The Delhi-based Asian Centre for Human Rights has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) accusing the Delhi University of implementing a new language policy, which would effectively force most of the students hailing from the North-Eastern states to study Hindi.The students from the North-East, who make up a sizable chunk of the Central varsity’s student population, had staged a protest inside the campus on Monday against the proposed syllabus that will be introduced in the coming academic session.
Under the DU’s existing rules, if a prospective student has not studied any of the 23 modern Indian languages (MIL), then they are allowed to opt for any other subject at the time of their admission.But a varsity panel, set up to restructure the syllabus for undergraduate courses, has made it compulsory for the students to have at least one MIL, which the North-Easterners argue, effectively means Hindi.
“This is nothing but a conspiracy to keep the students from the North-East out of the Delhi University. This is an act against national integration,” said ACHR director Suhas Chakma, who petitioned the NHRC.
According to the petitioner, the move by the DU was a “clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution relating to the Right to Equality and the UN Declaration on the Rights of the Minorities”.
He pointed out that only three languages from the North-Eastern region -- Bodo, Assamese and Manipuri -- are included in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution. However, in several of the schools in the North-East, students are tutored in local languages like ‘Khas’ and ‘Mizo’, which are not recognised as MLIs.