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Namrata Biji Ahuja
Namrata Biji Ahuja

Union Budget 2018

'Official language' gets budgetary fillip; govt says 'no plan to impose Hindi'

jaitley-budget-official-language Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley during a press conference | PTI

The Union home ministry will spend more money in promoting the official languages in 2018-19 with the Union Budget increasing the allocation for expenditure on ''official languages'' which include teaching Hindi to Central government employees and funding the Central Hindi Training Institute, Central Translation Bureau and Regional Implementation Offices among others.

The allocation for the official language department of the Union home ministry has gone up from Rs 64.90 crore to Rs 75.45 crore. It may be recalled that the NDA government faced flak last year from certain quarters in states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, accusing it of trying to impose Hindi on non-Hindi speaking states.

However, the home ministry clarified that it had no intention to impose Hindi over any other Indian language. The move to allocate more funds towards promoting the official languages, however, is also aimed at teaching Hindi to Central government employees to enable them communicate in the official language—a break from the practice of the British era of using English in government files and notes, sources in the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the home ministry has faced a cut in its budgetary allocation of its Central scheme for relief and rehabilitation for migrants and repatriates from Rs 1,058 crore to Rs 786 crore. This scheme contains provisions for rehabilitation of refugees from Sri Lanka who are staying in camps, expenditure on refugees from Tibet and former West and East Pakistan, relief and rehabilitation assistance to northeastern states of Tripura, Assam and Mizoram, enhanced compensation to 1984 riot victims, and those affected by the land boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh. This scheme had witnessed a double increase in its budgetary allocation last fiscal from Rs 629 crore in 2016-17.

The ambitious IVFRT (Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration and Tracking) scheme has also seen a cut in its budget this time from Rs 86 crore to Rs 72 crore. The core objective of this project is to modernise and upgrade the immigration services while strengthening security.

Meanwhile, budgetary allocations of all the central paramilitary forces, National Security Guard(NSG) have gone up. But the Intelligence Bureau and Special Protection Group have got a small cut in their budgets this time. Last fiscal year, the IB got Rs 1,882 crore for its administrative expenses, but now it is Rs 1,876 crore. Meanwhile, the SPG budget has gone down from Rs 389 crore to Rs 385 crore. This includes provision for Special Protection Group which provides proximate security to the prime minister, former prime ministers and members of their immediate family and other protectees.

The budgetary allocation for Delhi police has gone up from Rs 6,553 crore to Rs 6,946 crore. These funds will be used for maintaining and enforcing law and order in the National Capital Territory of Delhi. This also includes traffic management in the city, developing traffic and communication network in NCR Mega Cities and model traffic system, upgradation or expansion of communication infrastructure, upgradation of training, induction of latest technology and installation of traffic signals among others.

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