Home Min asked to lay clear guidelines on official languages

Questioning the rationale behind some languages being declared official or second official language by states and UTs, the Ministry of Minority Affairs wants Home ministry to lay down clear guidelines in this regard. Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, which comes under Minority Affairs Ministry, in its report said close to 68 and 28 percent of population speak Hindi and Punjabi in Chandigarh but English is the UT’s official language. [caption id=“attachment_1054123” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The report was tabled in Lok Sabha by the Minority Affairs Minister K Rahman Khan. English is also the official language of Lakshadweep where 84 percent of the population speaks Malayalam, the report pointed out. It also highlighted that Urdu speakers make for only eight per cent of Uttar Pradesh population but it is the second official language of the state. It said West Bengal government is considering declaring Urdu as an additional official language even though it is spoken by only two percent of people in the state. “It is therefore reiterated that Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) should evolve appropriate guidelines in consultations with states and UTs in regard to designation of languages as the official language or additional official language,” the report said. Department of Official Languages come under the MHA. PTI