 REPORT OF INTERACTION WITH NPERC
 ON AUGUST 8, 1990

The Chairman NPERC welcomed the Committee of Experts on Urdu and after mutual greetings and introductions requested Shri Ali Sardar Jafri and his team to make a presentation. Referring to the grave injustice done to Urdu in the last four decades, Shri Jafri stated that Urdu Is a national language which is born and brought up in India and is widely spoken by all sections of Indian people belonging to all faiths, castes and creeds.It belongs to the whole nation and has an inter-state character. He particularly referred to the Resolution setting up NPERC which emphasises that special steps are required for a sustained struggle against casteism, communalism and obsecurantism. He pleaded that the case of Urdu should not be linked with Sanskrit which is a mother of all languages and Sindhi which is a sister language. He also pointed that although the Three Language Formula was designed to promote national integration, its Implementation was defective which stood in the way of Urdu learners. Now when the whole education system was being reviewed, time has come to give Urdu its due place. He hoped that this meeting would be neither the first nor the last and that the interaction between the two nationally constituted Committees would be continuous. He then requested Shri K.K.Khullar to make a presentation to the NPERC.

2. Tracing the history of the Gujral Committee Report from 1975 onward, Shri K.K.Khullar pleaded for a rightful place of Urdu in

84 the education system of the countary, particularly by making arrangements for teaching of Urdu at primary stage for those who claim it as their mother tongue and by modifying the Three Language Formula by including Urdu therein. The text of submission made by Shri K.K.Khullar is annexed.

3. Dr. Raj Bahadur Gour referred to the special responsibility of the Central Government for Promotion of Urdu and the Constitutional guarantees given to the minorities by Article 29(1) and 350-A and how they have been disregarded in the last 40 years. He stated that there are neither any satisfactory arrangements for teaching of Urdu nor for Urdu text-books, nor for Urdu teachers' training. The result is that students are leaving Urdu. Refering to the Three Language Formula he explained how the same has been mal-implemented in the Hindi speaking States. This mal-implementation has resulted in the inequality between the minority and majority languages. He also emphasised the inequality of load in the context of education. The result of this Inequality is that Urdu students are being denied admission in the technical and professional institutions. He also gave the details of the stages at which different languages should be taught in the modified formula recommended by Gujral Committee. He further said that there was no literature available in Urdu for NFE, or in the NLM; neither in Kendriya Vidyalayas nor in Navodaya Vidyalays which are set up by Central Government. He also stated that since Education is a Concurrent

subject, the Central Government should identify the areas where concurrency has to play its role. He concluded by saying that Concurrency should be used in favour of Urdu.

4. Dr.Khalique Anjum referred to his visits to the States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and stated that the state of Urdu in these states is highly unsatisfactory, in that, even in Urdu medium schools Urdu exists only on paper. He was of the view that there was more illiteracy among the Urdu speaking people than others, and that their continued illiteracy will soon be a national liability. Summing up the case of Urdu on behalf of the Committee, Shri Ali Sardar Jafri called for a new spirit of comradeship and liberality in languages particularly between the two sister languages i.e. Urdu and Hindi, which have to enrich each other being born of the same mother and having the same roots.

5. Responding to the interaction between the two Committees, Dr.Sukhdev Singh, Dr.Zahoor Qasim, Dr.Vidya Niwas Mishra and Dr.Anil Sadgopal stated that the interaction has helped NPERC to understand and appreciate the case of Urdu much better than before.

6. In his concluding remarks, the Chairman, NPERC, Acharya Ramamoorthy stated that the interaction has been very useful and assured the Committee of Experts on Urdu that they would do their best to accord Urdu its rightful place in the National System of Education.

TEXT OF THE SUBMISSION

MADE BY

COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS

ON URDU

NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION - 1986 REVIEW COMMITTEE

(N.P.E.R.C)

AUGUST 8, 1990

LIST OF THE MEMBERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE INTER-ACTION

        
                       1.   Shri Ali Sardar Jafri         Chairman
        
                       2.   Dr.Raj Bahadur Gour           Member
        
                       3.   Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi    Member
        
                       4.   Prof. Qamar Rais              Member
        
                       5.   Dr. Khalique Anjum            Member
        
                       6.   Shri K.K.Khullar              Member
                                                           Secretary

A NOTE FOR ACCORDING URDU ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION

The Committee for Promotion of Urdu was appointed by the Government of India Resolution dated May 5, 1972 under the Chairmanship of Shri I.K.Gujral, the then Union Minister of State for Works & Housing 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.

2. The Government Resolution setting up the Committee stated, inter- alia, "The Government Resolution of 18th January, 1968, on the Languages Policy as adopted by both the Houses of Parliament emphasised that in the interest of the educational and cultural advancement of the country, it was necessary to take concerted measures for the full development of the 14 major languages of India besides Hindi. The Resolution further enjoined upon the Government to prepare and implement a programme in collaboration with the State Governments, for the coordinated development of all these languages so that they grow rapidly in richness and become effective means of communicating modern knowledge. With assistance from Central Government the various State Governments have taken up programmes for the development of the regional, languages. Urdu, however, is not the concern of any one State Government or of any community. The responsibility for its development has also to be shared by the Central Government.

It is, therefore, necessary that in addition to the steps already taken, further steps are taken urgently for the promotion and development of Urdu."

3. Prior to its issue, the Resolution was placed before the Parliament by the Union Minister of State for Education Prof.S.Nurul Hasan, on May 2, 1972. Elucidating the background to the formation of the Committee he stated:

"Urdu is an important national language in India. It does not belong to any particular state and is widely spoken in the country by people belonging to all faiths, castes and creeds. It thus belongs to the whole nation and has an inter-state character. The Government of India) therefore, have always been alive to the need of providing adequate facilities for the Promotion of Urdu."

4. Numerically, Urdu occupies the sixth position among the languages of India. According to 1981 census, the number of Urdu speakers is 3,53,23,282.

5. The Gujral Committee Report 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. The major recommendations of the 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 to provide adequate safeguards for Urdu linguistic minority. Chapter IV of the Report relates to Education (Pages 31-72: para 4.1 to 4.370).

6. The Gujral Committee Report was laid on the table of both the Houses of Parliament on 21st February, 1979. The Report was also considered by the Taraqqi-Urdu-Board in 1979 by a SubCommittee, which submitted its report in 1982. In 1984 a Standing Committee to watch the progress and implementation of the recommendations of the Gujral committee was set up. In 1989 this Committee was reconstituted. Inspite of all that the fact remained that the implementation of the recommendations of the Gujral Committee were slow and tardy.

7. The National Front in its Lok Sabha Election Manifesto-1989 promised that the recommendations of the Gujral Committee should be implemented. On the February 15, 1990, a Committee of Experts to examine the implementation of recommendations of the Gujral Committee for Promotion of Urdu was set up under the Chairmanship of Shri Ali Sardar Jafri. A copy of the Resolution dated February 15, 1990 setting up the Committee and indicating the composition and terms of Reference may kindly be seen at Annexure I.

8. In its meeting held on April 9-10, 1990, the Committee of Experts unanimously resolved to have interaction with the NPERC on issues associated with and arising from the recommendations of the Gujral Committee for Promotion of Urdu. These issues include place of mother tongue in primary education (Article 350-A of the Constitution), secondary and university education, Three Language Formula and place of Urdu therein, safe-guards for linguistic minorities guaranteed in the Constitution of India under Articles 29(1), 30(1), 350-A, and

350-B, provision for educationally backward minorities as envisaged in Para 4.8 of the National Policy on Education -- 1986 and the Chapter XIV entitled "Minorities Education" in the Programme of Action - 1986. Other connected issues are nonavailability of Urdu text books, adult education and non-formal education literature in Urdu, correspondence courses in Urdu and provision for research in Urdu language. A copy of the Gujral Committee Report together with a summary of recommendations have already been circulated to the Committee.

9. The National Policy on Education - 1986 does not make any special provision for Urdu. Now when this policy is under review, it is necessary to accord Urdu its rightful place in the education system of the country particularly by making arrangements for teaching of Urdu at the primary stage for those who claim it as their mother tongue and by modifying the Three Language Formula by including Urdu therein.

REPORT OF INTERACTION WITH NPERC ON AUGUST 8, 1990

LIST OF THE MEMBERS WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE INTER-ACTION

A NOTE FOR ACCORDING URDU ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION