Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday directed the ministries of Urban Development and Housing
and Urban Poverty Alleviation to step up efforts for promoting use of Hindi language in official work as per the norms stipulated under the Official Language Policy.
Reviewing the progress made in use of Hindi in official work at the Hindi Salahakar Samiti, Naidu shared the committee’s concern that the norms for use of Hindi as Official Language were not being followed properly.
He directed the top administrative brass of both the ministries to step up efforts to promote use of Hindi by December this year before the same is reviewed by the committee in its next meeting.
Naidu observed “after extensive deliberations, the makers of the Constitution declared Hindi, the largest spoken language in the country as the Official Language and its implementation can’t be taken as a ritual. This needs to be implemented with all the seriousness.”
“Use of Hindi along with English needs to be promoted in the functioning of the Central government while that of local language should be encouraged by the state governments,” he said.
Naidu pointed out that four Prime Ministers, including late Morarji Desai, H D Deve Gowda, P V Narasimha Rao and Narendra Modi came from non-Hindi speaking states and “all of them were good in Hindi and this is a significant development in many ways”.
He said Modi has been using Hindi language to converse with world leaders and at all international forums.
Naidu referred to leaders of several developed countries like Japan, France, Germany who converse in their mother tongue and cited example of prosperous countries which don’t use English language as a medium of learning.
“Language gives primary identity to a community and a nation and hence, various regional languages and Hindi shall be protected and promoted,” said Naidu.
Members of Hindi Salahkar Samiti of the two urban ministries appreciated Naidu for acquiring reasonable proficiency in Hindi and for extensively using it in Parliamentary debates, discussions and on other occasions.
In his response, Naidu said he realized the importance of Hindi and learned the same after shifting to national politics in the late 80s.
Naidu assured the members of the Committee that he will ensure that the past ritualistic approach towards use of Hindi language in official work of the two ministries will be replaced by a more serious and purposeful actions.