36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language

Context

The 36th meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Language was held, which was chaired by the Union Home Minister.

The Official Languages Act, 1963 provided to set up of a Committee on Official Language for reviewing the progress made in the use of Hindi for the official purpose of the Union.
The Committee was to be constituted after ten years of the promulgation of the Act under the section 3 of the Official Languages Act 1963.
This Committee was set up in 1976 under section 4 of the Act.
The Committee was reconstituted after the 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989, 1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 & 2004 LokSabha polls.
The Committee comprises of 30 members of Parliament elected with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.
- 20 from LokSabha
- 10 from RajyaSabha
The Chairman of the Committee is elected by the members of the Committee. As a convention, the Union Home Minister has been elected as Chairman of the Committee from time to time.
Functions: to review the progress madefor the use of Hindi for Official purposes of the Union
- To submit a report to the President for making recommendations thereon
- President laid the report before each House of Parliament and sent it to all the State Governments.

Hindi in Devanagari script is declared as the Official Language of the Union under Article 343(1).
While adopting and framing of Constitution, it was envisaged that English will continue to be used for executive, judicial and legal purposes for an initial period of 15 years i.e. till 1965.
Later, The Official Languages Act, 1963, a constitutional amendment allowed for th continuation of English with Hindi for indefinitely until legislation decides to change it.
Besides, it was also provided that President may authorise the use of Hindi language for some specific purposes.

These committees are appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker.
Theywork under the direction of the Speaker and presents its report to the House or to the Speaker and Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds:
- Standing Committees
  - Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in LokSabha.
  - The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
  - The Financial Committees, DRSCs and some other Committees come under the category of Standing Committees.
- Ad hoc Committees
  - Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
  - The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills.
  - Railway Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex etc also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.