The State Assembly today once again discussed the issue of inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule.
However, like previous years, this time too there was no clear cut answer from the State government as to when the inclusion of the two languages will become a reality.
Reacting to a query from VPP legislator Heaving Stone Kharpran, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that the matter is still pending with the Central government and there has been no clarification or details from the Centre as to what it wanted regarding inclusion of the two languages in the Eighth Schedule.
It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in the year 2018 had passed a resolution to urge the Centre to include two languages in the Eighth Schedule.
According to Sangma, the State government as of now has written nine letters to the Central government to expedite the process and approve the demand.
Sangma also said that the Central government till today has written two letters to the State government reiterating that there are no fixed criteria for inclusion of the languages in the Eighth Schedule.
VPP legislators like Ardent M. Basaiawmoit and Adelbert Nongrum also said that the letters from the Central government appear to be vague since there were no reasons cited for the delay in inclusion of the two languages.
Congress MLA from Mawhati, Charles Marngar also questioned if the Centre is delaying the approval since the proposal sent to the Central government was for inclusion of two languages – Khasi and Garo.
Marngar mentioned that the Central government some time back had approved the inclusion of only Bodo language despite the proposal by the Assam government for inclusion of both Bodo and Karbi languages in the Eighth Schedule.
