Official Language: MP John brittas gives Zero Hour notice in RS over Parliamentary Committee recommendations

 

New Delhi: CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP, John Brittas, has given a Zero Hour Notice in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language to implement Hindi as the medium of instruction in Central Universities and Institutes of National Importance like IITs, IIMs, etc.

The Parliamentary Committee on Official Language, chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, recently submitted the 11th volume of its report to President Droupadi Murmu. Among other things, it recommends the use of Hindi as the medium of instruction in central universities and institutes of national importance – such as IITs, IIMs, and AIIMS – ‘in Hindi-speaking states’.

Earlier in October, Congress MP from Kerala K Muraleedharan wrote to President Droupadi Murmu seeking the dismissal of the recommendation given by the Committee of Parliament on Official Language reportedly mandating Hindi as the medium of instruction in central institutions.
In his letter to President Murmu, Muraleedharan said, ‘The Parliamentary Committee on Official Language headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah have recommended your good self that proficiency in Hindi must be a prime criterion for education and employment in central government’.

He said the Committee has recommended that correspondence and proceedings in central Universities, Kendriya Vidyalayas, the ministries, and central government institutions must be in Hindi and the examinations for the recruitment to central government posts also must be in Hindi. ‘It is highly objectionable that Hindi is imposed on non-Hindi speaking states. Only 30 per cent of the Indian population speaks Hindi. Hence, I request your good self to reject the recommendation given by the Parliamentary Committee Official Language or exempt non-Hindi speaking states from the recommendations’, urged the Congress MP.

Earlier on October 12, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that efforts to impose the Hindi language are ‘unacceptable’. Chief Minister Vijayan wrote to Prime Minister to inform Kerala’s stand in the wake of reports on the recommendation of the official language committee of the Parliament to make the medium of examinations conducted for central services in Hindi and to make Hindi a compulsory language of study in educational institutions including Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT) and Indian Institute of Management (IIM).