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Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday said the Centre was not imposing any language on anybody. He termed those who claim that Centre imposes the three language policy on States as "politically motivated". "We are not imposing any language on anybody. For Class 1 and 2, there will be two language formula. One will be mother tongue. Here, it will be Tamil language. Government of India's condition is that you have to teach in Tamil in primary school. You can teach another language that is your choice," he said. Pradhan was speaking to reporters in the presence of professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, after taking part in the 'Think India Dakshinapatha Summit 2025'. Elaborating about the three language policy, he said from Class six to ten there is three language formula. "One language will be mother tongue. The rest two will be your choice. No language will be imposed by the Government of India on any State," he said. To a query on how the three language policy
The Tribal Affairs Ministry will soon launch "Adi Vaani", India's first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered translator for tribal languages, in a move aimed at preserving the country's rich linguistic diversity and empowering tribal communities. Developed by IIT Delhi, BITS Pilani, IIIT Hyderabad and IIIT Nava Raipur, in collaboration with Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), the initiative combines advanced AI tools with community participation to bridge communication gaps and safeguard endangered tribal languages. The app will be available on the Play Store with an iOS version coming soon. It will initially support Santali (Odisha), Bhili (Madhya Pradesh), Mundari (Jharkhand) and Gondi (Chhattisgarh). Languages such as Kui and Garo will be added in the next phase. According to the Census 2011, Scheduled Tribes in India speak 461 languages and 71 distinct mother tongues. Of these, 81 are classified as vulnerable and 42 critically endangered. Many face extinction due to lack of ...
The Delhi High Court has held that generic and commonly descriptive word can never become trade marks on their own since "words used in everyday language cannot be monopolised". Justice Tejas Karia made the observation while dismissing an application filed by Yatra Online Limited, which had sought to restrain Mach Conferences and Events Limited from launching services under the marks 'BookMyYatra' and 'BookMyYatra.com'. The judge held that the expression "Yatra", being synonymous with travel in Hindi, is generic and descriptive in relation to travel services, and "no single entity can claim exclusivity over it". "Generic or commonly descriptive word can never become trade marks on their own as they never acquire distinctiveness or a secondary meaning. These words do not indicate origin or source. It is settled law that words used in everyday language cannot be allowed to be monopolised," the judge said in an order passed on August 22. The counsel for Yatra Online claimed that it ha
The government has not issued any directives to make Hindi mandatory in official communications, central services or educational institutions, Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said this in response to a written question from DMK MP Kalanidhi Veeraswamy, seeking to know whether the government has issued any directives making Hindi mandatory. "No, sir," the minister responded. Replying to a separate question from DMK MP Matheswaran VS seeking to know the funds spent on the promotion of Hindi since 2014, the minister provided data that showed Rs 736.11 crore has been incurred from the budget allocated to the Department of Official Language between 2014-15 and 2024-25.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday said the "compulsion" for students in the state to learn Hindi has been removed in a new order, and now any Indian language can be chosen as the third language. While English is widely promoted, Indian languages are often neglected, Fadnavis told reporters in Dehu and maintained that disputes over languages are unnecessary. The state government on Tuesday issued an order saying Hindi will "generally" be taught as the third language to students in Marathi and English medium schools from classes 1 to 5. The amended government resolution (GR) said Hindi will "generally" be the third language, instead of being mandatory, and gave an option to opt out if 20 students per grade in a school express the desire to study any Indian language other than Hindi. Some pro-Marathi outfits accused the government of reintroducing the policy through the "backdoor" after initially backtracking, and the opposition Congress accused the government
India, an aspirational nation in the world, cannot afford to be divided on the issue of languages, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Tuesday and appealed to to the people to consider the future well-being of the country and "get over this storm." Also, he made a strong pitch for implementing the National Education Policy 2020 in letter and spirit, as it was a "game changer" in the education sector that could spur further development of the country. Speaking at the Pondicherry University here, Dhankhar who is the chancellor of the varsity, without naming anyone, lamented that there was opposition to languages. "India is the most aspirational nation in the world as a result of phenomenal development in the last decade," the Vice President said and asked "how can we be divided on languages?" No country in the world was so rich as India when it came to languages. Sanskrit has global importance and this language along with Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, ...
The government on Tuesday announced new reservation and domicile polices for the Union Territory of Ladakh, reserving 85 per cent jobs for locals and one-third of the total number of seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils for women. English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi languages have been made the official languages in Ladakh. The move is aimed at safeguarding local interests as people in Ladakh have been protesting for constitutional safeguards to protect their language, culture and land after the special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was abrogated in 2019. The changes in the policies for reservation in jobs, autonomous councils, domicile and languages will come into effect from Tuesday, according to multiple notifications issued by the government. Under the new rules, those who have resided for a period of 15 years in the UT or studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10 or 12 examination in an educational
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis dismissed concerns over the "imposition" of the Hindi language in the state on Sunday, asserting that Marathi will continue to be compulsory. The opposition parties, particularly Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS, have alleged that Hindi is being imposed in Maharashtra after the state government gave its nod to implement the three-language formula under the NEP. "It is wrong to say that attempts are being made to impose Hindi. Marathi will be compulsory in Maharashtra. There will be no other compulsion," Fadnavis told reporters after attending a programme organised at the Bhandarkar Research Institute in Pune. Responding to the row over the government's approval to make Hindi a compulsory third language in schools, Fadnavis said, "We need to understand that Hindi has not been made mandatory instead of Marathi. The Marathi language is a must". He said the New Education Policy states that two of the three languages to be taught to students must