Over 80 per cent of staff in seven offices under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has attained working knowledge of Hindi-- a language which has gained the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Union Home Minister Amit Shah to adopt it in government offices as the official language.
"In pursuance of sub rule (4) of Rule 10 of the Official Language (Use for official purposes of the Union) Rules, 1976 (as amended in 1987), the Central Government hereby notifies the following offices under the Ministry of Home Affairs, wherein more than 80 per cent of staff have attained the working knowledge of Hindi," reads a notification issued by the MHA.
The seven offices where 80 per cent of staff has attained working knowledge of Hindi are the Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal under Registrar General of India; Delhi Police Headquarters; and five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) offices-- Office of the DIG, Ops Range, Bongaigaon, Assam; Office of the Commandant, 212 Battalion, Yettapakka, Andhra Pradesh; Office of the Commandant, 230 Battalion, Nareli Valley, Dantewada, Chattisgarh; Office of the Commandant, 233 Battalion, CRPF Group Kendra Campus, Bijnor, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh; and Office of the Commandant, 240 Mahila Battalion, CRPF Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah last month had said that Hindi should be "accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages" and when citizens of states who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the "language of India".
Shah made the comments while presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee on April 7.
In the meeting, Shah had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided on the medium of running the government in the official language and that it would definitely increase the importance of Hindi.
Now 70 per cent of the Cabinet agenda is prepared in Hindi, he was quoted as saying in an official statement.
"Now the time has come to make the official language an important part of the unity of the country. When citizens of states who speak other languages communicate with each other, it should be in the language of India. Hindi should be accepted as an alternative to English and not to local languages. Unless we make Hindi flexible by accepting words from other local languages, it will not be propagated," the minister had said.
He had also said that there was a need to give elementary knowledge of Hindi to students up to Class 9 and pay more attention to Hindi teaching examinations. He had also suggested the republishing of the Hindi dictionary by revising it.
Shah said 22,000 Hindi teachers have been recruited in the eight northeastern states. Nine tribal communities of the northeast have converted their dialects' scripts to Devanagari.
Apart from this, Shah said, all the eight states of the North East have agreed to make Hindi compulsory in schools up to Class X.
( With inputs from ANI )
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