President Pranab Mukherjee has approved recommendations by the Committee of Parliament on Official Languages asking all dignitaries, including his successors and ministers, to make speeches in Hindi if they are familiar with the language. Mukherjee also cleared the panel’s suggestion that Hindi be incorporated on Air India tickets and magazines and newspapers in the language be made available on board.
The committee’s suggestions said airlines had “grossly neglected” the language, The Economic Times reported. Mukherjee has granted his “in-principle approval” to make Hindi a compulsory subject from Class 8 to Class 10 in all CBSE and Kendriya Vidyalya schools, subject to the respective state’s acceptance.
The committee’s ninth report says the Human Resource Development Ministry will ask universities in non-Hindi speaking states to offer students an option to answer examinations and interviews in Hindi, the English daily reported. It also recommended a compilation of transliterated English-to-Hindi words to avoid more difficult and traditional words.
Mukherjee, however, rejected a proposal to establish a minimum level of knowledge in Hindi to qualify for government jobs. The approval comes six years after the panel offered 117 measures to increase the popularity of Hindi and comprehensive Centre-state negotiations on the matter, the English daily reported.
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