No move to include Tulu in Eighth Schedule: Centre
The Hindu
MP for Kasaragod Rajmohan Unnithan raised question
The Union Government has indicated again that there is no move to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution at present.
“It is neither practical nor administratively feasible, at present, to increase the number of official languages,” the Government said on Tuesday.
Replying to an un-starred question by Member of Parliament from Kasaragod (Kerala) Rajmohan Unnithan in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said: “There have been demands from time to time for inclusion of Tulu in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. As the evolution of dialects and languages is a dynamic process, influenced by socio-cultural, economic and political developments, it is difficult to fix any criteria for languages, whether to distinguish them from dialects, or for inclusion in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.” “The earlier attempts, through Pahwa (1996) and Sitakant Mohapatra (2003) Committees, to evolve such fixed criteria, have been inconclusive. The Union Government is conscious of the sentiments and requirements for inclusion of other languages in the Eighth Schedule. Such requests have to be considered keeping in mind these sentiments, and other relevant considerations. Since several of these languages are spoken in several States, their use is not restricted by State boundaries.”