MEMORANDUM OF SAFEGUARDS FOR LINGUISTIC MINORITIES ISSUED BY THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS IN 1956
 

The safeguards proposed for the linguistic minorities vide Part IV of the States Reorganisation Commission's report, have been examined carefully in consultation with the Chief Ministers of the States and it is the Government of India's intention to accept most of the Commission's recommendations. The action which has been or is proposed to be taken is indicated in the paragraph which follows.

2. Primary education-Attention is invited to clause 21 of the Constitution (Ninth Amendment Bill) providing for the addition of a new Article namely, 350 A to the Constitution regarding facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education. The directions which may be issued by the President under Article 350 A of the Constitution, as it is proposed to be enacted into law, are likely to be based on the resolution accepted by the Provincial Education Ministers' Conference in August, 1949. The intention is that the arrangements which were generally accepted at this Conference should be brought into force in States and Areas where they have not been adopted so far.

3. Secondary Education-The Commission has recommended that the Government of India should, in consultation with the State Governments, lay down a clear policy in regard to education in the mother tongue at the secondary stage and take effective steps to implement it. The Commission has expressed the view that so far as secondary education is concerned, it will have to be treated differently from education at the primary stage, and has therefore, not recommended constitutional recognition of the right to have instruction in the mother-tongue at the secondary school stage.

4. The resolution adopted by the Provincial Education Ministers' Conference in August 1949, 'contemplated the following arrangements in regard to secondary education :

(a) If the number of pupils whose mother-tongue is a language other than the regional or State language is sufficient to justify a separate school in an area, the medium of instruction in such a school may be the mother-tongue of the pupils. Such schools organised or established by private agencies will be recognised for the purposes of grants-in-aid from Government according to prescribed rules.

(b) Government will also provide similar facilities in all Government and district board schools, where one- third of the total number of pupils of the school desire to be instructed in their mother-tongue,

(c) Government will also require aided schools to arrange for such instruction, if this is desired by one- third of the pupils, provided that there are no adequate facilities for instruction in that particular language in the area.

(d) The regional language will be a compulsory subject throughout the secondary stage.

The Central Advisory Board of Education, after taking into consideration the report of the Secondary Commission and the resolution of the subject passed by the All-India Council of Secondary Education, has assigned to the mother tongue an important position in the curriculum at the secondary stage so that pupils belong to linguistic minorities may be enabled to study their mother-tongue optionally as one of the three languages which are proposed to be taught at the secondary school stage. The Government of India, as recommended by the Commission, propose to lay down a clear policy in regard to the use and place of the mother-tongue at the secondary stage of education in consultation with the State Governments and to take effective steps to implement it.

5. Affiliation of schools and colleges using minority languages connected with the proposals contained in the preceding paragraphs is the question of the affiliation of educational institution located in the new or re-organised States to appropriate Universities or Boards of Education. It is of course desirable that every effort should be made to evolve arrangements whereby educational institutions like schools and colleges can be affiliated in respect of courses of study in the mother-tongue, to Universities and other authorities which are situated in the same State. However, it may not always be possible to make such arrangements, and having regard to the number of institutions of this kind, it may sometime be convenient, both from the point of view of the Universities or the educational authorities concerned, and from the point of view of the institutions themselves that they should be permitted to seek affiliation to appropriate bodies located outside the State. This may be regarded in fact as a necessary corollary to the provisions contained in Article 30 of the Constitution, which gives to the minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

6. It is, therefore, proposed to advise the State Governments that in all such cases, affiliation to outside bodies should be permitted without difficulty. It is also-necessary that any institution which is thus affiliated should not suffer from any disabilities in regard to grant-in-aid and other facilities, merely because it cannot form an academic point of view, be fitted into the framework of educational administration within the State. It is, therefore, proposed that irrespective of affiliation to bodies situated within or without

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the State, all institutions should continue to be supported by the States in which they are located. Legislation regarding Universities or Boards of Education may, where necessary, be reconsidered from this point of view.

7. issue of directions by the President under Article 347 regarding the recognition of minority languages as official languages- Attention is invited to Article 347 of the Constitution, which prescribed that on a demand being made in that behalf, the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a State desire the use of any language, to be recognised by the State, direct that such language shall be officially recognised in a portion or the whole of the State. The Commission has recommended that the Government of India should adopt, in consultation with the State Governments, a clear code to govern the use of different languages at different levles of State Administrations and take steps under Article 347 to ensure that this Code is followed.

8. The Commission has proposed that a State should be recognised as unilingual, only where one language group constitutes about 70 per cent or more of its entire population, and that where there is substantial minority constituting 30 per cent, or more of the population, the State should be recognised as bilingual for administrative purposes. The Commission has further suggested that the same principle might hold good at the district level, that is to say, if 70 per cent or more of the total population of a district con- sists of a group which is a minority in the State as a whole, the language of the minority group and not the State language should be the official language in that district.

9. The Government of India are in agreement with those proposals and propose to advise the State Governments to adopt them.

10. The arrangements to be made for the purpose of recognising two or more official languages in a State or district which is treated as bilingual will be without prejudice to the right, which may be exercised under Article 347 of the Constitution by any one resident in the State, to submit a representation for the redress of any grievances in any of the languages used in the Union or the State.

11. The Commission has further suggested that in districts or smaller areas like municipalities and tehsil where a linguistic minority constitutes 15 to 20 per cent of the population of that areas, it may be an advantage to get important government notices and rules published in the language of minority, in addition to any other language or languages in which such documents may otherwise be published in the usual course.

12. The Government of India propose to suggest that State Governments should adopt the procedure suggested as a matter of administrative convenience.

13. Recognition of minority languages as the media for examinations conducted for recruitment to State Services. Attention is invited to the Commission's recommendation that candidates should have the option to elect as the media of examination, in any examination conducted for recruitment to the State Services (not including subordinate services), English, or Hindi or the language of a minority constituting about 15 to 20 per cent or more of the population of a State; a test or proficiency in the State language may in that event be held after selection and before the end of probation. The Government of India propose to advise State Governments that these suggestions should as far as possible be adopted. It is also pro- posed to recommend to the State Governments that where any cadre including in a subordinate service is treated as a cadre for a district, any language which has been recognised as an official language in the district should also be recognised as a medium for the purpose of competitive examinations in the districts. The last mentioned suggestion would follow as a necessary corollary to the acceptance of the Commission's recommendations referred to in paragraph 8 of this note.

14. Reveiw of residence rules and requirements-The Commission has emphasised that the domicile tests ill force in certain States operate to the disadvantage of minority groups and has recommended that the Government of India should undertake legislation under Article 16(3) of the Constitution in order to liberalise the requirements as to the residence. The Government of India have carefully examined various suggestions which have been made from time to time with reference to the form which legislation intended to be enacted by Parliament under Article 16(3) may take. They have reached the conclusion that it is, on the whole neither necessary nor desirable to impose at the present time any restrictions, with reference to residence, in any branch or case of the State services.

15. Certain exceptions may have to be made to the general rule of non-discrimination in the Telengana area, and the question of making special provision in regard to employment opportunities in certain backward areas may also have to be considered. It is expected that these interim arrangements will not be continued beyond a transitional period.

16. The Government of India propose to undertake legislation as soon as possible in order to clarify the position on the lines indicated. In the meantime, State Governments will be asked to review the rules relating to recruitment to State Services in the light of the position stated in paragraph 14.

17. Restriction of private rights in respect of contracts, fisheries etc. The attention of the State Governments is being drawn to the relevant provisions in the Constitution regarding freedom of trade, commerce and intercourse and the right to equality of opportunity, and it is being suggested that the existing restrictions should be reviewed from this point of view.

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18. Recruitment of at least fifty per cent of the new entrants to All India Services from outside a State-The question has been discussed informally with the Chief Ministers of States. No rigid rules are considered to be necessary, but the recommendation made by the Commission will be kept in view in taking future allotments to the All India Services.

19. Recruitment of one-third of the number of Judges from outside a State-The Commission's recommendations are being brought to the notice of the Chief justice of India. There may be difficulties in some cases in implementing these recommendations, but it is intended that, to the extent possible, they should be borne in mind in making future appointments.

20. Constitution of Public Service Commission for two or more States-The proposal that the Chairman and members of the Public Service Commissions in the States should be appointed by the Pre- sident, has not been welcomed by the State Governments and it is not, therefore, being pursued. There is provision in the Constitution already for the constitution of Public Service Commission for two or more States, vide Article 315. The procedure laid down in this Article may be followed at a later stage, in case it becomes necessary or desirable to constitute Public Service Commissions for two or more States.

21. Agency for enforcing safegurds-The States Reorganisation Commission had recommended that the services of the State Governors should be utilised for enforcing the safeguards for linguistic minorities. The Commission had not contemplated the vesting of any discretionary functions in the Governors, and they recommended what was regarded as a simple procedure which could be adopted within the framework of the present constitutional arrangements. In the light, however, of the views expressed both in the Joint Select Committee and in Parliament on the States Reorganisation Bill and the Constitution (Ninth Amendment) Bill, the Government of India now propose to provide for the appointment of a Minorities Commissioner at the centre on the pattern of the office of the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. This officer will submit a report to the President on the working of safeguards for minor language groups at such intervals as the President may direct, and his report will be laid before each House of Parliament.

22. Before concluding, the Government of India would like to endorse the observations of the States Reorganisation Commission in the following passage of its report :

"We wish to emphasise that no guarantees can secure a minority against every kind of discriminatory policy of a State Government. Governmental activity at State level affects virtually every sphere of a person's life and a democratic Government must reflect the moral and political stand of the people. Therefore, if the dominant group is hostile to the minorities, the lot of minority is bound to become unenviable. There can be no substitute for a sense of fairplay on the part of the majority and a corresponding obligation on the part of the minorities to fit themselves in as elements vital to the integrated and ordered progress of the State."