Hindi seems to be making inroads in Jammu and Kashmir, courtesy a renewed push by the Omar Abdullah government to promote the language amid concerns that Urdu is being sidelined in the Union Territory.
Urdu received official language status in Jammu and Kashmir in 1889 through an order from Maharaja Pratab Singh, who replaced Persian with Urdu as the official language of the princely state. After Independence, Urdu and English served as the official languages of Jammu and Kashmir.
That position changed a year after the scrapping of special status in 2019, when the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Act, 2020, expanded the list of official languages to include Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi.
The Jammu and Kashmir government, in response to a question by BJP MLA Ranbir Singh Pathania in the Assembly on Tuesday, cited several measures being undertaken to promote Hindi.
The government said the official websites and related portals of various departments were being made trilingual to promote Hindi and ensure inclusivity and wider accessibility. “All official correspondences received in Hindi are properly replied to and responded in bilingual form — Hindi and English,” a minister in-charge said.
Not just Hindi, the government said it would consider, “in due course of time”, setting up a dedicated board or academy for the promotion of Sanskrit in the Union Territory.
"The establishment of dedicated boards or academies for the promotion of Sanskrit or any other language shall be taken into consideration in due course of time, with the requirement commensurate with the strength of the aspiring students in the particular subject. The government fully supports such initiatives aimed at promoting classical languages, including Sanskrit,” the minister said.
He said the e-office system, operational across government offices, provides an inbuilt software for writing ready references in Hindi for standard templates and correspondence modules, thereby facilitating a gradual adoption of Hindi in official communication.