INTRODUCTION
After submission of the Interim Report to the Government on 20th April, 1990, the Committee of Experts deliberated on the status of implementation of the recommendations of the Gujral Committee in the States and Union Territories. The Committee observed that since different versions relating to the progress of implementation of the recommendations of the Gujral Committee exist, it was absolutely necessary to send its representatives to various states to assess on- the-spot and up-to-dat position. Accordingly, four Sub-Committees were set up for the purpose. The composition of these four sub- committees is as under:
Sub-Committee No. 1 (States: Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal)
(i) Prof. Qamar Rais
(ii) Shri Ram Lall
(iii) Dr. Khalique Anjum ... Convenor
Co-opted members, (i) Shri Ali Jawaz Zaidi, Lucknow;
(ii) Prof. S.S. Dasnavi, Patna;
(iii) Shri Shanti Ranjan Bhattacharya, Calcutta.
Sub-Committee No. II (i) Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi
(ii) Shri Kashmiri Lal Zakir .... Convenor
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Co-opted members (i) Prof. S.R. Kidwai, JNU, New Delhi;
(ii) Shri Hira Nand Soz, 271, Sector 7-A, Faridabad-121006.
Sub-Committee No. III (i) Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi
(ii) Shri Kashmiri Lal Zakir
(iii) Prof. Gopi Chand Narang .... Convenor
Co-opted members: (i) Shri Rahmat Amrohi, Ahmedabad;
(ii) Akhtar Sayyad Khan, Advocate, Inside Itwara, Bhopal.
Sub-Committee No. IV (States: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra)
(i) Shri Ali Sardar Jafri
(ii) Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan
3. Shri Raj Bahadur Gour ... Convenor
Co-opted members
(i) Shri B.N. Raman, Ex-Chief Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Hyderabad, "Visakha", Road No. 12, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad-500034.
(ii) Dr. Abdul Sattar Dalvi, Head, Urdu Department, Bombay University, Bombay.
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(iii) Sayeed Manzoor Ahmed, Head, Urdu Department, J.s. College Mysore.
Prof. Gopi Chand Narang, because of his foreign assignment, expressed his Inability to function as Convenor of Sub-Committee No. III. This was agreed to. Consequently, Dr. Khalique Anjum, Convenor of Sub-Committee No. I was requested to accept the convenorship of Sub-Committee No. III for the States of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and also membership of Committee No. II. The State of Gujarat was, however, included in the Sub-Committee No. IV of which Dr. Raj Bahadur Gour was the Convenor. These Sub-Committees visited 10 states and 1 Union Territory namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi., Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. The visit to the State of Madhya Pradesh could not materialise. A consolidated report of the Sub-Committees is given below.
The Sub-Committees visited the states allotted to them on the following dates:
Sl.No. State/Union Territory Position of Visit of
Sub-Committee
1. Andhra Pradesh 5-7 July, 1990
2. Bihar 24-26 May, 1990
3. Delhi 30-31 August, 1990
4. Gujarat 29-30 June, 1990
5. Haryana 5-6 September, 1990
6. Himachal Pradesh 24-27 July, 1990
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Sl.No. State/Union Territory Position of Visit of
Sub-Committee
7. Karnataka 30 July & 1 August, 1990
8. Maharashtra 1-2 June, 1990
9. Rajasthan 8-12 July, 1990
10. Uttar Pradesh 21-24 May, 1990
11. West Bengal 13-17 June, 1990
The Sub-Committee examined a large number of Government Officers, representatives of Urdu organisations, writers, poets and journalists of Urdu.
According to the census of 1981 the total population of various states and its linguistic break-up is given below:
Andhra Pradesh:
Total Population : 53,175,277
Telugu : 45,268,854
Urdu : 4,169,179
Bihar:
Total Population : 69,914,734
Hindi : 55,825,084
Urdu : 6,955,838
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Delhi:
Total Population : 6,174,632
Hindi : 4,710,441
Urdu 362,935
Gujarat:
Total Population : 33,919,882
Gujarati : 30,774,762
Urdu : 609,056
Haryana:
Total Population : 12,873,434
Hindi : 11,427,531
Urdu : 227,264
Himachal Pradesh:
Total Population : 4,084,570
Hindi : 3,787,044
Urdu : 13,264
Karnataka:
Total Population : 52,000,069
Hindi : 657,561
Urdu : 3,512,831
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Maharashtra:
Total Population : 62,784,171
Marathi : 45,816,753
Urdu : 4,319,067
Rajasthan:
Total Population : 34,315,701
Hindi : 30,685,887
Urdu : 725,402
Uttar Pradesh:
Total Population : 110,549,826
Hindi : 94,144,962
Urdu : 10,767,175
West Bengal:
Total Population : 54,580,647
Bengali : 46,800,314
Urdu : 1,200,216
Our Constitution mentions 15 languages of India in its VIII schedule. All the languages except Sanskrit, Sindhi and Urdu have the status of official language in their respective regions. The importance of Sanskrit cannot be denied. Sindhi and Urdu are the two modern Indian Languages which have no region of their own.
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Numerically, Urdu occupies the sixth position among the languages of India. However, the speakers of this language are spread all over the country in such a way that there is no region where the number of Urdu speakers justifies the status of the official language. The situation regarding the number of Urdu speakers in some states is interesting. For example, if we go by the percentage of population, Urdu speakers constitute only 11% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh but if we go by the number of Urdu speakers, it is 10,767,175 which cannot be ignored. Similar concentration of Urdu speakers exists in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and some other states. It was a long standing demand of Urdu speakers that Urdu should be accorded an official status by the states concerned. Anjuman Taraqqi Urdu (Hind) submitted a representation to the President of India in 1956 requesting him to declare Urdu as the second regional language of Uttar Pradesh in accordance with Article 347 of the Constitution of India. The representation was signed by 22 lakhs Urdu speakers, but all efforts for collection of such a large number of signatures proved to be futile.
Constitution of India provides safeguards to the linguistic minorities under Article 345 and 347. The said articles are as follows:
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"Subject to the provisions of Article 346 and 347, the Legislature of a State may by law adopt any one one or more of the languagues in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.
Provided that, until the Legislature of the State otherwise provides by law, the English language shall continue to be used for those official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of this Constitution."
"On a demand being made in that behalf the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial porportion of the population of a State desire the use of any language spoken by them to be recognised by that State, direct that such language shall also be officially recognised throughout that State or any part thereof for such purposes as he may specify."
Jammu & Kashmir: Urdu was declared as official language in Jammu & Kashmir soon after India attained Independence. It would not be out of
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place to mention that historically Urdu enjoyed the status of an auxiliary official language, in J&K ever before 1947.
Andhra Pradesh: Jammu & Kashmir declared Urdu as its official language but Andhra Pradesh is the first State of India which accorded official recognition to Urdu. In pursuance of Article 345 of the Constitution, Andhra Pradesh legislature passed the Andhra Pradesh Official Language Act, 1966 by adding Section 7 on July 4, 1977.
Section (7) of the Act Provides: "The State Government may, from time to time, by notification in the Andhra Pradesh Gazette direct the use of Urdu or any other language or languages, in addition to the Telugu Language in the interest of persons speaking such language or languages in such areas and for such official purposes of the State and for such periods as may be specified in the notification."
There are eight Districts with an Urdu population of above 10% and five districts with an Urdu population of 8% and above but less than 10%. The Urdu population of Hyderabad City including Secunderabad (i.e. area covered by Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) is 35%.
There are quite a large number of Districts, Towns and Mandals where Urdu population is more than 10%. In some cases it is 40% also.
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Official Language of the state is Telegu under the Act. However, section (7) of the Act provides for the use of Urdu or any other Minority language, for such official purposes, in such areas and for such period as the Government may specify and publish in the Official Gazette.
The United Action Committee for Urdu (Andhra Pradesh) has represented to this Committee that:
(a) the Official Language Act of 1966 be amended. Section (7) provides for the official use of Urdu and other minority languages as a sort of interpolation and consequential amendments have not been incorporated;
(b) the Act should be amended to provide guidelines for the executive to determine the purpose for the use of Urdu;
(c) the section dealing with "definitions" should be suitably amended to accommodate the provisions of Section (7);
(d) Section (5) should be amended to enlarge the powers of the Official Language Commission to provide for the over-seeing of implementation of Section (7) and include in it a representative of Urdu; and
(e) Section 7 of the Act should be amended to delete the 'Time Limit' for official use of Urdu. The law should list out the minimum purposes for which Urdu shall be used in administrative units where Urdu speaking population is 10%.
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Urdu organisations want that the intention of the Legislature should be clear with regard to the provision in Section (7).
They also feel that minimum purposes should be for places with 10% population and in local bodies where Urdu population is 30% or more (Like Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad) the local administration should be both carried out in Telugu and in Urdu.
G.O. No. 472 of July 4, 1977 gave the official purposes for which Urdu was to be used. But subsequently this G.O. was superceded by G.O. No. 371 of June 28, 1988.
The difference may be noted.
Clause (3) of G.O. 472 is missing in G.O. 371. According to clause 3 of G.O. 472 Urdu was to be a Regional Language for purposes of recruitment to Ministerial and Judicial Ministries Services in the Districts of Telangana, Rayalaseema and in Guntur.
The Government has promised to bring out a comprehensive G.O. covering all the aspects of use of Urdu in administration and education.
Bihar On January 16, 1981 the Bihar Legislative Assembly passed an Act, which is known as Bihar Rajbhasha Amendment Act 1981. The Act provides use of Urdu language in specific areas and for specific purposes. In the beginning, the Government specified 15
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districts, but at a later stage 11 more districts were added and finally this provision was extended to all the districts of Bihar.
Specific purposes, mentioned in the aforesaid Act are as follows:
i) entertaining petitions and applications in Urdu and replies thereof in Urdu;
ii) receiving documents, written in Urdu by the registration office;
iii) publication of important Government rules, regulations and notifications in Urdu also;
iv) issuing Government orders and circulars of Public importance in Urdu also;
v) publications of important government advertisements in Urdu also; vi) publication of Urdu translation also of the Gazette; and
vii) important sign posts in Urdu.
However, Urdu speaking people are not satisfied with these minimum purposes as they fall short of recommendations of Gujral Committee in this regard.
Karnataka: There is no Official Language Act in Karnataka. A Government Order was issued on November 24, 1982 stating that where Urdu population is 15% or more, important laws, rules,
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Government Orders should be issued in Urdu also. But this is implemented more in breach.
Utttar Pradesh: Uttar Pradesh also followed suit by making amendments in its Official Language Act to accommodate Urdu for the use of specific official purposes. This amendment is known as Uttar Pradesh Official Language (Amendment) Act, 1989. This provision is not restricted to a few specified districts but is applicable to the entire State.
Notification under the amended law is as follows:
"Official Languages Act provides in exercise of powers under Section 3 of the Uttar Pradesh Languages Act, 1951, the Governor is pleased to order that in the interest of Urdu speaking people, Urdu language shall be used as second official language for the following purposes:
i) entertaining petitions and applications in Urdu and replies thereof in Urdu;
ii) receiving documents written in Urdu by the registration office;
iii) publication of important Government rules, regulations and notifications in Urdu also;
iv) issuing Government orders and circulars of public importance in Urdu also;
v) publication of important government advertisements in Urdu also;
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vi) publication of Urdu translation also of the Gazette; and
vii) important sign posts in Urdu."
These minimum purposes are much less than those recommended by the Gujral Committee. Even these have not been implemented.
West Bengal Although the West Bengal government did not make any amendment in its Official Languages Act to accommodate Urdu, State Government, however, by an executive order No. 20327(100)/CA dt. October 3, 1981 declared that Urdu would be used for specific purposes as Official Language in some divisions namely Calcutta, Asansol and Islampur. Spelling out specific purposes the aforesaid Order says:
"Government of West Bengal has decided that the Urdu language should be increasingly used for official purposes for the benefit of the Urdu speaking population in Calcutta and also Asansol and Islampur subdivisions.
I am now directed by the Governor to say that the following measures should be implemented by all Departments, Directorate and District Offices of this Government as quickly as possible
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1. Early action shall be taken to grant recognition to the primary and secondary Urdu medium schools which are already functioning and have applied for recognition from Government. 2. Steps shall be taken to purchase Urdu typewriters and to appoint Urdu typists in the Sub-divisional and Block offices in Asansol and Islampur. Similarly, one Urdu Typewriter shall be purchased and Urdu Typist appointed in each of the Departments of Agriculture, Education, Home, Health and Family Welfare, Land and Land Reforms, Cottage and Small Scale Industries, Panchayat and CD Co-operation Animal Husbandry and VS.
3. After the Urdu typewriters and Urdu typists have been made available all letters received in Urdu must be replied to in Urdu. Similarly, in Calcutta, Asansol and Islampur important Government circulars should be issued in Urdu language also."
However, it seems that no action was taken on this order because many witnesses complained about the complacency of West Bengal Government regarding the implementation of above-mentioned Executive Order. On July 4, 1983 the State Government sent a circular letter No. 132261 (125)-ICA dt. July 4, 1983 to various Departments stating
"As an initial measure for introducing Urdu language for official purposes for the benefit of Urdu speaking population of the state the following measures are being taken:
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In the State Head Quarters under the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs an Urdu Correspondence cell has been created. The cell will be headed for the present on parttime basis by Sh. Mohd. Azam an Urdu Sub-Editor of this Department. This cell will be responsible for translation of the correspondence from Urdu into English/Bengali and Vice-versa.
In the districts of 24-parganas, Howrah, Burdwan and West Dinajpur similar sections are going to be created soon."
The Sub-Committee is at a loss to understand why the State Government's Executive Order was ignored by almost all the departments of the State, regarding the circular.
The State Government's spokesman was unable to explain how one time Sub-Editor was expected to shoulder the responsibility which was expected to be accomplished by four or five persons.
However, the purpose for which Urdu should be used in certain parts of West Bengal are not enough in accordance with Gujral Committee recommendations.
In the rest of the States Urdu has not been accorded any official recognition by amending the official language Act wherever it exists. 121