Seeking official status for Rajasthani, Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to include the language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
She asked the Prime Minister to consider the long standing demand of the people of Rajasthan and bring a Bill to include Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule before both Houses of Parliament in the Monsoon Session.
Rajasthani language is spoken by more than 80 million people in India and all over the world where people of Rajasthani origin have settled.
Within the country, it is spoken mainly in Rajasthan and the neighbouring states of Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab as also some parts of Sindh and Punjab in Pakistan and all over the world by the immigrants.
The letter said, there are 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Many of the languages have been included after Independence, whereas our demand had been ignored.
Also, National Census reports from 1901 till 1961 had recorded Rajasthani as a separate and independent language with many dialects.
Sahitya Akademi and University Grants Commission have recognised Rajasthani as a distinct language from Hindi and it is being taught as such in the University of Jodhpur and Udaipur, she said in the letter, adding Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education has included Rajasthani in the course and since 1973 it has been treated as an optional subject.
The Minister also said that during Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s tenure in 2003, the Rajasthan Assembly had passed a unanimous resolution for inclusion of Rajasthani in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and sent it to the Centre then.
She wrote that the matter has remained pending ever since and “this is a matter of great importance for the people of Rajasthan as this will help to protect our identity and our rich culture”.
The demands to include Rajasthani have been raised many times in both Houses of Parliament and the Home Minister has assured the Lok Sabha in May 2012 that soon a Bill would be brought to include Bhojpuri and Rajasthani in Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
src: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/katoch-writes-to-pm-to-include-rajasthani-in-8th-schedule-113071800411_1.html