Inclusion of Khasi language in Eight Schedule
SHILLONG: With the demand for inclusion of Khasi language in the Eight Schedule of the Indian Constitution gaining momentum, prominent Khasi scholar and member of Sahitya Akademi Sylvanus Lamare has stressed on the need to initiate a mass movement for fulfillment of this long-pending demand.
“There is no mass movement demanding inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and this is the major hurdle faced by those who have been fighting for it since 1972-73,” said Lamare, who is also a member to the Government-constituted committee formed with an aim to look into the matter.
Lamare, while addressing newsmen here on Friday, urged the general public, student bodies and the church to join the mass movement for inclusion of Khasi language in the Eight Schedule.
He further stated that the Khasi language has all the prerequisites for inclusion in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
Citing the drawback of a language not enlisted in the Eighth Schedule, Lamare, who is also the principal of St Edmund’s College, said that important awards like those of the Sahitya Akademi, Birla Foundation Awards would be missed by the people who speak the language.
Had Khasi been recognized and enlisted as one of the languages in the Eighth Schedule, the Sahitya Akademi member said it would have been one of the subjects that Khasi students could opt for as the main subject in civil services besides thousands of job openings that would follow suit in various government departments.
While the process had started several decades back, Khasi has been recognized as the Associate Official Languages after the Meghalaya State Language Act, 2005 after it received the Governor’s assent on May 1, 2005.
He also informed that this year’s three-day Yuva Puraskar and All India Young Writers’ Festival of the Sahitya Akademi would be held in Shillong from February 10 at U Soso Tham auditorium.
Around 75 writers from all over the country will participate in the award ceremony. (With inputs from agencies)