Intro:Hindi and Devnagari script unite the nation and there should be no politics on the issue of official language.
Shri Ramprakash Sharma belongs to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh. He has dedicated himself to the propagation of country’s official language i.e. Hindi. He wants that at least the government departments must accord due respect to the Rajbhasha in their daily official work. So far Shri Sharma has persuaded around 50 government offices and departments to change their attitude and accord due respect to Hindi in their official work. And majority of them have responded positive.
“I started this campaign with the view that people must have the feeling of respect towards the Rajbhasha. Some people confuse with Hindi as the national language. It is official language (Rajbhasha), not the national language. Since the nation has constitutionally accepted Hindi as official language, we should use it in practice also. I want to sensitise the people to the rules of the official language. My campaign is not against English or any other Indian language. I respect all the languages. But when it comes to official language, I want every citizen should pay due respect to it in practice. Interestingly, the maximum insult to the official language is caused by the departments controlled by different government agencies. At least the Hindi speaking states must show due respect to it,” Shri Sharma says while talking to Organiser in Delhi.
But for it Shri Sharma does not want to approach the court. “I just want to sensitise the society at large so that people do it without any pressure. People should know that the campaign is for respect to the official language and not for any individual gain,” he added.
The task has not been easy for Shri Sharma all these years. While approaching different departments he had to face humiliation on the part of the authorities many times. But he continued undeterred. Finally, at some places he got success, while some did not pay attention at all.
The Union Home Ministry has divided the country in three categories A.B.C. in respect of language. The states falling under ‘A’ category are supposed to do the entire official work in Hindi. These are fully Hindi speaking states like Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Andamans & Nicobar Islands. etc. The states falling under ‘B’ category are Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat and they have to write both their local languages with Hindi and then any other language like English. Rest of the states fall under ‘C’ category, where apart from their local languages, Hindi and English have also to be written compulsorily.
Shri Sharma does not just remind the authorities of their mistakes, he also suggests them some correct words in Hindi for desired changes. In some case, instead of taking corrective steps, the authorities threatened him. “Once I approached the Inspector General of Police in Ajmer. I suggested him to write ‘Bharatiya Police Sewa’ instead of ‘Indian Police Service’ with his name plate installed outside his official residence, as Rajasthan falls under ‘A’ category State.
He wrote me back asking under which rule I suggested him this change. I forwarded that letter to the Home Ministry of Rajasthan Government requesting it to explain him the rule, which was done by the Ministry,” Shri Sharma points out.
“Once I approached the LIC office in Ajmer to change their advertisement from English to Hindi. Instead of pondering over my request, they tried to ascertain whether I use Hindi in practice. Hindi and Devnagari script unite the nation and there should be no politics on the issue of official language,” he says.
Shri Ramprakash Sharma has now formed an organisation, Bharatiya Rajbhasha Samman Sanstha about four years back to take his initiative to new heights and mobilise people with him. He wants that all the departments and ministries in the government should exclusively assign this task to their staff so that there is not injustice to the Rajbhasha.
—Pramod Kumar
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