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Rajya Sabha passes Jammu and Kashmir official Languages Bill 2020

New Delhi
September 23, 2020

The Jammu and Kashmir official Languages Bill 2020 was passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Bill gives official language status to Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, English and Urdu in the Union Territory. The bill fulfills the decades long wishes of the people of the region. It is a big step which will give official language status to Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, English and Urdu, said Minister of State (MoS) Home Affairs G. Kishan Reddy said speaking during the discussions.

"From 1954 there were two official languages in Jammu and Kashmir, Urdu and English, which were used for official work. In 2011 Census, the number of Urdu speakers in the UT was a little above 19 thousand which is 0.16 % of the population," he added.

The MoS Home Affairs further said that in the last seven decades the number of official language speakers was small while close to 74 % population spoke in Kashmiri or Dogri. "While 53.26 % speak Kashmiri, Dogri is spoken by 20.64 % people. It is a long standing demand of the people to give official language status to these languages, but those who ruled for 70 years there did not do so," Reddy said.

The Rajya Sabha earlier today passed three important bills related to labour, the Bi-lateral Netting of Qualified Financial contracts Bill, 2020 and the FCRA Amendment bill by voice votes following discussions.