Cabinet approves bill for introduction in Parl: Dr Jitendra
Mission Karmayogi for post-recruitment reforms in Civil Services
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 2: In a significant decision, the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved a bill for introduction in the Parliament for inclusion of Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri and English as official languages, apart from the existing Urdu, in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
An announcement of the Cabinet decision was made at a press conference in New Delhi today by Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Forest and Environment Prakash Javadekar and Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Dr Jitendra Singh.
Presently Urdu was the only official language of Jammu and Kashmir.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the bill approved by the Union Cabinet in its meeting held today approved Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri and English as four more official languages of Jammu and Kashmir which will take number of total official languages to five.
The bill will be introduced in Monsoon session of Parliament scheduled to be held from September 14-October 1 and is likely to get nod of both the Houses where ruling NDA is comfortably placed.
Javadekar told the press conference that further details of the bill will be disclosed in the Parliament.
However, Dr Jitendra Singh, in a series of tweets, said Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri can also be used now as medium of language in official documents in Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier, it was only English and Urdu.
“Inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri as official languages is not only a fulfillment of a long-pending public demand but also in keeping with the spirit of equality ushered after August 5. Thanks Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving consent at Cabinet meeting today. Thanks Home Minister Amit Shah for moving the Cabinet nod,’’ Dr Jitendra Singh said.
Indications about inclusion of more official languages in Jammu and Kashmir were available in Section 47 of the J&K Reorganization Act which empowered the new Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory to adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir or Hindi as the official language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes.
Urdu has been the official language of Jammu and Kashmir since 1889 when Maharaja Partap Singh, the third Dogra ruler of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir had replaced Persian with Urdu. The Maharaja had then faced resistance from Persian Known people. But Urdu was touted as a more convenient language for communication across various language groups and communities in the region.
Before Jammu and Kashmir State’s special status was scrapped on August 5 and it was bifurcated into two Union Territories on August 5, the official language in the State was Urdu but official business was conducted in English.
In J&K, Urdu was the language of land and revenue records, courts (especially lower judiciary) and police (FIRs etc are all written in Urdu).
The entry of All India Services in Jammu and Kashmir in 1962 had first led to a decline in the use of this official language in the higher echelons of power because the officers, majority of whom are non-locals, didn’t know Urdu and preferred English. Urdu, however, remained official language for years.
In July this year, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) had been filed in the High Court seeking direction for declaration of Hindi as official language of Jammu and Kashmir or one of the languages in use in the UT in terms of Section 47 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 2019.
PTI adds from New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today approved Mission Karmayogi, a scheme for bringing post-recruitment reforms in civil services.
Announcing the decision at a media briefing, Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Dr Jitendra Singh said officers and Government employees will get an opportunity to improve their performance under the mission.
A council, headed by the Prime Minister and having Chief Ministers as members, will approve the civil services capacity building plans under the scheme, he said.
“Today the Union Cabinet under Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to bring this very big, post-recruitment reform, where an opportunity will be given to officers and employees to improve their own performance,” Javadekar said.
He said this is the biggest human resource development programme in the Government.
He said during its last meeting, the Cabinet had approved the setting up of a National Recruitment Agency which was a pre-recruitment reform.
Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said the scheme has been brought about with the intervention of the Prime Minister.
This will help end subjective evaluation, and ensure scientifically-devised, objective and real-time assessment of employees.
“Mission Karmayogi is an endeavour to reincarnate a Government servant into an ideal karmayogi to serve the nation by enabling him to be creative, to be constructive, to be pro-active and technically empowered,” he said.
“The endeavour is also to end the culture of working in silos and to overcome the multiplicity of training curriculum which we have because of the institutions spread all over the country, with the introduction of a common platform for uniform realisation of nation’s vision and of our shared aspiration and our shared future goals,” he said.
This way, Singh said, it will provide a mechanism for continuous capacity building, a constant updating of the talent pool and also provide an equal opportunity of professional as well as personal growth and a stream of self training for value addition at all levels.
Department of Personnel and Training Secretary C Chandramouli said Mission Karmayogi is constituted to build future-ready civil servants with right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of a “New India”.
It focuses on competency-led capacity building, he said, adding that it seeks to create a new architecture for civil services capacity building.
He said it looks at a new national architecture for civil services capacity building and focuses not only on individual capacity building but on institutional capacity building and also on process.
In a presentation, he said at present, there is a diverse and fragmented training landscape and there are inconsistencies in training priorities by various training institutions in various ministries which has prevented shared understanding of India’s developmental aspirations.
He said the mission will have a total outlay of Rs 510 crore over a period of five years
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