New Delhi, Apr 15 (IANS): To encourage participation of local youth in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), the Ministry of Home Affairs has approved conducting Constable (General Duty) examination for CAPF in 13 regional languages in addition to Hindi and English.

The question paper will be set in 13 regional languages including Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, Manipuri and Konkani.

The decision will result in lakhs of aspirants taking part in the examination in their mother tongue or regional language and improve their prospects for selection.

Officials said that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Staff Selection Commission would sign an addendum to the existing MoU to facilitate the conduct of the examination in multiple Indian languages.

Constable GD is one of flagship examinations conducted by the Staff Selection Commission attracting lakhs of candidates from across the country. The examination in 13 regional languages in addition to Hindi and English will be conducted from January 01, 2024 onwards.

States/UT governments are expected to launch a wide campaign encouraging local youths to use this opportunity of taking the examination in their mother tongue and participate in huge numbers to make a career serving the country.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs is committed to encourage use and development of regional languages," said the Ministry in a statement on Saturday.