Implementation of the official language policy can't be taken as a ritual, and needs to be undertaken with all seriousness, union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.
"After extensive deliberations, the makers of the Constitution declared Hindi, the largest spoken language in the country, as the official language and its implementation can't be taken as a ritual, and needs to be implemented with all the seriousness," the minister for urban development and housing and urban poverty alleviation said, while reviewing a meeting of the Hindi Salahkar Samiti here.
Naidu directed the top administrative brass of his ministries to step up efforts to promote use of Hindi by December before the same is reviewed by the committee in the next meeting.
"The initial resistance in some parts of the country has come to be replaced by ever increasing number of people speaking Hindi. Use of Hindi along with English needs to be promoted in the functioning of the central government while that of local language should be encouraged by the state governments," he said.
Naidu said four prime ministers, including late Morarji Desai, Deve Gowda, late P.V. Narasimha Rao and Narendra Modi, came from non-Hindi speaking states and all of them were good in Hindi and this was a significant development in many ways.
He said Modi has been using Hindi to converse with world leaders and at all international forums.
"Language gives primary identity to a community and a nation and hence, various regional languages and Hindi shall be protected and promoted," said Naidu.
He also assured the members of the committee that he will ensure that the past ritualistic approach towards use of Hindi in official work of the two ministries will be replaced by a more serious and purposeful action.
