EVERY PUNJABI OWES A MORAL DUTY TO PROMOTE
MOTHER TONGUE-
DR. UPINDERJIT KAUR
Chandigarh April 26, 2008
Dr. Upinderjit Kaur, Education and Languages, Civil Aviation,
Vigilance and Justice Minister Punjab has directed the all the
departments, boards/corporations, subordinate courts and educational
institutions to make official use of Punjabi language in the right
earnest keeping in view the spirit of ordinance to amend Punjab
Languages Act (PLA).
Dr. Upinderjit Kaur categorically said that no leniency would
be tolerated after the promulgation of the said act in the state.
"In pursuance to the unanimous resolutions adopted by the
Punjab Vidhan Sabha recently, a collective responsibility on our
shoulders has been added to promote our mother tongue Punjabi
in the state and to give due recognition to Punjabi an ordinance
had been drafted to amend the statutory PLA to make Punjabi as
an official language at all administrative level including subordinate
courts and universities in Punjab", said Dr. Upinderjit Kaur.
The proposed ordinance on Punjabi language implementation had
been made legally watertight act incorporating punitive measures
for erring officials.
Elaborating the directions being issued to various heads of departments,
district authorities and educational institutes, the language
minister said that they should have to replace their name plates,
notice boards, forms, applications and other documents in Punjabi
and use Punjabi as an official language in their day to day functions.
"Those flouting the rules and regulations would invite punitive
measures as enshrined in the ordinance as well as the Punjab Civil
Service rules", cautioned the Minister.
The Minister also directed the Punjab Languages department to
carry out refined inspections of all offices/institutions and
recommend legally punitive actions against the erring employees/officers
to the state government. The deterrent punishment for not using
the Punjabi would be more severe for the repeated offences, she
added.
Dr. Upinderjit Kaur further said that as per the resolutions
passed by the legislature, a conscious policy decision had been
taken by the Punjab Government to ensure that Punjabi language
must be made as one of the compulsory subjects from the academic
session 2008-09. In this regard a new act "The Punjab Learning
of Punjabi and other Languages Act 2008" has been drafted
to ensure proper and compulsory learning and teaching of Punjabi
language in all the schools from standard I to X whether run by
any Society, Trust, Board, Management or any Central school etc..
The language minister added that by implementing Punjabi as
a compulsory subject in the educational institutions, the tri-language
formula would also be protected in true letter and spirit so that
our students could compete at international and national fora
by learning English and Hindi language. To make Punjabi language
as user friendly and flexible for more and adaptable to changing
technologies of modern society, the Minister suggested that Punjabi
language should adopt day to day words of English language as
common usage and efforts should be to invite to make the Punjabi
language I T enabled.
Describing this ordinance as a major challenge for SAD-BJP government
under the leadership of the Punjab Chief Minister S. Parkash Singh
Badal, the Minister said that our future generations would be
indebted to Mr. Badal for taking and implementing this historic
decision for giving due regard and honour to our mother tongue
even after a span of four decades ago.
Making a passionate appeal to all the parliamentarians, legislatures,
executives, judiciary, writers, journalists and academicians,
Dr. Upinderjit Kaur said that they should extend all support and
co-operate to implement Punjabi as their moral responsibility
and firm commitment thereby restoring the rare honour to the mother
tongue.
Dr.Parmpal Singh Cooner got additional
charge
Chandigarh, April 26
Punjab Government has given the additional charge of the office
of Registrar Punjab to Dr.Parmpal Singh Cooner, Joint Director
Medical Education and Research.
Mr. Jagjit Puri, Secretary Medical Education & Research
disclosed that earlier Dr. A.S. Thind, Associate Professor Forensic
Medicine Department, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Medical Collage, Faridkot
was holding the charge of Registrar department, Punjab.
Mr. Puri also said that Dr. Cooner is an eminent World Health
Organization expert in the field of Public Health and Health Management
and he also attended the 5th World Proteomics conference in Seefeld,
Austria.