Shillong, Apr 28: The state government will start preparing the rules for the ordinance that has opened the way for Khasi and Garo to be co-official languages of Meghalaya.
The ordinance was approved by Governor CH Vijayashankar yesterday.
Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong today said that the ordinance will be regularised by the State Assembly during the Autumn Session later this year.
Meanwhile, the president of the Khasi Authors’ Society, DR Lyngdoh Nonglait has said the decision of the government to make Khasi as official language of the state was a progressive move and appreciated it for fulfilling the long-standing demand.
Nonglait said that it was after 54 years after bifurcation of Meghalaya from Assam that Khasi has been recognised as one of the official languages, apart from Garo, of the state.
“We appreciate the steps taken by the government but the significance of making Khasi as the official language lies in the fact that it has to be implemented both in letter and spirit. It has to go beyond symbolism,” the KAS president said.
He said that recently, during their interaction with the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, the KAS made it clear that while framing the Rules for its implementation the society has to be involved.
“We have the expertise and the people who can contribute towards its implementation in a very effective manner,” Nonglait said.
He pointed out that once the Ordinance has been ratified by the Assembly the government should immediately start framing the Rules.
Nonglait said that for official use in administrative purposes, there should be a policy where all government departments should use Khasi in issuing notifications, orders and correspondences.
He said that in the field of education the department should take it seriously as of now, Khasi has been the medium of instruction and examination only up to class 5.
“Our aspiration is that Khasi should be extended in the first phase atleast upto class 8 and in the second phase the government may plan to extend the use of Khasi as a medium of instruction and examination up to the secondary and higher secondary level,” the KAS president said.
Nonglait added that in due course of time Khasi can be the medium of examination upto the degree level. He said that if the government is serious, this may take time, but it is possible that in due course Khasi can be extended and can be used as a medium of examination even up to degree level.
The president said that the KAS is working on a project of producing a Khasi, Khasi-English dictionary.
“We have been working on this project for more than four years now and it is being funded by the department of Arts and Culture and there are experts looking after this project,” Nonglait said.
According to him, in this project there are around 12 research associates who are actively involved in this project and now it is in the final stage.
Nonglait said that this dictionary is a very important project where even phonetic signs are included to make Khasi spelling accurate.
The KAS president said that after the publication of this dictionary the society will write to the Department of Education to accept it as a standard dictionary and to be used by all schools and colleges.
