BACKGROUND
 

17. A brief history of the events which led to the formation of the Committee of Experts is recapitulated in the paragraphs below.

18. The Government of India appointed a Committee for Promotion of Urdu under the Chairmanship of Shri I.K. Gujral, the then Union Minister of State for Works and Housing by a Resolution dated May 5, 1972. It was requested to advise the Government on the measures to be adopted for the promotion of Urdu language and the steps required to be taken to provide adequate facilities for Urdu speaking people in educational, cultural and administrative matters.

19. The Report of the Gujral Committee was received in the Ministry of Education on May 8, 1975. It runs into 269 pages and contains 187 recommendations covering a very wide spectrum of problems and issues.

20. The Gujral Committee Report was placed before the Cabinet on January 30, 1979. Thereafter, it was laid on the Table of both the Houses of Parliament on February 21, 1979. The Cabinet did not take any decision on the recommendations and instead decided that, since most of the recommendations of the Report would have to be implemented by the States, copies of the Report may be sent to the State Governments for ascertaining their views.

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Accordingly, copies of the Gujral Committee Report were made available to all the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations and the Institutions concerned, for examining the recommendations and sending their views to the Ministry.

21. The major recommendations of the Gujral Committee Report include the amendment of the Three Language Formula, use of Urdu for official purposes where there are 10% or more speakers of Urdu and provision of adequate safeguards for the Urdu linguistic minority. Besides, there are other recommendations regarding the use of Urdu as medium of instruction, training of Urdu teachers, setting up of Urdu Research Institutes) starting of Correspondence Courses in Urdu in Universities, development of Urdu journalism and literature, increasing the frequency and the duration of Radio and TV broadcasts in Urdu and strengthening of the Bureau for Promotion of Urdu.

22. The Report of the Gujral Committee was also considered by Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board in its meeting held on June 4, 1979. On the recommendations of the Board, a Sub-Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Professor A.A. Suroor, the then Vice-Chairman of Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board, by the Ministry of Education and Culture, to consider the recommendations which could be implemented by this Ministry. In the meeting of the Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board held on May 20, 1980, it was decided to enlarge the scope of this Committee so as to cover the role of Urdu in all the Ministries of the Union Government.

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23. The Sub-Committee submitted its report on November 12, 1982. When this report was placed before Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board in its meeting held on January 7, 1983, it was decided that the report may first be considered by the Standing Committee of the Taraqqui-e-Urdu Board. The Standing Committee considered the recommendations of the Sub-Committee in its meeting held on August 20, 1983.

It proposed that:

(i) the most important and basic recommendation to accord official status to Urdu by modifying the official language Acts on the model of the Bihar Government be pursued with the State Governments;

(ii) the State Governments may also be persuaded to recognise the Urdu educational system with Urdu medium from primary to secondary and collegiate levels as recommended by the Gujral Committee;

(iii) the Government should establish an autonomous central body for Urdu with statutory powers with the Bureau for Promotion of Urdu providing the base;

(iv) the Ministry should set up a permanent Standing Committee to watch the progress of implementation of Gujral Committee's recommendations; and

(v) the recommendation of the Gujral Committee that the qualifying percentage with regard to the facilitaties in the spheres of administration for Urdu speaking linguistic minorities be reduced from 15 to 10, should be implemented.

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24. The above recommendations were referred to the State Governments on April 6, 1984. On March 28, 1984, a Standing Committee to watch the progress and implementation of recommendations of the Committee for Promotion of Urdu was set up under the Chairmanship of Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi. On March 23, 1989, the Committee was reconstituted under the Chairmanship of Shri Sibte Razi, Member of Parliament. On February 15, 1990 the Government of India constituted a Committee of Experts under the Chairmanship of Shri Ali Sardar Jafri to examine implementation of the recommendations of the Gujral Committee.

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