SHILLONG: Khasi is under consideration of the Centre for inclusion in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution, which lists the official languages of the country.
Khasi Authors’ Society president L Nonglait on Wednesday said the Ministry of Home Affairs has informed that there is a demand for inclusion of 38 languages in the Eighth Schedule and Khasi is the only one from Meghalaya under consideration.
According to Nonglait, a letter from an Under Secretary in the ministry also stated that the government is conscious of the sentiments of the people for inclusion of other languages in the Eighth Schedule and will examine the requests.
It may be mentioned that the state Assembly had last year unanimously passed a resolution to urge the Centre to include Khasi and Garo in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The resolution was tabled by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma during a one-day special session.
Nonglait said that a few years ago the state government had constituted a committee for inclusion of Khasi in the Schedule. He said the push for including Garo as well came later, adding the chief minister is keen on its inclusion.
Meanwhile, Nonglait also said that the Society would wait for the new government at the Centre to assume office before it moves to ensure that Khasi is included in the Eighth Schedule.
