Odisha Official Language act gets cabinet nod

After bringing an ordinance for implementing the Odisha Official Language Act, 2016, the Odisha government on Friday approved the rules for implementing the Act in the state.

The cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik approved the rules for implementing the Act.

"The Act will come into effect from today (Friday) itself. The government would issue a notification," said Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi.

Notably, the ordinance for the implementation of the Act was approved in the last cabinet meeting held in the first week of August.

The government has decided to form a committee headed by Chief Secretary to monitor the implementation of the Act in the state, said Padhi.

The committee members include Information and Public Relations secretary, School and Mass Education secretary, Higher Education secretary, Culture secretary and General Administration special secretary.

The committee will meet two times in a year to monitor the implementation of the Act, he added.

Besides, an official language division would be created under the General Administration department to monitor the regular activities of different departments for implementation of the Odisha Official Language Act.

The cabinet also approves to establish a unitary University of Odia language and literature at Bhubaneswar.

The University would be established for furthering the advancement of learning and prosecution of research in Odia at the Post Graduate level on different areas of Odia literature, Odia language, linguistics, comparative literature and translation into and from Odia.

--IANS

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