EXTRACTS FROM MINUTES OF THE
 FIRST MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF
 VICE-CHAIRMAN OF THE ZONAL
 COUNCILS HELD IN NOVEMBER, 1961
 

3. Item No. 2 of the agenda

The pattern of the agency for the implementation of Safegurads for Linguistic Minorities at (a) Zonal level and (b) State level.

(a) Zonal level : It was agreed that each Zonal Council should appoint a Standing Committee consisting of the Chief Ministers of the Zone to review from time to time the progress of implementation of the various policy decisions taken by the Chief Ministers' Conference relating to safeguards for linguistic minorities and national integration.

(b) (i) State level : The Committee considered that the responsibility for the coordination of work relating to national integration (including safeguards for linguistic minorities) should be assumed by the Chief Minister who may be assisted in this task by the Chief Secretary. It was also agreed that there should be a special officer in each State who will work under the direction of the Chief Secretary.

It was also agreed that this officer should prepare a note periodically reviewing (i) the progress of implementation of the safeguards for linguistic minorities (ii) pending correspondence, if any, on linguistic minorities with the Government of India, the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities and other State Governments; (iii) visits, if any, of the Linguistic Minorities Commissioner; (ii) other matters relating to national integrations)- and

(ii) District level : The Committee agreed that at the district level the responsibility for coordination of work relating to safeguards for linguistic minorities and national integration should vest in the district officer. It was also agreed that the State Governments might see whether any amendments are necessary to the laws governing local bodies to ensure that policy decisions relating to national integration are implemented by these bodies.

4. Item No. 3 of the agenda

Review of action taken by the State Governments on the decisions taken by the Chief Ministers' Conference held on August 10, 12, 1961

(i) Right of linguistic minorities to have instructions in their mother-tongue at the primary and secondary stages of education (Para 3 of the Statement) :

It was agreed that the attention of all State Governments (excepting those in the Sourthern Zone) should be invited to the need for early implementation of the decisions taken by the States in the Southern Zone which had been accepted in principle by the Chief Ministers Conference. The Committee desired further that information should be collected regarding the number of schools for minority language groups, number of pupils belonging to each such group and the number of teachers available for each group at the primary and secondary stages during the last 4-5 years in each State, so as to enable the Committee to make an objective assessment of the situation.

(ii) Provision of suitable text-books (Para 4 of the Statement) :

It was noted that the Union Ministry of Education had drawn up a programme for preparation of model text-books after examination of the existing text-books in use in primary and secondary stage in different States and that they also proposed to constitute a high powered Advisory Board as recommended by the National Integration Conference. It was agreed that the question of preparation of text books should be left to be dealt with by the Ministry of Education in consultation with the State Governments, but detailed reports should be obtained of the action taken by the various State Governments for a general review by the Committee at the subsequent meeting.

(vi) Use of minority languages for communication with the public and for purposes of publicity (Paras 11 and 13 of the Statement) :

It was agreed that the State Governments which had not so far prepared lists of districts or smaller areas like municipalities or tehsils where a linguistic minority constituted 15 per cent or more of the population, should be requested to do so.