The Gujral Committee Report - Language in India

gap has developed. The gap should be bridged by providing adequate translation facilities, in the offices and by giving incentives to officials to learn at least one minority language of the State. in the Hindi-speaking belt, officers could be communication
to acquire knowledge of Urdu also. For a person well versed in Hindi, it should be quite easy to pick up Urdu, with a little effort. (5.100 and 5.101) 87. In order to encourage Government servants to acquire knowledge of Urdu, it was persuaded
that persons having knowledge of both Urdu and Hindi should be given proposed
Government Government Service Service and and Urdu
Urdu
either in the form of additional salary or advance increments. Some States have done this in the case of tribal languages by providing lump sum incentives. (5.111) incentives
The Committee recommends that the State Governments should reassure the linguistic minorities that entry into the services will not be denied on account of lack of 88.
of the official language but that the candidates will have to acquire proficiency and pass a departmental test in the State official language before confirmation. As regards the standard of the departmental examinations in the official knowledge
of the State conducted before the completion of probation, effort should be made to keep it at the level of proficiency. (5.152) 89. The Chief Ministers' Conference in 1961 had restricted the option to English and language
as media of examination. The Committee feels that this does not meet the Hindi
fully. Although the number of candidates who are not likely to have full knowledge of the State language is continuously on the decline, the Committee is of the view that to mitigate the hardship likely to arise in the case of linguistic minority situation
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The Gujral Committee Report
candidates, the option of the minority languages should be available. The stipulation should invariably be that the candidate after selection and before expiry of the period of probation must qualify in the official language of the State. This will be fully in conformity with the thinking of the States Reorganisation Commission as also of the stipulation of Government of India in their Memorandum of 1956. The Committee appreciates the
on Urdu