Govt to boost image with Marathi makeover

MUMBAI: The Democratic Front government has decided to take the wind out of the opposition’s sails by vigorously pushing the case of the Marathi manoos.

In a bid to leave the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena behind with elections nearing, the government has decided to ensure that locals get 80% of the jobs in industries in Maharashtra. It has called a meeting on Friday to this end.

At a meeting on Wednesday, state finance and  planning minister Jayant Patil had told the industries department to ensure that the existing rule reserving  80% of jobs for locals was implemented  by the private sector. Last month Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had said implementation was a problem.

Patil also told the labour department to ensure that shops and establishments in the state displayed their names in Marathi prominently on their signboards. He also told the general administration department to ensure that announcements are made at airports in the state in Marathi, in addition to English and Hindi. The railways already follows the three-language formula.

A spokesman for GVK, which runs Mumbai airport, said there would be no problem in making announcements in Marathi if the state so wished.

Following the directives, the Industries Welfare Commissioner Malini Shankar has convened a meeting on Friday to chalk out a plan of action for the implementation of the 80 per cent job reservation.

However, an official from the industries department said it will be difficult to monitor the new directives due to shortage of manpower. “The companies have been providing details about the recruitments, but those are never cross checked,” he added.

The BMC’s shop and establishment department’s chief inspector MB Ransing said that they had prosecuted 5000 shopkeepers in 2007-08 for not having signboards in Marathi and that nearly 85% of the shops in Mumbai sport Marathi names. An amendment in 1981 to the Bombay Shops and Establishment Act 1948 had made it compulsory to sport nameplates in Devnagari for all the shops and establishments.

An amendment in 2001 made it compulsory to write the name in Marathi on the top with the same thickness of the letters in English. But this had been challenged by some associations and the case was still pending, Ransing added.

And all the divisional commissioners will have to issue verdicts in Marathi for the hearings they hold.

Principal secretary (Law) SB Dhatrak said the government would request the Bombay High Court to use Marathi in the courts. “All the district courts have started using Marathi. Recording of evidences in sessions and metropolitan magistrate courts is done in both English and Marathi though judgments are passed only in English. We are writing to enquire about the status and requirements for such implementation,” he added.

At a conference in March 2007 at Aurangabad under the chairmanship of the then chief justice, phased introduction of Marathi in courts in two years was agreed too in principal. Accordingly, the state has provided 100 Marathi stenographers and the software needed for language change, said an official.