HM Desk
For the promotion and implementation of Hindi language in its offices across the Jammu division of the Union Territory, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have constituted a 20-member promotion cell.
The Hindi promotion cell, as per an order dated September 21 issued by Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh, will have a Staff Officer to ADGP, Jammu zone, function as the nodal officer to ensure compliance of the circular earlier issued by the police headquarters.
The other members are Rakesh Kumar and Shakti Koul (both inspectors), sub inspectors Bharat Rattan and Pavinder Kumar, besides Ganesh Gutt, Daleep Singh, Bunty Kumar and Dilabgh Singh (all ASIs), Krishan Lal, Arun Singh, Ram Kumar, Rajinder Kumar (all head constables), Ajay Kumar, Runkman Vaid and Nitan Sharma (selection grade constables), Narinder Sukha, Rajan Sharma and Abhishek Bassan (all constables) and follower Rajesh Vaid.
A Bill passed in 2020 added Dogri, Kashmiri, and Hindi to the list of official languages. On September 22, 2020, the Lok Sabha introduced and passed the J&K Official Languages Bill, 2020, which sought to include Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi as the official languages of the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.
There was a debate over this decision, with Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference saying that five official languages would confuse the bureaucracy. In response to this viewpoint, Union minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy, said Urdu, the official language of J&K, is spoken by just 0.16 per cent of its population, while Kashmiri is spoken by more than 50 per cent of J&K’s population and still wasn’t its official language.
He called this a historical blunder and underlined the importance of correcting it with the inclusion of Kashmiri in J&K’s official languages.
