The Maharashtra government, on Monday, issued notification on the use of Marathi as the official language in government businesses. The notification was necessitated, as the government has clearly said, despite repeated instructions, it was not noticed that several departments and local bodies are using English and not 100 per cent Marathi as language for day to day functioning, communication and official correspondence.
The notification, which was issued by the desk officer Rajashri Bapat, said the government has received a number of complaints through the Aaple Sarkar portal against the release of department decisions in English and not in Marathi. Further, the advisories issued by the municipal corporations, especially with regards to the dos and don’ts at the time of natural calamities, are released in English.
The government further recalled that the state cabinet has directed quite often to initiate disciplinary action against the concerned officers for the lack of 100 per cent use of Marathi in department communication and correspondence. Therefore, the government has yet again directed all department heads to instruct the staff for 100 per cent use of Marathi. They have been asked to change the department websites to Marathi from English.
Further, the government has asked the department heads to translate the applications, receipts and fine/penalty receipts in Marathi. The government has insisted that the communication received in English and Hindi languages from the Centre, especially on various schemes relating to public health, education, agriculture, rural development, cleanliness and also regarding the elections will have to be translated into Marathi, so that it can be easily reached to the people.
The government’s move comes a few days after the recent notification making Marathi compulsory in schools. As reported by the Free Press Journal in the first week of June, Marathi has been made compulsory in Standard 1 and Standard 6 in the academic year 2020-21, Standard 2 and Standard 7 in 2021-22, Standard 3 and Standard 8 in 2022-23, Standard 4 and Standard 9 in 2023-24 and Standard 5 and Standard 10 in 2024-25 in schools belonging to different mediums and education boards in the state.
