The historic decision was taken at the initiative of Union Home Minister Amit Shah to give impetus to the participation of local youths in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and encourage regional languages, an official statement said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the decision "parthbreaking".
In a tweet, he said, "A pathbreaking decision, which will give wings to the aspirations of our youth! This is a part of our various efforts to ensure language is not seen as a barrier in fulfilling one's dreams."
The CAPFs are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the National Security Guard (NSG).
"In a landmark decision under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, (the) Ministry of Home Affairs has approved conducting constable (general duty) examination for CAPFs in 13 regional languages, in addition to Hindi and English," the statement said.
In addition to Hindi and English, the question paper will be set in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Odia, Urdu, Punjabi, Manipuri and Konkani.
The announcement comes days after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Shah, urging him to include Tamil as a language for the written exam in the recruitment for CRPF personnel.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]In his letter, Stalin said that in the notification for the CRPF recruitment written exam, it was mentioned that the test could be taken in English and Hindi.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said the decision will result in lakhs of aspirants taking the examination in their mother tongue or regional language and improve their selection prospects.
The ministry and the Staff Selection Commission will sign an addendum to the existing Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate the conduct of the examination in multiple Indian languages, the statement said.
Constable (general duty) is one of the flagship examinations conducted by the commission and attracts lakhs of candidates from across the country.
The examination in 13 regional languages, in addition to Hindi and English, will be conducted from January 1, 2024.
The state governments and Union Territory administrations are expected to launch a wide campaign to encourage local youths to use this opportunity of taking the examination in their mother tongue and participate in large numbers to make a career serving the country, the statement said.
The ministry, under the leadership of Modi and the guidance of Shah, is fully committed to encourage use and development of regional languages, it said.