Not planning 'one nation, one language', all equally important: Govt

The Constitution accords equal importance to all the languages of the country and there is no proposal for "one nation, one language", the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.

Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy was replying to a written question in Rajya Sabha whether there is a proposal to have a single language for the country.

"There is no proposal for one nation-one language," Reddy said.

The minister's reply comes in the backdrop of protest by leaders of several non-Hindi speaking states and pro-Kannada organisations, who had taken to the streets in September after Union Home Minister Amit Shah propopsal spoke of 'One Nation, One Language'.

The minister further said that the "Constitution accords equal importance to all the languages of the country."

"Language matters are in the concurrent list of the Constitution of India and are within the executive spheres of the central government and the respective state governments," he said.

He added that grants are not released language-wise by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

In reply to an another question, the minister said the incidents of communal violence, in the last three years, have shown a "declining trend" in the country.

However, no data was furnished in the reply.

To another question on the number of sedition cases filed against persons who criticised and doubted surgical strikes conducted by the Army, Reddy said "no such data" is available with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) as on date.