Outline the recommendations of the official language committee. What are the implications for the official language debate in India?

The 11th volume of the Report of the Official Language Committee has been submitted to the President of India. It has triggered sharp criticism from some of the Southern states and has been viewed as an attempt to impose Hindi.

Parliamentary Committee of Official Language:

• The Parliamentary Committee of Official Language is chaired by the Union Home Minister, and has 30 members including 20 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 MPs from Rajya Sabha.
• The purpose of the Committee is to review the progress made in the use of Hindi for official purposes, and to make recommendations to increase the use of Hindi in official communications.
• The panel submits its report to the President, who lays it before each House of Parliament, and sends it to all the State Governments.

Recommendations of the committee:

• Use of Hindi as a medium of instruction in IITs, IIMs and central universities in Hindi-speaking states.
• High Courts in non-Hindi speaking states, where proceedings are recorded in English or a regional language, must make translations available in Hindi.
• Government officials and other employees in the central government not using Hindi in Hindi-speaking states will face consequences in the Annual Performance Assessment Report (APAR).
• States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala are exempted under The Official Languages Act, 1963 and the Rules and Regulations (of the Act), 1976.
• Hindi is the official language in A category states, which include Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, and the UTs of Delhi and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Category B states, where Hindi is used more than 65 per cent, include Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Punjab, and the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
• Category C states are those where the use of Hindi is less than 65 per cent.
• The Committee suggests fully using Hindi as a medium of communication in A category states, while other states can use regional languages.
• Its ultimate aim is to minimize the usage of the English language in official communication and increase the usage of Hindi.

Implications:

• Upsurge in South India.
• Language issues have the potential to emotionally divide people.
• The language used in the examination for recruitment to the all India services will be Hindi alone, which will create a great disadvantage for people from non-Hindi States.
• Imposing the Hindi language can affect the learning ability of non-Hindi speakers thereby affecting their self-confidence.
• Can also threaten other languages and reduce diversity.
• The idea of one official language may not foster the unity of the people.

Way forward:

The debate over Hindi as India’s “National Language” has been going on since the time of the Constitution Assembly. However, the number of native Hindi speakers in India is only around 44%. National integration must not come at the cost of people’s linguistic identities.