Even GAD not developed Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri interface of website
Translation exercise going on at snail’s pace in few deptts
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 30: Even nearly one year after the approval of the Parliament and issuance of formal notification by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the Government of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has failed to introduce additional official languages much to the disappointment of the people. Even the General Administration Department, which passes instructions to all other departments, has not developed Hindu, Kashmir, Dogri and Urdu interface of its website.
The Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020 was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament in the month of September last year and the same received the assent of the President of India on September 26, 2020.
Accordingly, the Act to provide for the languages to be used for the official purposes of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and for matters connected therewith or incidential thereto was notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice on September 27, 2020.
The Section 3 of the Act states: “With effect from such date as the Administrator (Lieutenant Governor) may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint in this behalf, the Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English languages shall be the official languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of the Union Territory”.
A provision in Section 3 states that the English language may continue to be used, for those administrative and legislative purposes, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for which it was being used before the commencement of the Act. As per another provision, the business in the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory shall be transacted in the official language or languages of the Union Territory.
However, despite lapse of nearly one year the J&K Government has not introduced Hindi, Kashmir, Dogri and Urdu as official languages, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “only General Administration Department has started some exercise in this regard while other departments are completely silent on the implementation of the Act for want of explicit directions from the Government”.
Vide Government Order No. 1110-JK-GAD dated December 14, 2020, sanction was accorded to the establishment of Official Languages Section in the General Administration Department for translating important statutory orders, Government orders and other important Government documents as may be desired by the authorities into four additional official languages of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir—Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and Urdu.
It was also mentioned in the order that this section will develop Hindi, Kashmir, Dogri and Urdu interface of the official website of GAD in collaboration with the Information Technology Department, which will provide all possible assistance in terms of hardware, software and technical guidance.
It was further ordered that the posts sanctioned for the section will be filled on deputation basis from the appropriate staff of the Higher Education Department, Information Department and the erstwhile J&K Legislative Council till permanent arrangements are put in place.
“This section has translated some important statutory orders into some additional languages but their proof-reading is still pending. Moreover, recently a tender has been floated for engaging some experts for the completion of task and development of Hindi, Kashmiri, Dogri and Urdu interface of the official website of GAD”, sources said while expressing inability to specify the time-frame for the completion of this task.
Moreover, no permanent staff has been posted in the Official Languages Section in the GAD and existing manpower is on deputation from other departments.
Sources further said, “the delay in issuance of formal notification for all the departments is notwithstanding the fact that the issue was debated in a high-level meeting chaired by the then Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam on October 12, 2020 at Civil Secretariat, Srinagar”, adding “in the meeting it was revealed that Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has already worked out to issue the Panchayat newsletter in all the five official languages of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory”.
“The inordinate delay in introduction of additional official languages is notwithstanding the fact that people are anxiously waiting for the Government to issue orders, circulars and notifications in all these five languages”, sources said.
Further, no formal step has so far been initiated for the promotion and development of regional languages of the Union Territory, taking necessary steps to strengthen the existing institutional mechanism such as the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in the Union Territory although there is a provision in this regard in the Official Languages Act, 2020.
“The institutional mechanism shall make special efforts for the promotion and development of Gojri, Pahari and Punjabi languages”, states Sub-Section 2 of Section 4 of the J&K Official Languages Act, 2020.
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