Article 350-A: Instruction in the Mother Tongue - Problem of the Urdu Speaking People and Development of Urdu.

Urdu occupies the sixth position among the languages of India in terms of the number of those who speak this language. According to 1981 census, the number of Urdu speakers is 35 million constituting 5.34% of the total population of India.

Urdu is an indigenous language and is widely spoken by all sections of Indian people belonging to all faiths, castes and creeds. It belongs to the whole country and has an interstate character. It is not the concern of any one State or community. The responsibility for its development already stands shared by the Central Government.

The Government of India appointed a Committee in 1972 under the chairmanship of Shri I.K. Gujral, the then Minister of State for Works and Housing for the promotion of Urdu. The Committee submitted its report in 1975. Over the years, there has been persistent public demand to implement the recommendations of the Gujral Committee particularly giving Urdu its due place in education. Early in 1990, the Government appointed a Committee of Experts under the Chairmanship of Shri Ali Sardar Jafri, to examine implementation of Gujral Committee recommendations. (This NPE Review Committee has had interaction with the Jafri Committee). One of the major recommendations of Gujral Committee which has been accepted by the Jafri Committee, is the provision for adequate safeguards for the Urdu linguistic minority at the primary and secondary levels of education.

Keeping in view the need for imparting instruction in the mother tongue at the primary level to all the linguistic minorities and in the light of interactions with the Ali Sardar Jafri Committee, it is recommended that arrangements for the purpose of teaching in the mother tongue of the minorities should be as follows:

Primary level

(A) The Education Department of the State Governments, Union Territories and the Local Authorities should, in the light of Article 350-A of the Constitution, make necessary arrangements for teaching in minority language at the primary stage for the benefit of those who claim it as their mother tongue. A Committee to monitor the implementation of these constitutional commitments may be set up in the concerned States with the Chief Ministers as Chairmen.

(B) In substitution of 10:40 formula:

a) where in an area speakers of minority language constitute 10% or more of the total population, one or more minority language medium primary schools should be set up according to need. Such schools need not be exclusively of one medium. Efforts should be made to keep all students at the same school to avoid segregation irrespective of their mother tongue.

b) in an area where minority language speaking people constitute less than 10% of the total population, a minority language teacher should be provided in such schools as are likely to get a minimum of 10 minority language speaking students:

c) for immediate purposes, bilingual teachers may be appointed in schools mentioned in (b) above. The existing teachers in such schools may also be given incentives to learn minority languages additionally.

Secondary Level

In substitution of 15-60 Formula:

a) it should be presumed that two third of the students leaving primary schools would be desirous of moving on to the next stage of education. Minority language medium sections in the existing secondary schools should be provided on this basis and minority language knowing teachers should be appointed in anticipation of students offering minority language as medium. The emphasis should be on students studying through different media in the same schools;

b) in the case of higher secondary schools in cities having concentration of minority language speakers, one minority language medium higher secondary school should be opened for every group of 8 to 10 primary schools;

c) the State Government should help in raising the standard of teaching in such minority medium higher secondary schools as are run by linguistic minorities themselves;

d) the pre-conditions, if any, for permitting the setting up of minority language medium higher secondary schools and sections privately should be relaxed in favour of the concerned linguistic minority setting up such schools or sections, and the procedure so simplified that the required permission would be granted within two months of the date of application;

e) the facility of minority language medium secondary schools should, as proposed in the case of primary education, be provided wherever the minority language speaking population of an area constitutes 10% of the population.

The Jafri Committee has also recommended that the status of the Bureau for Promotion of Urdu should be changed from that of a subordinate office to an autonomous organisation in order to arm it with functional freedom and enhanced financial powers. This Committee supports this recommendation as well, consistent with its approach that academic bodies should be independent of the rigidities of the subordinate offices of the Government of India.

The 10:40 Formula envisages provision of facilities for teaching in the medium of the mother tongue at the primary stage where there is a minimum of 10 students in a class or 40 in a school as a whole.

The 15:60 Formula seeks to provide facilities for teaching through the medium of the mother tongue, at the secondary stage where there is a minimum of 15 students in a class or 60 in a school as a whole.

 Statistics

BIJNOR, October-November 1990

| No. of Muslims killed | 77 |

| No. of Muslim Houses looted | 466 |

| No. of Muslim Houses burnt | 55 |

| No. of Muslim Shops looted | 388 |

| of which burnt | 102 |

| No. of Kiosks etc looted | 100 |

| of which burnt | 49 |

| Estimated value of Property | Rs.270 million (Houses and Crops looted).

(Source: Imarat-e-Sharia Bihar Report; Courtesy: Naquib Weekly, Phulwari Sharief, 11 February, 1991)

KHURJA, 15 Dec. 1990 and 29 Jan.-5 Feb. 91

| No. of Persons killed* | 96 |

| of whom Muslims | 80 |

| No. of Persons injured | 50 |

| of whom Muslims | 49 |

| No. of Places of worship damaged | 12 |

| of whom Muslims | 12 |

| No. of Houses damaged | 270 |

| of whom Muslims | 30 |

| No. of shops damaged | 226 |

| of whom Muslims | 225 |

| No. of Pottery units damaged | 30 |

| of whom Muslims | 30 |

Not counting railway/bus passengers.

(Source: Mr. S.N. Khan, 66, Morcha Street, Khurja)

GANJ DUNDWARA, ETAH, UP, December 1990

| No. of lives lost | 39 |

| of whom Muslims | 30 |

| No. of Houses & Shops burnt | 122 |

| of whom Muslims | Nearly all |

| No. of families receiving ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh each | 8 |

| of whom Muslims | 3 |

(Source: Report of Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, UP Circle) 

Statistics