The Rajya Sabha has decided to promote linguistic diversity among its members, and will now allow them to speak in any of the 22 scheduled languages. According to The Hindu, this will be incorporated from the monsoon session of the Parliament, beginning on July 18th.
The Secretariat is also pursuing simultaneous interpretation for five more languages-Dogri, Kashmiri, Konkani, Santhali and Sindhi, and for that purpose, is consulting with universities, missions of respective states in Delhi, and various welfare associations.
On Tuesday, Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman, M Venkaiah Naidu, inducted a panel of new interpreters, awarding them certificates of completion for training and eligibility. The Vice President told The Times of India that he has always felt that the mother tongue is the best way to convey feelings and thoughts, without any retention. He is of the opinion that the Parliament, being a multilingual setting, should not deter members from speaking due to language constraints.
The Vice-President was keen to have simultaneous interpretation facility for all the 22 scheduled languages. This was a promise he had made after assuming office and is glad it is becoming a reality from the coming Monsoon Session Parliament.
Of the 22 scheduled languages, 12 had simultaneous interpretation – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odiya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. For five languages namely Bodo, Maithili, Manipuri, Marathi and Nepali, Lok Sabha interpreters were deployed.
You may also like:- How Is a Rajya Sabha Member Elected? 10 Things You Need to Know
Well, our country has a multitude of languages, so it is great on the part of the Rajya Sabha to introduce all languages and encourage people to speak in their mother tongues.
(Edited by Shruti Singhal)