Syllabus: GS2/Polity and Governance
Context
- The Tamil Nadu government has issued an advisory to senior officials and heads of departments, reiterating existing provisions and orders mandating the use of Tamil as the official language in all government offices.
About
- Tamil is the official language of the Government of Tamil Nadu, according to the Official Languages Act 1956.
- As per the Advisory:
- Government orders should only be issued in Tamil, and circulars should also be in Tamil.
- The letters received in Tamil from the public should be replied to in Tamil; the notes about them should also be in Tamil.
- Government employees should sign only in Tamil in all correspondence.
Regional Languages in State Legislature
- As per the Article 345: A State Legislature can choose any language(s) used in the State or Hindi for official work.
- However, until the State passes a law to change it, English will continue to be used for official purposes where it was used before the Constitution began.
Official Language of Union
- English, alongside Hindi, is one of the two official languages of the central government.
- Article 343(2) says that “for a period of fifteen years from the commencement of this Constitution, the English language shall continue to be used for all the official purposes of the Union for which it was being used immediately before such commencement”. The Constitution of India came into force on January 26, 1950.
- Under Article 343(3), “Parliament may by law provide for the use, after the said period of fifteen years, of— (a) the English language, or (b) the Devanagari form of numerals, for such purposes as may be specified in the law.”
- On January 26, 1965, Section 3 of the Official Languages Act, 1963 came into effect, which provided for the “continuation of English Language for official purposes of the Union and for use in Parliament”.
Administrative Efficiency vs. Regional Assertion
- Exclusive use of Tamil may lead to communication challenges with central authorities or inter-state coordination.
- Translation requirements for ordinances and letters could cause delays or errors if not implemented carefully.
- The directive for government servants to sign in Tamil might pose difficulties for officers from non-Tamil backgrounds, especially All India Services.
- Tamil-only directives could require significant technological adjustments, especially in databases, software, and e-governance tools.
| Status of Hindi language – The Constitution of India does not list any one language as India’s “national language”. – Clause 1 of Article 343 (Official language of the Union) says “The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script”. – Article 351 (Directive for development of the Hindi language) says “It shall be the duty of the Union to promote 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”. 1. However, the provision says, this must be done “without interfering with its genius, the forms, style and expressions used in Hindustani and in the other languages of India specified in the Eighth Schedule”. Eighth Schedule – Initially there were only 14 languages in this Schedule. – Currently 22 languages are listed under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. 1. These include Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu ,Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri. – English is absent from the list of 22 in the Eighth Schedule. It is one of the 99 non-scheduled languages of India. |
Source: TH
Previous article
Supreme Court on Child Trafficking
Next article
Justice BR Gavai To Be the Next CJI