The Telangana Government Public Service Commission's (TGPSC) Group I examinations, which started on October 21, are underway and will conclude on October 27. Despite the various issues with government orders and whatnot, the students grudgingly continue to appear for the exam.
Opposing GO 29 for violating reservation policy, the aspirants protested, urging for rescheduling of the exam. While this has made the headlines, the issue that was not as frequently touched upon was the confusion with the Telugu Akademi books.
The background of this confusion takes us back to the commission asking candidates to NOT follow the bed by Telugu Akademi.
For the unversed, Telugu Akademi is a go-to publisher for all kinds of academic as well as competitive exams-related books. More importantly, in this context, it serves as an important reference book for the TGPSC exams.
Many candidates who were heavily reliant on these books while preparing for Group I exams allege that 14 questions in the Prelims, held on June 9, did not match with the answers from Telugu Akademi's books. Therefore, this issue of irregularity with answers was taken to the Telangana High Court along with the batch of petitions against GO 29.
Court hearings
In October, during one of the hearings in the Telangana High Court, it was learnt that the commission filed a counter-affidavit highlighting the invalidity of Telugu Akademi books as study material for the Group I exams.
According to reports, the court document submitted by the government highlights several deficiencies with the Telugu Akademi’s books.
The book Telangana Regional Geography, reprinted in 2016 by Telugu Akademi, lacks proper referencing, footnotes, and clear identification of which academician authored each chapter, the counter affidavit reads, as reported by Deccan Chronicle.
Further, it pointed out that the book does not cite any authoritative sources and contains no material based on research. Therefore, these points raise serious concerns about the credibility of the Akademi's publications.
Aspirants share thoughts
Giving more details, a TGPSC Group I aspirant Chandar Naik, said, "We approached the court two months back, however, the high court prolonged our case till a few days before the exams. During one of the hearings in October, the commission filed a counter affidavit stating reference to Telugu Akademi books as invalid."
"Further, it said they are considering private authors and Wikipedia as references for the study material," he claims, sending aspirants into a tizzy.
Stressing the impact of the confusion created, Naik highlighted that few candidates may lose seats while others may benefit from the change in answers, leaving a huge impact on their careers as they spent years in preparation.
It may be noted that Telugu Akademi books are not only referred to for competitive exams, but their books are the primary reference materials for the intermediate syllabus (Plus Two or Class XI-XII) by the state government as well. Additionally, the then BRS (Bharat Rashtra Samithi) government cited the Telugu Akademi book Telangana Regional Geography and History-Culture in 2020 as a reference.
On the contrary, another aspirant, G Aditya, believes, "Civil servant aspirants should not stick to fixed books as they should be continuously updated with current affairs, history, or geography." Further, he added, "There is a statement regarding the Constitution: When you stop amending the Constitution, you stop the growth of the nation," he said, "Likewise, aspirants shouldn't confine themselves to one book or just certain."
Another aspirant, Uday Kiran, opined that Telugu Akademi books are considered standard study material for TGPSC and are published by the government. "However, in order to hide their own mistakes, the commission quoted Wikipedia as a standard source of study material instead."
