THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As a majority of the people in the state give vent to their annoyance at Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s ‘One Nation, One Language’ call, the LDF Government has made a counter move, proposing to the Public Service Commission to conduct its recruitment exams, including those for Kerala Administrative Service (KAS), in Malayalam.
An in-principle decision was taken in this regard during a meeting between Chief Pinarayi Vijayan and PSC Chairman MK Sakeer here on Monday. An expert panel will be set up to find technical terms in Malayalam required for engineering, medical and computer-related exams. Dictionaries of technical words will be prepared for each subject. The service of university vice-chancellors will also be utlilised for the purpose.
The Aikya Malayala Prasthanam, which has been holding an indefinite fast in front of the PSC office for 19 days seeking question papers in Malayalam, welcomed the decision and called off the strike.
At present, Malayalam question papers are prepared only for tests with Plus-Two as basic qualification. Though it covers nearly 90 per cent of the candidates, the government wants question papers of other examinations too in Malayalam. In future, they should also be made available in Kannada and Tamil.
Pinarayi said the LDF government has been taking steps to promote Malayalam right from the beginning. Introducing language legislation to ensure the study of the mother tongue and making Malayalam the official language were part of that attempt.
“The state government is not against learning any other language. When English or minority languages like Tamil and Kannada have to be used, they can be used. On other occasions, it’s mandatory that Malayalam be used. But it shouldn’t be done at the cost of insulting Malayalam. That’s why right from government offices to courts in the state, Malayalam should be the official language,” said Pinarayi.
Initially reluctant, the PSC ceded to the demand after mounting pressure from various corners including the CPM state leadership. Socio-cultural leaders from across the state too had come out extending support to the demand.