The Tamil Nadu government, on December 3, said that state-held competitive exams would from now on have a compulsory paper on Tamil language and a pass in the subject is the basic qualifying norm for entry to the Tamil Nadu government services and state-run public sector enterprises, news agency PTI reported. This is applicable to the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC) exams effective immediately, the government said.
A paper on Tamil language, conforming to Class 10 standards is compulsory in all such exams and a score of 40 per cent is the minimum qualifying mark, according to a Government Order dated December 1. If an aspirant does not get through in the qualifying Tamil language paper, other subject papers, that are part of the overall exam scheme, would not be taken up for evaluation, the order said.
Other state recruitment agencies including the Teachers Recruitment Board, Medical Services Recruitment Board, TN Uniformed Services Recruitment Board and TN Forest Uniformed Services Recruitment Committee would release similar guidelines. Similar guidelines for state-run public sector enterprises would be released by the respective authorities, the GO said.
The announcement to make Tamil compulsory in all the competitive exams was earlier made by the state's Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan on the floor of the Assembly.