Achik body petitions HM for Garo language recognition

SHILLONG: The A·chik Indigenous Justice Initiative Forum (AIJIF) in a memorandum to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh sought his intervention to include Garo language in the Eighth Schedule for uplift and development of the region.
By getting Garo language recognized in the Eighth Schedule, many youths will benefit from the job opportunities and many prominent writers who have missed the opportunity to be bestowed with the Sahitya Akademi Awards would find their names in the list, the memorandum said.
‘Our youths have missed the opportunity because they have been asked to write papers in Hindi or other languages and this has been a disadvantage to our youths,’ it said.
There are 22 recognised languages in the Eighth Schedule and only three languages from the North East are recognised. There is no established set of criteria for the inclusion of languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, however, there has been convention that acknowledging the cultural and linguistic diversity of our country, the government has been including languages in the Eighth Schedule, it stated.
“Hence, for the holistic development of this region, it is imperative on the part of the Centre to take cognizance of the matter and acknowledge this right of the Garos and take necessary initiatives in including Garo Language in the Eighth Schedule and keeping the morale of the Garo speakers on a higher note and do justice to the Garo language speakers”, the association said, while requesting the home minister to examine their demand towards the interest of the Garo people.