The Finance Ministry on Tuesday directed the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to put on hold examination for clerical cadre in public sector banks (PSBs) till a final view is taken on conducting tests in regional languages.

       In order to look into the demand for holding examination for clerical cadre in PSBs in local/regional languages, a Committee has been constituted to look into the matter in its entirety, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

       "The Committee will give its recommendations within 15 days. The ongoing process of holding the examination initiated by IBPS will be kept on hold until the recommendations of the Committee are made available," it said.

       Recently, IBPS issued advertisement for holding an examination for recruitment in the clerical cadre of PSBs only in two languages--English and Hindi.

       There has been demand particularly from Southern states to include other recognised regional languages for conducting bank clerical cadre. There are 22 languages recognized by the Constitution of India.

       The Finance Minister in July 2019 had assured Parliament that the recruitment examination for employment in the Regional rural banks (RRBs) would be conducted in regional languages apart from English and Hindi.

       With a view to providing a level-playing field to the local youths for availing employment opportunities, the government in 2019 decided that for recruitment of Office Assistant and Officer Scale I in RRBs, examination will be held in 13 regional languages including Konakani and Kannada, besides Hindi and English.

       Since then, examination for these recruitments are being conducted in regional languages also, it said.

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