Indian languages mandatory in all institutions, recommends Amit Shah-led panel

Hindi in Hindi-speaking states, regional mother tongue in others
Amit Shah (Photo | PTI)
Amit Shah (Photo | PTI)

NEW DELHI: The Committee of Parliament on Official Language headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah has recommended that the medium of instruction should mandatorily be Hindi in all technical or non-technical educational institutions including central universities.

In its 11th volume of the report presented to President Droupadi Murmu last month, the Committee states that English should be the medium of instruction only where it is absolutely necessary and gradually English should be replaced with Hindi in those institutions. “Use of Hindi as medium of instruction and other activities should be Hindi in all technical and non-technical institutions in the country and use of English should be made optional,” the committee has recommended.

Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institutes of management (IIMs), and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) are some technical educational institutions under the Central government while Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs), Navodaya Vidyalayas (NVs) and central universities fall under the category of non-technical institutes.

The Committee noted that Hindi can’t be a common language unless the medium of instruction is not Hindi in universities, higher educational institutions including technical or medical institutes.
The Committee was set up in 1976 under the Official Language Act, 1963. The panel comprises 30 members of Parliament; 20 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. It reviews the progress made in the use of Hindi for official purposes and submit a report to the President making recommendations.

Hindi medium of instruction in training institutes, elimination of compulsory English-language question paper in the recruitment examinations, and adequate arrangement for Hindi translation of all relevant high court orders for the option of high court proceedings in Hindi are among 112 recommendations made by the Committee in its latest report.

“In many recruitment examinations, Hindi medium option is not available and English-language question paper is compulsorily included. In this situation, the candidate gives preference to English over Hindi. Therefore, mandatory English-language question papers should be discontinued and Hindi options be given… requisite knowledge of Hindi for the selection of employees should be ensured and in the recruitment examinations, the question paper of Hindi should mandatorily be included in place of English,” the report stated. The Committee also noted in the report that officers and employees, who deliberately don’t work in Hindi, should be warned. “The Committee has found that some officers or employees don’t work in Hindi. So those officials should be given a warning and an explanation should be sought from them. If satisfactory reply is not received, it should be recorded in their Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR),” it states.

Discussing recruitment examinations for government jobs, the report says that compulsory English-language question papers give the impression that English is more important, and so, they ought to be replaced by Hindi-medium papers. “It is mandatory to work in Hindi in the institutions of the Goverment of India. In such a situation, the necessity of knowledge of Hindi is important at the time of selection of employees. Therefore the committee recommends that the knowledge of Hindi should be ensured for the selection of employees,” it says.

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