In July 2000, under whose chairmanship did the Union Public Service Commission constitute a committee to review the Civil Services Examination?
- (a)Professor Sukhadeo Thorat
- (b)Professor Deepak Kumar Srivastava
- (c)Professor M. Jagadesh Kumar
- (d)Professor Yoginder Kumar Alagh
Correct — D, Professor Yoginder Kumar Alagh. In July 2000, the UPSC set up a committee headed by economist Prof. Y.K. Alagh to review the pattern of the Civil Services Examination. The committee's 2001 report recommended replacing the General Studies paper of the Preliminary Examination with an objective Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), and suggested continuing the optional-subject paper while raising its standard. It took nearly a decade for the CSAT idea to be implemented — the government approved it in 2010, and it was introduced as General Studies Paper-II of the Preliminary Examination from 2011.
- (a)Professor Sukhadeo Thorat — A noted economist best known for chairing the University Grants Commission (2006–2011) and for work on OBC/backward-classes issues — not the UPSC's 2000 exam-pattern review committee.
- (b)Professor Deepak Kumar Srivastava — Not associated with the UPSC's Civil Services Examination pattern review of this era.
- (c)Professor M. Jagadesh Kumar — An academic administrator — former Vice-Chancellor of JNU and later UGC Chairman — from a much later period, not connected to the 2000 committee.
UPSC periodically reviews the Civil Services Examination's pattern through expert committees. The July 2000 committee headed by Prof. Y.K. Alagh is the one credited with first recommending, in its 2001 report, the shift that eventually produced the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) — the biggest change to the Preliminary Examination's structure in the 2000s.
A common mix-up is treating the 2000-01 Alagh Committee (which proposed the CSAT idea) as the same body involved in the later 2012-13 controversy over CSAT's English-comprehension component — those were separate, later developments in response to student protests, not part of Alagh's original review.
- Committee constituted: July 2000, by the UPSC.
- Chairman: Professor Yoginder Kumar Alagh, an economist.
- Purpose: review the pattern of the Civil Services Examination.
- Its 2001 report's recommendation eventually led to CSAT (General Studies Paper-II) replacing the old optional-subject Preliminary paper, effective from the 2011 examination.
- Confusing the 2000-01 Alagh Committee (which proposed the CSAT idea) with the later 2012-13 committees/government responses to CSAT protests
- Mixing up UPSC's exam-reform committee chairs with similarly-titled academics known for unrelated bodies (e.g. Sukhadeo Thorat's UGC chairmanship)
MPPSC/UPSC occasionally test the names and years of UPSC's own internal exam-reform committees — a niche but recurring 'who chaired this committee' factual question.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) was introduced as General Studies Paper-II of the UPSC Preliminary Examination from which year?
- (a)2008
- (b)2011
- (c)2014
- (d)2016
Answer(b) 2011 — implementing a recommendation traced back to the 2000-01 Alagh Committee report.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Professor Yoginder Kumar Alagh, who chaired the UPSC's 2000 committee reviewing the Civil Services Examination pattern, is primarily known as a professional:
- (a)Economist
- (b)Historian
- (c)Physicist
- (d)Jurist
Answer(a) Economist — Alagh has also held roles such as Union Minister and Planning Commission member.