ANNUAL PROGRAMME 2008-2009

FOREWORD

In pursuance of the Official Language Resolution, 1968, Department of Official Language issues an Annual Programme every year to speed-up propagation and development of Official Language Hindi and also to accelerate its progressive use for official purposes. The Annual Programme for the year 2008-09 is being issued in this series.

 Progress has been made in the progressive use of Hindi in official business, targets are, however, still to be achieved  While the visibility of Hindi in the Government Offices has increased, substantial work is still being done in English. The objective is that Hindi only be used for original noting and drafting. This will be in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution.  Needless to say that doing official work in the peoples’ Language will speed-up development and also bring transparency in administration.

 The following points in the Annual Programme deserve utmost attention :-

·                    It is necessary that Presidential orders issued on all the seven volumes of the report of Committee of Parliament on Official Language be complied with by the Ministries/Departments/Offices etc.

·                    Available information technology aids including computers, E-mails, websites may be used to promote the use of Hindi.

·                    Necessary steps should be taken to  get scientific and technical literature prepared in Hindi by the concerned Departments and made available for the use of Public.

·                    Hindi, Hindi typing/ stenography training may be expedited so that the targets are achieved within the prescribed time-frame.

·                    Personnel connected with Official Language work should be made well versed in activities of the respective departments so that they may discharge their responsibilities more efficiently.

·                    Ministries/Departments should conduct seminars relating to their subjects in Hindi medium.

·                    The Official Language Policy of the Union is based on encouragement and motivation. However, compliance of the  instructions relating to Official Language should  be ensured strictly.  Ministries/Departments may consider initiating disciplinary proceedings in case of willful non-compliance of orders relating to Official Language.

Secretary to the Government of India

Department of Official Language

March, 2008                                                                          Ministry of Home Affairs.

Important Directions Regarding Official Language Policy

1.                  Under section 3(3) of the Official Languages Act 1963, Resolutions, General Orders, Rules, Notifications, Administrative & Other Reports, Press Communiques, Administrative and other reports and Official papers to be laid before a house or houses of Parliament , Contract, Agreements, Licenses, Permits, Tender Notices and Forms of tender should invariably be issued bilingually.  For any violation the officer signing such documents will be held responsible.

2.                  The answers of question papers, except that of the compulsory paper of English, should also be allowed to be written in Hindi in recruitment examinations of subordinate services and such question papers should be made available both in Hindi and English. In interviews too, there should invariably be option to converse in Hindi.

The candidates should have the option to answer the question papers of all the in-service, departmental and promotion examinations (including all India level examinations) of all the ministries, departments of the Central Govt. and its attached and subordinate offices and of all corporations, undertakings, banks etc. owned  or controlled by the Central Govt. in Hindi. The question papers should compulsorily be set in both the languages (Hindi and English). Wherever interview is to be held, the candidate should have the option to answer in Hindi.

3.                  Scientists etc. should be motivated and encouraged to read their research papers in the Official Language Hindi in all the scientific/technical seminars and discussions etc. Research papers should relate to the main subjects of the Ministry/Department and Office concerned .

4.                  Every type of training, whether of long-term or of short term, should generally be imparted through Hindi medium in ‘A’ and ‘B’ regions. For imparting  training in ‘C’ region the training material should be got prepared both in Hindi and in English and made available to the trainees in Hindi or in English as per their requirements.

5.                  So long as the prescribed targets regarding  Hindi typists and Hindi stenographers are not achieved in the Central Govt.  offices, only Hindi typists and Hindi stenographers should be appointed.

6.                  International Treaties and Agreements should invariably be got prepared both in Hindi as well as in English. There should be authentic translations of Treaties and Agreements entered into in other countries and they should be kept on file for record.

7.                  Under rule 10 (4), of the Official Language Rules 1976, the following items of work should be done in Hindi in the branches of the scheduled banks-Demand drafts, payment orders  to be issued on the  application form filled by the  customers  in Hindi and on the application forms filled in English with the consent of the customers, all kinds of lists, returns, fixed deposit receipts, communications regarding cheque-book etc., Credit card, Debit card entries in daily ledger, muster, dispatch book, pass book, entries in log book, work relating to priority areas, security and customer services, opening of new accounts, writing of addresses on envelopes, work relating to travelling allowance, leave, provident fund, house building advance, documents related to medical facilities of the employees, agenda and minutes of the meetings.

8.                  Stationery items, name plates, notice boards, forms, procedural literature, rubber-stamps, invitation cards etc. of all the ministries/departments including Indian offices located abroad, should invariably be got prepared both in Hindi and  English.

9.                  Non-Statutary procedural literature like rules, codes, manuals, standard forms etc. may be sent to the Central Translation Bureau for translation by the concerned Ministries, Offices, Departments etc.

10.             Officers/ employees associated with translation work & implementation of O.L.Policy may be nominated for compulsory Translation Training in the C.T.B.  Such officials, whose services are likely to be utilized for such work by the office and having knowledge of Hindi/English both at degree level may also be nominated for translation training.

11.              The officers of  IAS and other all India services are imparted  compulsory training in Hindi during their training in Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, so that they could make use of it in official work. However, most of the officers do not use Hindi in their official work after joining the service. As such officials/employees working under them do not get the right message. Consequently, Hindi is not used in official work to the extent required.  It is the Constitutional obligation of senior officials of Ministries/Departments/ Offices/Undertakings to make increasing use of Hindi in their official work. This in turn will motivate the officials/employees working under them, thereby giving impetus to the compliance of the Official Language policy.

12.              All the Ministries/Departments etc. should widely promote and propagate the various incentive schemes in their respective attached and subordinate offices in order to accelerate the use of Hindi, so that maximum number of officials/employees are benefited by these schemes and Hindi is increasingly used in official work.

13.              Information pertaining to quarterly progress reports should be made available to the Official Language Department in the prescribed Performa on E-Mail by the 15^th of the month following the expiry of each quarter.  Signed copy must be sent separately.      

14.              With a view to sensitizing the officials/employees about the Official Language Policy of the Govt., it is necessary that the review  of  progress  made in the  implementation  of Official Language Hindi in Official work is not confined to the meetings of the Official Language Implementation Committees. In order to make its monitoring more efficient and effective, it is necessary to regularly discuss it in detail in every meeting convened by the administrative head of the Ministries/Departments/Offices and to include it as a standing item of the agenda.

15.              The officers/employees handling Hindi work including training and workshops should also be provided good and sufficient space to sit in the office to facilitate them to discharge their duties properly.

16.              Ministries/Departments/Offices etc. should regularly nominate their employees to the different training programmes of the Department of Official Language and direct them to be present in the classes regularly, to take training with sincerity and sit in the examination.  Any instance of discontinuing training or not writing the examination should be severely dealt with. 

17.              Translators should be provided with help literature, standard dictionaries (Hindi-English, English-Hindi) and other technical glossaries, so that they may use them in their translation work.

18.              All the Ministries/Departments/Offices etc. should make available the facility of computer for the use of "Leela Hindi Prabodh, Praveen and Prgya" software etc. for the benefit of the officers/employees nominated for training in Hindi.

19.              All the Ministries/Departments/Offices etc. should encourage original book writing in Hindi on subjects concerning their responsibilities and take necessary steps to enrich their departmental glossaries.

20.              All the Ministries/Departments/Offices etc. should direct all their training institutes to make provision of training in Rajbhasha Hindi at the same level as at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration and generate necessary literature on their subjects so that after training the officers/employees should be able to do their work in Rajbhasha Hindi easily.

21.       Ministries/ Departments/ Offices etc are bringing out Hindi magazines with a view to create an atmosphere for working in Hindi in their respective offices.  Mainly articles related to the main functions of the office and the Official Language Hindi should be included in these magazines.

22.       The meeting of the Town Official Language Implementation Committees be attended by the Administrative Heads or the member offices compulsorily.

23.       Consolidated compliance report, regarding the Annual Programme 2008-09, may be sent to the Department of Official Language by all the Ministries/Deptts., in respect of all their attached/subordinate offices, latest by 31^st may, 2009.