai Srinivasan and ongoing developmental schemes. This is unusual,” said Siva Balan, faculty, Shankar IAS academy, Chennai.
In addition, 21 questions were on Thirukkural and Tamil literature.
“Eight questions were on Thirukkural and its contents. The questions would be difficult for regular job seekers. Hence, the cut-off will be low,” added Balan.
In general, unsuccessful UPSC aspirants easily crack the Group I exam as its syllabus would be less.
In 2019, the TNPSC seemingly altered the syllabus in a way that would make it difficult for non-Tamils to pass exams, alleged sources.
“Considering the weightage given for Thirukkural, Tamil literature and modern political history, it would be extremely difficult for an outsider to clear the exam,” said N Sucharithan, faculty of a coaching institute.
Under the current affairs section, questions on the Tamil movie, Pariyerum Perumal, were also asked. Surprisingly, only five questions were asked on Covid-19.
THUMB IMPRESSION
The TNPSC, for the first time, introduced additional measures to curb malpractice, by recording the left thumb impressions of the applicants on the answer sheet.
A senior official from the TNPSC said, “An additional 15 minutes of time was given to candidates to fill the new columns in the OMR sheet. Also, the applicants have to mention the total number of answers selected, under each option. Both the exercises were carried out in presence of the invigilator.”