Official Language in Indian Adminstration

Constitutional and Other Provisions

Article 343 (1) of the Constitution provides that Hindi in Devanagari script shall be the official language of the Union. 

Article 343 (2) also provides for continuing the use of English in official work of the Union for a period of 15 years (i.e., up to January 25, 1965) from the date of commencement of the Constitution. 

Article 343 (3) empowered the Parliament to provide by law for continued use of English for official purposes even after January 25, 1965. 

The Official Language Act- 1963 also lays down under Section 3(3) that both Hindi and English shall compulsorily be used for certain specified purpose such as Resolutions, General Orders, Rules, Notifications, Administrative and other Reports, Press Communiques; Administrative and other reports and official papers to be laid before a House or the Houses of Parliament; contracts, agreements, licences, permits, tender notices and forms of tender, etc. 

In 1976, Official Language Rules were framed under the provisions of section 8 (1) of the Official Languages Act, 1963 as amended in 1967. 

Salient features of the rules are as under:

(i) They apply to all Central Government offices, including any office of a Commission, Committee or Tribunal appointed by the Central Government and Corporation or Company owned or controlled by the Central Govt. except the State of Tamil Nadu; 

(ii) Communications from a Central Government office to State/Union Territories or to any person in region ‘A’ comprising the States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Haryana and Union Territories of And aman and Nicobar Islands and Delhi, shall be in Hindi; 

(iii) Communications from a Central Government Office to States/Union Territories in region ‘B’ comprising the States of Punjab, Gujarat, Maharahstra and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli shall ordinarily be in Hindi and if any communication is issued to any of them in English, it shall be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof; 

(iv) Communications from a Central Government office to State or Union Territory in Region ‘C’ or to any office (not being a Central Government Office) or person in such State shall be in English; and 

(v) Communications between Central Government offices in region 'C' to a state or Union Territory of Region ‘A’ or Region 'B' or to any office (not being a Central Government office) or persons in such state may be either in Hindi or English. 

Features of Official Language Policy 

The features of official language policy are : 

i) All manuals, codes and other procedural literature relating to Central Government offices are required to be prepared both in Hindi and English. All forms, headings of registers, name plates, notice boards and various items of stationery, etc. are also required to be in Hindi and English; 

ii) Officers should ensure that documents specified in Section 3 (3) of the Act are issued both in Hindi and English; and 

iii) The administrative head of each Central Government office should ensure that the provisions of the Act, the rules and directions issued under Rule 12 shall be properly complied with, and suitable and effective check-points shall be devised for this purpose. 

Annual Programme 

In compliance with the Official Language Resolution, 1968, an annual programme is prepared by the Department of Official Language in which targets are set for the offices of the Central Government with regard to originating correspondence, replies in Hindi to letters in Hindi, recruitment of Hindi typists and stenos, websites, inspections and meetings of Hindi Salahakar Samiti and Official Language Implementation Committees, purchase of Hindi books for libraries, and purchase of electronic equipments. 

A Quarterly Progress Report is submitted by the offices of the Central Government regarding achievements vis-a-vis the said targets. 

An Annual Assessment Report is prepared on the basis of the Quarterly Progress Reports, which is laid on the tables of both Houses of the Parliament, and its copies are endorsed to State Governments and the ministries/departments of the Central Government. 

Subordinate Offices of the Department 

The Central Hindi Training Institute (CHTI) and Central Translation Bureau (CTB) are the two leading institutions for capacity-building in learning of Hindi language, typing, shorthand, IT tools and translation-skills.

There are also eight regional implementation offices at Bengaluru, Cochin, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhopal, Delhi and Ghaziabad to monitor the implementation of Official Language Policy of the Union.

Committees/Samitis 

The Kendriya Hindi Samiti केन्द्रीय हिन्दी समिति was constituted in the year 1967. Chaired by Prime Minister, it is the apex policy making body which lays the guidelines for the propagation and progressive use of Hindi as official language of the Union. 

The Committee of Parliament on official language has been constituted in 1976 under Section 4 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 to periodically review the progress in the use of Hindi as the official language of the Union and to submit a report to the President.

The Committee consists of 20 Members of the Lok Sabha and 10 of the Rajya Sabha. 

It has so far submitted nine parts of the reports to the President. 

The Presidential orders have been issued on eight parts so far and work is in progress on the ninth part. 

The Hindi Salahakar Samitis have been constituted in various ministries/ departments with a view to rendering advice for proper implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Government. 

The Chairmen of these Samitis are the Ministers concerned. 

These Samitis are the required to be constituted in accordance with the guidelines formulated on the basis of recommendations of the Kendriya Hindi Samiti chaired by the Prime Minister. 

The main function of these Samitis is to render advise for implementation of the principles relating of Official Language Act and Rules and the policy decisions and directions of the Kendriya Hindi Samiti and the Department of Official Language with regard to use of Hindi in official work. 

Town Official Languages Implementation Committees (TOLICs) are constituted in different cities and towns having ten or more Central Government offices. 

Its objective is to promote the use of Hindi in their memberoffices, and exchange information on good practices for wider use of Hindi experiences. 

Besides the Central Official Language Implementation Committee headed by Secretary, Department of Official Language reviews the status of use of Hindi for official purposes of the Union, of the training of its employees in Hindi, and implementation of instructions issued from time to time by the Department of Official Language. It suggests me asures for removing the shortcoming and difficulties noticed in implementation these instructions. 

Awards Schemes 

The Department has Rajbhasha Keerti Puraskar Yojna for awarding the outstanding achievements in the implementation of Official Language Policy of the Union. 

Under this Scheme shields are given every year to ministries/ departments, banks and financial institutions, public sector undertakings and Town Official Language Implementation Committees for outstanding achievements in the implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Union. 

Under the Rajbhasha Gaurav Hindi Book-Writing Scheme, cash awards, shields and certificates are awarded to the working/retired employees of the Central Government, banks, financial institutions, universities, training institutions and autonomous bodies of the Central Government for writing original books in Hindi. 

Under the same scheme cash awards, shields and certificates are awarded to citizen of India for writing original books in Hindi on knowledge and science based subjects besides this, the Central Govt. employees including retired employees are awarded for writing excellent articles in Hindi. 

At zonal level, Zonal Official Language Awards are given every year to the Central Government offices, public sector undertakings, Town Official Language Implementation Committees, banks and financial institutions of the Central Government for outstanding achievements in implementing the Official Language Policy of the Union, and for progressive use of Hindi.