Kozhikode: Several candidates who sat for a Kerala Public Service Commission examination had a hard time understanding a Malayalam question paper owing to translation blunders.

The candidates alleged that due to the imperfect language those who had opted to take the Graduate Level test in the Malayalam language had to go through the English questions as well to understand the exact meaning.

They said that the exam was so tough that they could not attempt even half the questions in the stipulated 1.10 hours. Lakhs of applicants had taken the recruitment test held for the posts of sub-inspectors, civil excise officer and secretariat assistant.

A question related to "responsible government", when translated into Malayalam, appeared as “Write about responsible Kerala government!” 

'Vaala Samdudaya Parishkarni Sabha' was translated as 'Vala samudaya'. 

Another blunder was the Malayalam translation of the question 'While declaring Emergency which article of the Indian Constitution is scrapped to cancel the Fundamental Rights of people?" When translated to Malayalam it read “While declaring “athyahitham”... The question setter used the Malayalam word 'Atyahitham' (അത്യാഹിതം)  meaning 'casualty', instead of the widely used 'Adiyantharavastha' (അടിയന്തരാവസ്ഥ) as the translation for 'Emergency.

The applicants were also startled to read the question regarding the 'Talkalika Dhrithavega Sambharna Sthalam'. It was only after they referred to the English question paper that they understood that the question was regarding High-speed Data Storage Area.

The question in English regarding the film which bagged the Award for National Integration, when translated to Malayalam became 'Deshiya Samyojanathhinulla Mikacha Cinema'.

The PoCSO Act appeared as POSCO Act in the question.