About Committee on Official Language: UPSC Current Affairs

PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

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Context:

The Union Home Minister was unanimously re-elected as Chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language.

About Parliamentary Committee on Official Language

The Parliamentary Committee on Official Languages was formed in 1976 under Section 4 of the Official Languages Act 1963.
Its main objective is to promote and ensure the efficient use of Hindi in government workings.
The committee is made up of 30 members:
20 members from the Lok Sabha
10 members from the Rajya Sabha
The Union Home Minister acts as the chairman of the committee.
The committee evaluates the use of Hindi across government departments and agencies to identify opportunities for improvement.
It submits reports to the President with recommendations for improving Hindi promotion and use.

Key Objectives

The committee aims to promote Hindi as a governance language while maintaining regional languages' importance.
It aims to enrich Hindi by integrating words from various Indian languages, making it more versatile and accepted across regions.

Recent Developments

The committee is working on a dictionary that will include regional vocabulary from local languages to help people understand and adopt Hindi fluently.
The committee is developing translation software for automatic translation between Hindi and other languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.

Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

The 8th Schedule contains lists of the official languages recognised by the Government of India.
When the Indian Constitution was adopted in 1950, it only included 14 languages.
Amendments to the 8th Schedule:
- - 21st Amendment (1967) added Sindhi
  - 71st Amendment (1992) added Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali
  - 92nd Amendment (2003) added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali
The 22 languages are mentioned in the 8th Schedule: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

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PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

Source:

The Hindu

Wikipedia

PIB

Ministry of Home Affairs

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Consider the following statements:

1. The Eighth Schedule can only be changed by a constitutional amendment.

2. The inclusion of a language in the Eighth Schedule is required for its designation as a classical language.

3. Inclusion of a language in the Eighth Schedule ensures its use in official Union government communications.

Select the incorrect answer using the codes given below:

A) 1 and 2 only

B) 2 and 3 only

C) 1 and 3 only

D) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct:

The Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution lists official languages, and any changes would require a constitutional amendment. To approve an amendment bill in both Houses of Parliament, a two-thirds majority is required.

Statement 2 is incorrect:

The government evaluates the status of a classical language using factors such as antiquity, rich heritage, and independent tradition. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Sanskrit are recognised as classical languages, but this recognition is not linked to their inclusion in the Eighth Schedule.

Statement 3 is incorrect:

The inclusion of a language in the Eighth Schedule doesn’t ensure its use in official Union government communications. The Official Languages Act of 1963 oversees language use for official purposes, with a primary concentration on Hindi and English. Languages listed in the Eighth Schedule can be used in state and regional contexts under certain conditions and regulations.