Ministers Can Now Address The Rajya Sabha In 22 Indian Languages

With the beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament from 18 July 2018, the members of Rajya Sabha will be able to speak in all 22 scheduled languages as mentioned in the 8th Schedule of Constitution. Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu awarded certificates of completion for training and eligibility on Tuesday, thereby officially bringing on board a new panel of interpreters to make this possible.

According to a report published by The Hindu, these new interpreters have been trained to achieve simultaneous translation for five more languages, namely—Dogri, Sindhi, Kashmiri, Konkani, Santhali, and Sindhi. The candidates for the same were selected after consultation with several language departments of universities and various welfare organisations. The Rajya Sabha already had interpreters for Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. For the languages, Bodo, Maithili, Manipuri, Marathi, and Nepali, interpreters from Lok Sabha are being deployed.

“I have always felt that the mother tongue is the natural medium to convey our feelings and thoughts without any retention. That’s why I was keen to have simultaneous interpretation facility for all the 22 scheduled languages,” the Times of India reported, quoting the Vice President of India.

In a country as diverse and multilingual as India, this decision is a positive step towards inclusivity and freedom of expression — two facets of democracy we still seem to be struggling with. Naidu also said that this move seeks to ensure that members do not feel handicapped or inferior to others in the parliament due to any kind language constraints.

Feature Image Courtesy: India Today

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