Chidambaram: No time frame for adding languages to 8th Schedule of Constitution

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said no time frame could be fixed for considerations of the demands for inclusion of more languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India.

In a statement in Parliament on the demand for inclusion of Bhojpuri and Rajasthani languages in the Schedule, Mr Chidambaram said that, at present, demands for inclusion of 38 more languages, including these two, were pending.

He said no criteria had been laid down in the Constitution for inclusion of languages in the Schedule. At present, 22 languages have been included in the Schedule.

Of these, 14 languages were initially included in the Constitution. Sindhi language was included in 1967. Thereafter, three more languages - Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali - were included in 1992. Subsequently, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali languages were added in 2004.

"The basis for inclusion of these languages in the Eighth Schedule were the circumstances and demands of the people, existing at that point of time," the Home Minister said.

He said that a committee was set up in September, 2003 under the chairmanship of Mr Sitakant Mohapatra to evolve a set of objective criteria for inclusion of more languages in the Schedule.

The committee submitted its report in 2004 and it is under the consideration of the Government in consultations with the concerned departments at the Centre.

Mr Chidambaram said a decision on the pending demands for inclusion of languages in the Eighth Schedule including Bhojpuri and Rajasthani will be taken, inter-alia, in the light of the recommendations of the committee and the Government’s decision thereon.

"No time frame can be fixed for consideration of the demands for inclusion of more languages in Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India," he added.

NNN