36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language

Published: 16th Aug, 2021

Context

Union Home Minister has recently chaired the 36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language.

About

About the Parliamentary Committee for Official Language:

The Parliamentary Committee on Official Languages ??was established in 1976 under section 4 of the Official Languages ??Act, 1963.

Mandate: The Committee will review the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purposes of the Union and submit a report to the President making recommendations. The President will then submit the report to each House of Parliament and forward it to all State Governments.
Composition: The Committee consists of 30 Members of Parliament, 20 from LokSabha and 10 from RajyaSabha.
Chairperson: The chairperson of the Committee is elected by the members of the Committee. As a meeting, the Minister of Internal Unions was elected as the Chairperson of the Committee from time to time.

Official Language of India

Hindi in Devanagari script is declared as the Official Language of the Union under Article 343(1).
While adopting and framing of Constitution, it was envisaged that English will continue to be used for executive, judicial and legal purposes for an initial period of 15 years i.e. till 1965.
Later, the Official Languages Act, 1963, a constitutional amendment allowed for th continuation of English with Hindi for indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.
Besides, it was also provided that President may authorize the use of Hindi language for some specific purposes.

Parliamentary Committees

These committees are appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker.
They work under the direction of the Speaker and presents its report to the House or to the Speaker and the Secretariat for which is provided by the LokSabha Secretariat.
Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds:
- Standing Committees
  - Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in LokSabha.
  - The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
  - The Financial Committees, DRSCs and some other Committees come under the category of Standing Committees.
- Ad hoc Committees
  - Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
  - The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills.
  - Railway Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex etc. also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.

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