The Central government has asked the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to postpone the Civil Services preliminary exam. The exams are scheduled to be held on August 24, 2014.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said the government wanted to postpone the exams till clarity was reached on the syllabus issue, reported PTI.

The order came after civil services aspirants sought scrapping of the Civil Services Aptitude Tests (C-SAT) staged a protest on Sunday outside the residence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

According to media reports, protestors say the newly-introduced CSAT has degraded the value of India's toughest examination. Asserting that the introduction of CSAT is like playing with the future of UPSC aspirants, they claimed that it has created a condition of partiality for the candidates of Hindi medium.