Baghel writes to PM, demands inclusion of Chhattisgarhi in Eighth schedule

In his letter, the CM said that it has been twenty years of the formation of Chhattisgarh as the 26th state of India, but in terms of culture, the state has a separate identity in ancient history

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding inclusion of Chhattisgarhi dialect in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

In his letter, the Chief Minister said that it has been twenty years of the formation of Chhattisgarh as the 26th state of the Indian Republic, but in terms of culture, the state has a separate identity in ancient history.

"Chhattisgarhi dialect has a history of its own. The grammar of the dialect, prepared by Hiralal Kavyopadhyay and edited and translated by George AK Grierson, was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in 1890. A wide range of quality literature of Chhattisgarh is also available and it is continuously increasing," he said.

He said that Chhattisgarhi sub-dialects and some other languages are also prevalent in Chhattisgarh, but the majority of the people in the state use Chhattisgarhi as a language and it is also a language of communication with other regional dialects.

"Apart from Hindi, Chhattisgarhi has been adopted as a state official language used for official purposes and also Chhattisgarhi Official Language Day is celebrated every year on 28 November in the state. The Chhattisgarh Official Language Commission has also been constituted to preserve the tradition, development and development of the overall linguistic diversity of the state according to the public sentiment and necessity," he said.

 

He said it has been conveyed by the Central Government that the inclusion of Chhattisgarhi and other languages of the country in the Eighth Schedule is under consideration.

"In this perspective, in accordance with the sentiment of 27.5 million people of Chhattisgarh state, you are requested that keeping in view the prosperity and public goodness of Chhattisgarh, it is necessary to include Chhattisgarhi in the Eighth Schedule," he said in his letter to PM Modi.

The Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to consider the inclusion of Chhattisgarhi language and take quick and positive decisions in accordance with the sentiments of the people of the state.

The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of the Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.

Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution. The Sindhi language was added in 1967. Thereafter three more languages Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992. Subsequently Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004.