Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday, October 11, took exception to the recommendation
of a Parliamentary panel to make Hindi as the medium of instruction in all technical and non-technical
higher educational institutions and sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention into the
matter.
A Parliamentary committee had recently recommended that the medium of instruction in technical and
non-technical higher education institutes such as IITs in Hindi-speaking states should be Hindi and in
other parts of India their respective local language. It said the use of English should be made optional.
Pinarayi, in a letter written to the PM, said Hindi cannot be imposed as the main language of instruction
in higher centres of learning as the country has many languages and a single language cannot be termed
as the country’s language.
Noting that the youth of the country have limited job opportunities in the government sector, the Kerala
CM said that any attempt to put a substantial section of them at a relative disadvantage will not be in
the best interest of the society.
“The job seekers and students of our country have their serious apprehensions in this regard. I take this
opportunity to suggest that question papers for competitive exams for posts in Government of India
may be given in all languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution,” Vijayan said in his
letter.
“I request the Hon’ble Prime Minister to intervene at the earliest to take necessary corrective steps,”
Vijayan said.
He said our nation accords a pride of place to unity in diversity and that we are one nation with the
feeling of sisterhood and brotherhood in the midst of cultural, linguistic and religious diversities.
“I also request that no language may be preferred as a medium of instruction over other languages, lest
it should be seen as an imposition. This does not augur well for our cooperative federal setup,” Vijayan
added.
Source: The News Minute
