The NEWS syndicate
Government of Orissa led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is in serious offence against Oriya Language, alleges the Founder of Bhasha Andolan, Orissa.
In a Press Conference here today at Nehru Juba Kendra, Bhubaneswar, he pointed out that,the Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Rules 2019 is designed to push Oriya Language into functional atrophy by providing for rewards to whosoever doesn’t work in Oriya to the total extent of “all or any” official matter in Oriya.
Rule 5A (1) says,
“for extensive use of Odia as official language for all or any of the official purposes in the State of Odisha, the officials as well as Administrative Departments shall be rewarded.”
The term “extensive use” is not defined. But no definition is required to understand that this term doesn’t mean “complete use”. Therefore, it is unambiguously clear that, whosoever employee doesn’t use Oriya completely in official work, shall be rewarded. Nothing could be more injurious to the language-right of the people of Orissa, Sri Pattanayak has stated.
The people of Orissa had fought for a long period from 1870 to 1936 to have a State of their own in which the administration could run only in Oriya. Therefore, when independence came, in the first Assembly elected under universal franchise, the elected representatives of the people led by the great freedom fighter Nabakrushna Chowdhury, had created The Orissa Official Language Act in 1954, to enforce Oriya as the official language for all or any official work in the entire State of Orissa. The Rules under question gives a deathblow to this provision and deprives the people of their inherent right to have their administration in their own language Oriya, Pattanayak has pointed out.
Under Sub-Rule (2) of Rule 5A, the new mischief says,
“In case of any substantial and persistent dereliction of the use of Odia as the official language for official purposes, action as deemed fit under the Odisha Civil Services (Classification,Control and Appeal) Rules 1962 shall be initiated against the erring officials.”
This is a proven tactics of hoodwinking the people of Orissa, which the anti Oriya administration has been habitually practicing in order to foil the very purpose of creation of Orissa.
Sri. Pattanayak has cited Notification no. 7113-Gen. dated 06.04.1968 as a sample from the archives of Government Notifications on implementation of the Odisha Official Language Act.
Biju Patnaik, father of the present Chief Minister, when Chief Minister of the State himself, had imposed English as the Official Language in legislative business and once the 1963 Amendment to this extent was assented to, Orissa administration run in English to such detriment of the language-right of the people of Orissa, that in 1967 election Biju was thrashed to the dust by the electorate, which made it clear to the Government that no negligence to use of Oriya as Official language would ever be tolerated.
Studying this mood of the people, the Government under R.N. Singhdeo had to bring out the 1968 Notification which said,
“In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (2) of Section 2 of the Odisha Official Language Act, 1954, the State Government do hereby direct that with effect from the 14th Day of April 1968 Oriya shall be used in all offices of the heads of department within the meaning of Rule 20 of the Orissa Service Code and in offices subordinate to them”.
This Notification was promulgated “in the whole of the State of Orissa” for “all official purposes”. But, no action was ever taken against violation of this Notification, Sri Pattanayak has shown in his press release.
So, such Notifications, according to him, are meant only to grant immunity to the employees in their offence against the Odisha Official Language Act that has given the right to the people to have their administration in Oriya.
The ill motive of the Government in Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Rules, 2019 is unambiguously discernible in the very fact that, it has neither withdrawn nor repealed Rule 3 of Odisha Official Language Rules, 2016, which has restricted the Rules only to “review and monitoring” by a Committee comprising those officers who are not carrying out the provisions of the Orissa Official Language Act, 1954 and to bury the same in the Committee level only.
Sri Pattanayak. as member in the Ministerial Committee, had given a set of Draft legislation wherein under Rule 10 it was spelled out that whosoever employee fails to work in Oriya would be subjected to cash penalty from Rs.2,000/- to 10,000/- in the first instance in a specific court created under Rule 11(1) thereof, specifying that every member of the General Public of Orissa would be empowered to prosecute whosoever fails to work in Oriya.
A non-Oriya IAS officer G.V.V. Sharma, who was appointed to assist the Ministerial Committee, had objected to this provision in his note dated 19.11.2015. As the Law department had no objection to Sri Pattanayak’s draft legislation, Sharma had suppressed the file and steps to derail the Committee were taken by the non-Oriya officers’ gang, with the help of the Chief Minister, who in the line of his father’s 1963 conspiracy against Oriya language, runs his administration in English to the detriment of 93% people of Orissa that do not know and understand English.
Since then all out attempts have been made to send the language right of the people into oblivion and notorious legislation like the one under question have been made to hoodwink the people of Orissa time and again. In this notification,when unspecific “action” against violation of Language Act is breathed, it is specified that no action shall be taken unless the violation is “substantial and persistent”. Does the Chief Minister believe, if rape is not substantial and persistent, it would not be punishable? – he has wondered in his address to the Press.
Considering this, Sri Pattanayak has pointed out that, Orissa Government under Naveen Patnaik is in serious offence against the people of Orissa and their language.