The first section of the Essay Paper of UPSC Mains Examination held on 3rd December 2016. The Topic given by UPSC on Gender Equality put aspirants in dilemma as according to many candidates, the Hindi translation of the topic was entirely different than what was written in Hindi. The topic was “If development is not engendered, it is endangered”, while; the Hindi translation of the topic mentioned in the paper was “Stri-purush kay samaan sarokaroko shamil kiye bina vikas sankatgrast hain". The term engendered could not be interpreted as “gender equivalent” by the English medium candidates, and hence the topic left few candidates in confusion.
"The literal meaning of the English question was completely different from its Hindi translation," argued Palash Bansal who appeared in recently held examination on 3rd December. According to a story appeared in Times of India, another candidate, Aravind Varier said, "While writing the essay, I preferred to take the meaning of 'engender' in a wider context rather than narrow it to gender inequality. Yes, the term does appear in a report published by the World Bank, but it uses 'engendered' only to make it rhythmically in consonance with the issue of gender inequality discussed in that report."
But according to a report appeared in The Hindu, the intention of the questioner is revealed in Hindi translation as it translates “engendered” as gender balance. Moreover, candidates can also refer to the report published by Human Development report in 1995 to make their doubts clear about the context.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/human-development-report-1995 . Hence, the candidates who studied public administration, sociology subject in detail can relate to the topic and the term.
