The
use of language in administration is done in accordance with the Constitution,
suggestions of the Language Commissions and Committees, and safeguards inbuilt
to protect the interests of the linguistics minorities. Linguistic minorities
are "minorities residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having
a distinct language or script of their own. The language of the minority group
need not be one of the fourteen languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of
the Constitution". Linguistic Minority "at the State level means any
group of people whose mother tongue is different from the principal language of
the State, and at the district and taluk levels, different from the principal
language of the district or the taluk"1
The safeguards that govern the use of their languages for official purposes are
as follows :
i)
At district level and below, like Municipality, Tehsil, etc., where a linguistic
minority constitutes 15 to 20 per cent of the population, important Government
notices, rules and other publications should be published in minority languages
also.
ii) At the district level, where 60 percent of the population in a district
use a language other than the Official Language of the State, that language should
be recognised as an additional official language in that district. Recognition
for this purpose should be given ordinarily to the major languages mentioned in
the Eighth Schedule.
iii) At the State headquarters, a Translation Bureau
should be set up where arrangements may be made for translation and publication
of the substance of important of the substance of important laws, rules, regulations,
etc., into minority languages in States or districts or wherever a linguistic
minority constitutes 15 to 20 percent of the population.
iv) In correspondence
with the public, petitions/representations received in languages other than the
Official Language, should be replied, wherever possible, in the language of the
petition/representation.
Recruitment
to State Services :
i)
Knowledge of the State Official Language should not be a pre-requisite for recruitment
to State services, that is to say, superior or Gazetted services. A test of proficiency
in the State Official Language may be held after selection and before the end
of the period of probation.
ii)
A candidate should have the option of using English or Hindi as medium of examination
for State Services, as alternative to the Official Language of the State.2
In order to identify the general type of grievances and demands from the linguistic
minorities that came up before the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, the
reports from XI to XXIII were seen.
1.
At the Level of Union
Request for
-
Providing a slot for broadcasting programmes in the minority language.
- Printing
of the M.O. forms, Railway tickets in the language of the minority also.
-
Printing of voters lists and ballot papers in the minority language also.
- Posting of the Postman who can read the language written in the address of certain
localities where the linguistic minorities reside.
- Avoiding delay in delivery
of mail because of ignorance of the Postman of the language of the addressee,
etc.
2.
At the Level of States
Official Language for the Public:
-
Request for receipt of applications in minority language and arranging of the
response for the same in the concerned language.
Some of the Governments feel that it is possible to accept them in any language
but they have difficulty in answering them in the same language.
Some states respond to the petitions in the language in which the people have
signed irrespective of the language used in the petition.
Some states feel that the State language is understood by all the residents of
the State. So there cannot be any grievance.
Some states agree to accept and respond to the petitions in the language of the
minority.
v)
- Keeping of the signboards in the offices in the language of the minority.
Some Governments take the stand that the Official Language is generally understood
by all sections of people.
Some states keep the signboards in both the
Official Language of the State and the language of the minority.
Officials
and the Official language
-
Request of the minority language speakers that some of the employees whose mother
tongue is not the minority language must also possess the working knowledge of
the minority language.
-
Officers in the office may know the language of the minority, but the clerks who
actually have to deal with ordinary people speaking the minority language do not
know the language of the public.
-
Officials, who are posted in the area where large number of linguistic minorities
are residing, should have knowledge of the minority community, or else it will
not be possible for them to function properly.
-
Officials, who are in the minority region may not be considered for promotion
in the same area, but officials from other area who do not know the minority language
are promoted and posted to minority areas.
-
Requests for the extension of time limit to pass the departmental language examination.
-
Request for the simplification or reduction in the standard of departmental language
examination.
-
Request for the dropping of oral examination in the departmental language examination.
-
Request for due share of appointments in the State to the linguistic minorities.
Inclusion
in Eighth Schedule:
-
Request of Nepali Sahitya Adhyayana Samiti of Kalimpang for inclusion of Nepali.
-
Request of Konkani Bhasha Prachar Sabha of Cochin for inclusion of Konkani.
Recognition
as Official Languages:
Demands for recognition of
-
Urdu as the second language of Mysore (now Karnataka).
- Konkani as the minority
language in Kerala
- Santhali as the second State language in Bihar.
-
Telugu as an additional Official Language in the district of Kolar, in Karnataka.
Request
for Simplification:
-
Request for simplification of the language used for official purposes. The State
Governments opine that it is necessary to use the technical and legal terminology
to keep uniformity.
Request
for Proper Nomenclature:
-
The State Government of Maharashtra in the Gazette, and textbooks print the word
'Kannada' wrongly as 'Kannadi'3
Record
Keeping:
-
Provision of Mysore Sales Act, 1957 provides for maintaining of accounts in Kannada,
English, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu and Tamil. Urdu is not included.
The State Government felt that it was not possible to include Urdu or Marwari
for the present purposes.4
-
Konkani speakers desired to maintain the accounts and registers in Konkani.
The State Government felt it is not possible to allow due to difficulties in administration
and Sales-tax law.
Official
Language and Language Development:
-
View of the State Government that the language spoken by the minority is not developed
enough to be used for official purposes and that it will take time to use them
in rules, notices, etc.
-
The minority language is only a spoken dialect and very low literacy rate of the
speakers in it makes the Government to feel it unnecessary to bring out materials
in that language.
-
Inability to recognize a language as the Official Language because it is only
a spoken dialect.
-
Rules, etc., cannot be published because of the non-availability of the printing
facilities in the concerned language.
Representation
for Linguistic Minorities:
-
Request for representation in various State level and District level committees
to the people belonging to the linguistic minorities.
-
Request for the allocation of funds for the development of the minority language.
-
Request for the representation for the linguistic minorities in the Universities
of the State.
This
section can be concluded quoting the comments of the Commissioner of Linguistic
Minorities from his Report XXI (Paragraph 35.28) that 'So far as preparation of
list of areas, orders, for publication of important Government notices, rules,
substance of laws, etc.,... the respective regional languages since Independence
have been occupying prominent place in the administration as well as in the field
of education in the States. As a result the respective regional languages have
become widely known to the people in their respective regions. Therefore, publication
of the important notices, rules, regulations and substance of laws in minority
languages might not be generally in demand. The continuance of these safeguards
except for the languages which have been made the additional official languages
in the districts, regions or at the State level, may not appear necessary'.