This Monsoon Session, members can speak in 22 languages in Rajya Sabha

Rajya Sabha members can speak in any of the 22 scheduled languages from the Monsoon Session starting July 18 as the Upper House is providing the facility for simultaneous interpretation in five more languages of Dogri, Kashmiri, Konkani, Santhali and Sindhi.

This became possible after Rajya Sabha chairman M Venkaiah Naidu inducted a panel of new interpreters today by awarding them certificates of completion of training and eligibility.

I have always felt that mother tongue is the natural medium to convey our feelings and thoughts without any retention," the vice president said.

Naidu said in a multilingual setting such as Parliament, members must not feel handicapped or inferior to others due to language constraints.

"That's why I was keen to have simultaneous interpretation facility for all the 22 scheduled languages. I'm glad this is becoming a reality from the coming Monsoon Session of Parliament, he said.

Naidu, soon after assuming office, had assured that necessary measures would be taken to enable the members speak in any of the 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of Constitution, saying that speaking in mother tongue enables better expression of thoughts.

In pursuance of this assurance, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat made special efforts to identify, select and train interpreters in these five languages.

Of the 22 scheduled languages, Rajya Sabha had earlier established simultaneous interpretation service for 12 languages -- Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.

For five languages viz., Bodo, Maithili, Manipuri, Marathi and Nepali, interpreters of Lok Sabha were being deployed.

To overcome the difficulty in identifying suitable candidates for simultaneous interpretation of Dogri, Kashmiri, Konkani, Santhali and Sindhi, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat took the help of language departments of universities, missions of respective states in Delhi and various welfare associations, a Rajya Sabha statement said.