Railways reintroduces Malayalam in its recruitment test after protests erupt in Kerala

After sparking much controversy and outrage over the exclusion of Malayalam in its group D recruitment exam, the Railways reversed its decision and has decided to include the language once again.

“It has been decided that the questions in regional languages like Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Odia, Telugu, Bangla and others will be available for candidates to take the exam,” the Railways said in a statement, according to PTI.

Palakkad MP MB Rajesh, who had vehemently opposed the decision to exclude Malayalam, tweeted: “Finally corrective action by Railways. Malayalam included as a medium for group ‘D’ recruitment exams. Special thanks to CM Pinarayi Vijayan for his intervention & support.”

Finally corrective action by Railways. Malayalam included as a medium for group ‘D’ recruitment exams.Special thanks to CM Pinarayi Vijayan for his intervention & support.

— M.B.Rajesh (@MBRajeshCPM) February 19, 2018

The Chief Minister had lashed out at the Railways in a Facebook post on Monday and had demanded the Centre intervene immediately to resolve the issue.

“The decision to take Malayalam off the list of regional languages for the recruitment exam for group D posts in the Railways will prove to be a great injustice to Kerala and its people. This will result in a huge loss of opportunities for many applicants from the state,” the CM’s post had read.

The initial notification sparked anger, with officials and authorities condemning the Central Railways’ move to drop the language from its list, citing it was a conspiracy to deny jobs to thousands of Malayalis.

Other regional languages like Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Konkani, Odiya, Assamese and Manipuri were all retained.

The exam can be written in these vernacular languages other than Hindi and Urdu. This was introduced during Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Railways Minister.

The Southern Zone of Railways, with Chennai as its headquarters, has about 2,979 posts. This zone also covers the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad divisions from Kerala.