Chandigarh,
23rd March, 2016: The safeguards for the
linguistic minorities derive their authority from two sources:
- The Constitution of India.
- The Safeguards agreed to the national level from time to time.
- CONSTITUTIONAL SAFEGUARDS FOR LINGUISTIC MINORITIES IN INDIA
- Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script, or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
- No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.
1)
Article
29:
Protection of Interests of Minorities
2)
Article
30:
Right of Minorities to Establish and Administer Educational Institutions
- All
minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to
establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
- (1A)
In making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property
of an educational institution established and administered by a minority,
or determined under such law for the acquisition of such property is such
as would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under the clause.
- The
State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate
against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the
management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.
3)
Article
347:
Special Provision relating to Language Spoken by a Section of the Population of
a State:
On a demand being made
in that behalf the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial
proportion of the population of a State desire the that such language shall
also be officially recognized throughout that state or any part thereof for
such purpose as he may specify.
4)
Article
350:
Language to be used in Representations for Redress of Grievances:
Every person shall be
entitled to submit a representation for the redress of any grievance to any
officer or authority of the Union or a State in any of the languages used in
the Union or in the State, as the case may be.
5)
Article
350 A: Facilities for instruction in Mother-Tongue at
Primary stage:
It shall the State to
provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary
stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the
President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or
proper for securing the provision of such facilities.
6)
Article
350 B: Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities:
- There
shall be a Special Officer for linguistic minorities to be appointed by
the President.
- It
shall be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters
relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under this
Constitution and report to the President, upon those matters at such
intervals as the President may direct, and the President, upon those
matters at such intervals as the President may House of Parliament, and
sent to the Governments of the States concerned.
7) The Articles of the Constitution
Guaranteeing to Citizens Certain Fundamental Rights.
Equality before law
(Article 14), prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race,
caste, sex, or place of birth (Article 15), and equality of opportunity in
matters of public employment (Article 16) also operate as safeguards for
linguistic minorities.
SAFEGUARDS
FOR LINGUISTIC MINORITIES AGREED TO AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
In addition to the
Constitutional Safeguards, the detailed scheme for the practical implementation
or safeguards has been worked out on the basis of decisions arrived at various
Conferences:
- Education
Ministers’ Conference, 1949
- Government
of India Memorandum, 1956
- Southern
Zonal Council Decisions, 1959
- Chief
Ministers’ Conference, 1961
- Meeting
of the Committee of Vice-Chairmen of Zonal Councils, 1961
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