Home Minister P Chidambaram today stressed on providing greater space to Hindi in official work and implementing the principle of cordial co-existence with other Indian languages.
"On the occasion of the Hindi Diwas, I call upon all of you to assign greater space to Hindi in our official work, and implement the principle of cordial co-existence among various languages as has been envisaged in the Constitution and The Official Languages Act," he said at a Hindi Day function here.
The Home Minister said the use of Hindi has played a vital role in harmonising the diverse cultural and linguistic elements and in emergence of a united India.
Chidambaram said there were some recent positive developments for the cause of promotion and propagation of Hindi and the government would like to carry these forward.
"We need to collectively deliberate on the various measures for ensuring wider use of Hindi in different parts of the country. Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh) has also given the direction to formulate an all-encompassing strategy for the promotion and use of Hindi as our Official Language...," he said.
The Home Minister said the quintessence of the expectations contained in the various provisions governing the official language policy is enshrined in Rule 12 of The Official Languages Rules, 1976.
He said the said Rule entrusts the responsibility for ensuring compliance of the provisions relating to the official language policy to the administrative heads of the Central government offices.
"I urge all administrative heads to discharge their responsibilities in this regard," he said.
