President Pranab Mukherjee okays call for all speeches to be in Hindi
NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the recommendation of the Committee of Parliament on Official Languages for speeches to be delivered only in Hindi by all dignitaries, including the President and ministers, if they can read and speak the language.
The decision comes six years after the committee made 117 recommendations on how to make Hindi more popular and extensive Centrestate deliberations on the matter. The President’s notification has been sent to all ministries, states and the Prime Minister’s Office. Mukherjee’s term ends in July and the next President could be making his speeches in Hindi only.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet almost invariably speak in Hindi. Other recommendations accepted by Mukherjee include usage of Hindi on Air India tickets as it is “grossly neglected by airlines.”
The civil aviation ministry has been asked to restrict this only to the state-owned airline, though the recommendation was for all Indian carriers. Rejected recommendations include mandatory use of Hindi for correspondence in public shareholding companies and all private companies to provide product information in Hindi and product name in Devnagri.
However, as per the President’s orders, all government and semi-government organisations will need to mention products’ names in Hindi. Fixing of a minimum knowledge level of Hindi for government jobs was rejected. The committee also sought to extend Hindi being a compulsory subject from class 8 to class 10 in all CBSE and Kendriya Vidyalya schools.
The President has “accepted in principle.” The Centre can do so in category A Hindi speaking states but only after consultations with states and formulation of policy. Universities in non-Hindi speaking states will be asked by the human resource development (HRD) ministry to give students a Hindi language option in examinations and interviews.
The decision comes six years after the committee made 117 recommendations on how to make Hindi more popular and extensive Centrestate deliberations on the matter. The President’s notification has been sent to all ministries, states and the Prime Minister’s Office. Mukherjee’s term ends in July and the next President could be making his speeches in Hindi only.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet almost invariably speak in Hindi. Other recommendations accepted by Mukherjee include usage of Hindi on Air India tickets as it is “grossly neglected by airlines.”
The civil aviation ministry has been asked to restrict this only to the state-owned airline, though the recommendation was for all Indian carriers. Rejected recommendations include mandatory use of Hindi for correspondence in public shareholding companies and all private companies to provide product information in Hindi and product name in Devnagri.
However, as per the President’s orders, all government and semi-government organisations will need to mention products’ names in Hindi. Fixing of a minimum knowledge level of Hindi for government jobs was rejected. The committee also sought to extend Hindi being a compulsory subject from class 8 to class 10 in all CBSE and Kendriya Vidyalya schools.
The President has “accepted in principle.” The Centre can do so in category A Hindi speaking states but only after consultations with states and formulation of policy. Universities in non-Hindi speaking states will be asked by the human resource development (HRD) ministry to give students a Hindi language option in examinations and interviews.
