SHILLONG, March 18: Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday said the NPP-led MDA Government would move Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eight Schedule of the Constitution.
Replying to a resolution moved by Congress MLA, George B. Lyngdoh, the chief minister said it will be a great gift to the people of the state if this demand comes through during the 50th anniversary of statehood.
“I will request the Prime Minister to be part of the 50th anniversary of statehood on January 21 next year. Recognition to the two languages would be a suitable gift for people of the state but the matter is pending with the Government of India,” Sangma assured.
He recalled that the demand for inclusion of the two languages gained momentum after an official resolution was passed by the Assembly in 2018.
“We had received a communiqué from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) that there is a demand for more language to be included in the Eight Schedule including Khasi and Garo. This is an impact of the resolution passed by the Assembly,” Sangma said.
According to him, the Centre is taking time to examine the demand since there are 39 languages pending recognition. Earlier, while moving the resolution, the Congress MLA stated that after the Meghalaya Assembly passed the resolution and forwarded it to the Government of India it has become important for the state to embrace the challenges posed by linguistic variations, grammatical usages, spellings and lexicons that are prevalent in the Khasi and Garo languages.
According to him, there should be official recognition of words where there is disparity in spellings. “(In Khasi) there are variations in spellings and this has created confusion for literati, authors and students and common folks,” the Umroi legislator said.
He also said that the current platforms of internet and social media have led to demand for online dictionaries and online translations of one’s own mother tongue.
“We need to prepare ourselves and put our languages in order as we anticipate the acceptance of the resolution that we adopted on November 27, 2018,” Lyngdoh said.
Taking part in the resolution, East Shillong Congress legislator, Ampareen Lyngdoh recalled that the demand is decades old.
“I have participated in some of the procedures for the preparation of the feasibility report on inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule. A dossier was even prepared and sent to the Government of India,” Ampareen said.
She also questioned whether inclusion of these languages would be one of the achievements of the current government as the state prepares itself for its 50th year of statehood.
Rangsakona Congress MLA, Zenith M. Sangma observed the growing tendency among today’s youths to speak English and in the process alienating themselves from their mother tongues.
Sangma pointed out that Khasi and Garo words were not being spelt or pronounced correctly. “I request the government to take this seriously and constitute a dedicated committee by roping in respective literature societies to study the nitty-gritty of this matter,” he added.
Others who participated in the discussion include Mawlai MLA Process T. Sawkmie, Nongpoh MLA Mayralborn Syiem and Rambrai-Jyrngam MLA Kimfa Sidney Marbaniang.
The opposition finally withdrew the resolution following the assurance of the chief minister that he would pursue the languages recognition demand with the Centre.
