38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language

GS Paper II Indian Polity and Governance

Context:

Recently, the Union Home Minister chaired the 38th meeting of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language.

More on News:

During the meeting, the 12th volume of the report of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language was also approved which will be presented to the President.

About Committee of Parliament on Official Language:

It was set up in 1976 under Section 4 of The Official Languages Act, 1963.
Mandate: To review the progress made in the use of Hindi for official purposes, and to make recommendations to increase the use of Hindi in official communications.
Composition: It comprises 30 members of Parliament, 20 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha, headed by Home- Minister.
Under the provisions of the 1963 Act, the Committee submits its report to the President, who “shall [then] cause the report to be laid before each House of Parliament, and sent to all the State Governments”.

Additional Information:

About Eighth Schedule

The Eighth Schedule to the constitution of India lists the official languages of India.
- It consists of the following 22 languages: Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi,Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
- However, there are no established criteria for a language to be deemed eligible for incorporation into the Eighth Schedule.
Constitutional Provisions:
- Part XVII of the Constitution deals with the official language in Articles 343 to 351.
- Article 344: Article 344(1) provides for the constitution of a Commission by the President on expiration of five years from the commencement of the Constitution.
- Article 351: It provides for the spread of the Hindi language to develop it so that it may serve as a medium of expression for all the elements of the composite culture of India.