Ninety-second Amendment of the Constitution of India
| The Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parliament of India | |
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| Citation | ANNEXURE (A)
TEXTS OF THE CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT ACTS (First to Ninety-fourth)[1] |
| Territorial extent | India |
| Passed by | Lok Sabha |
| Passed | 22 December 2003 |
| Passed by | Rajya Sabha |
| Passed | 23 December 2003 |
| Assented to | 7 January 2004 |
| Commenced | 7 January 2004 |
| Legislative history | |
| First chamber:Lok Sabha | |
| Billtitle | Constitution (One-hundredth Amendment) Bill, 2003 |
| Introduced by | Lal Krishna Advani |
| Introduced | 18 August 2003 |
| Committee report | Report of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs |
| Final stages | |
| Reported fromconference committee | 5 December 2003 |
| Related legislation | |
| 21stand71stAmendments | |
| Summary | |
| IncludedBodo,Dogri,MaithiliandSantaliasofficial languagesby amending theEighth Schedule to the Constitution | |
| Status:In force | |
TheNinety-second Amendmentof theConstitution of India,officially known asThe Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003,amended the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution so as to includeBodo,Dogri,MaithiliandSantalilanguages, thereby raising the total number of languages listed in the schedule to 22. The Eighth Schedule lists languages that theGovernment of Indiahas the responsibility to develop.[1]
TheEighth Schedule to the Constitutionoriginally included 14 languages.[2]Sindhiwas included by the21st Amendment,enacted in 1967; andKonkani,MeiteiandNepaliwere included by the71st Amendmentin 1992, raising the total number of languages to 18.
Text
[edit]BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-fourth year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1.Short titleThis Act may be called the Constitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003.
2.Amendment of Eighth ScheduleIn the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution—
- (a)existing entry 3 shall be re-numbered as entry 5, and before entry 5 as so re-numbered, the following entries shall be inserted, namely:—
- "3. Bodo.
- 4. Dogri. ";
- (b)existing entries 4 to 7 shall respectively be re-numbered as entries 6 to 9;
- (c)existing entry 8 shall be re-numbered as entry 11 and before entry 11 as so re-numbered, the following entry shall be inserted, namely:—
- "10. Maithili."
- (d)existing entries 9 to 14 shall respectively be re-numbered as entries 12 to 17;
- (e)existing entry 15 shall be re-numbered as entry 19 and before entry 19 as so re-numbered, the following entry shall be inserted, namely:—
- "18. Santali."
- (f)existing entries 16 to 18 shall respectively be re-numbered as entries 20 to 22.[3]
Proposal and enactment
[edit]TheConstitution (Ninety-second Amendment) Act, 2003,was introduced in theLok Sabhaon 18 August 2003, as theConstitution (One-hundredth Amendment) Bill, 2003(Bill No. 63 of 2003). It was introduced by then Deputy Prime MinisterLal Krishna Advaniand sought to amend the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.[4]The full text of the Statement of Objects and Reasons appended to the bill is given below:
There have been demands for inclusion of certain languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. It is proposed to include Bodo language in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.
2. The Bill seeks to achieve the above object.
— L.K. Advani,"The Constitution (One-hundredth Amendment) Bill, 2003".
The bill, as introduced, was referred to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs, which presented its report to theRajya Sabha,recommending that the Bill be passed in the present form. The Report was laid on the table of the Lok Sabha on 5 December 2003. The Bill was debated by the Lok Sabha on 22 December 2003 and passed on the same day, with a formal amendment changing the short title from "One-hundredth" to "Ninety-second". During the consideration of the Bill in the House, an amendment was moved by L.K. Advani to include three other languages, namely, Santali, Maithili and Dogri in the Eighth Schedule. The amendment was adopted by the House, and a newly substituted section 2 provided for inclusion of Bodo as Entry No. 3, Dogri as Entry No. 4, Maithili as Entry No. 10, Santali as Entry No. 18 and also for consequential re-numbering of the existing entries, accordingly.[4]The Bill, as passed by the Lok Sabha, was considered and passed by the Rajya Sabha on 23 December 2003.[4][5]
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| Constitution of India |
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| Preamble |
Speaking in the Lok Sabha on 22 December, Advani stated that the constitutional amendment to include Bodo was "in pursuance of a very valuable Memorandum of Settlement arrived at between the representatives of the Bodo community, the Government of Assam and the Government of India". A part of the settlement was that the Government of India would consider inclusion of Bodo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.[6]Janeshwar Mishra,Samajwadi PartyRajya Sabha MP, stated that no Indian language could flourish as long as the recognition given to English remained. Reacting to the demand for substitutingEnglishwith any other Indian language, Advani stated that it was necessary that both English and Hindi co-exist for the unity of the country, stating, "National unity is more important than language issue." He further stated that de-linking from English was not a good thing, as he felt that knowledge of English gave India an advantage overChinain theInformation Technology sector.Laxmi Mall Singhvi,BJPRajya Sabha MP, stated that the legislation's intention was not to reduce the impact or acceptability ofHindiby including more languages in the Eighth Schedule.[5]
CongressmemberPranab Mukherjee,stated that while he had no objection to any language being included in the Eighth Schedule, the Government should have consulted the Standing Committee to bring "a comprehensive and well thought-out legislation". He further added that, "piecemeal legislations as this would only create rift in the country".CPI(M)member Chandrakala Pandey named more than a dozen languages that she believed should be included in the Eighth Schedule. SP member Rama Shankar Kaushik felt that the Government needed to differentiate between "Bhasaha aur Boli"(language and dialect), stating," If you cease to differentiate between language and dialect, you will end up reducing the status of Hindi as the official language and that will create tension on the basis of language. "RJDchiefLalu Prasad Yadavfelt that inclusion of a language or dialect in the Eighth Schedule should be done carefully and comprehensively to ensure that there was no dispute on the language medium of examinations, finding teachers, and programmes on radio and television.[5]
DMKmember S. Viduthalai Virumbi stated that Hindi was not a "majority language", and demanded that the official language of a State be included as official language of the country. Verumbi was interrupted by SP memberAmar Singh,who objected to opposition to Hindi, saying, "I respectTamilbut to oppose Hindi is not correct. "[5]
The bill received assent from then PresidentA. P. J. Abdul Kalamon 7 January 2004, and came into force on the same date.[4][7]It was notified inThe Gazette of Indiaon 8 January 2004.[4]
Reception
[edit]Adivasiyouths celebrated the passage of the 92nd Amendment by bursting crackers and distributing sweets at various tribal-dominated areas such as Karandih, Parsudih, Kadma andBirsanagar.[8]
BJP Lok Sabha MP fromMayurbhanj,Odisha,Salkhan Murmutermed the day that the bill passed as historic for tribal people. Murmu further expressed that the long-cherished dreams of the tribals had been fulfilled, saying, "This is the first time that the Adivasis have got recognition". Murmu had tabled the proposal for the inclusion of the Santali language in the Eighth Schedule in the Lok Sabha. Murmu stated that he would now fight for the inclusion of other tribal languages like Ho, Kuruk and Munda in the Eighth Schedule.[8]
President ofJharkhand Disom Party(JDP) women cell Sumitra Murmu stated that the long battle which Salkhan initiated 20 years ago for the inclusion of the language in the Eighth Schedule had been won.Jharkhand Mukti MorchachiefShibu Sorendescribed inclusion of Santhali language as "not surprising", saying, "It was a political decision and had to happen some day."[8]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/EIGHTH-SCHEDULE.pdfArchived8 October 2013 at theWayback Machine
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^"The Constitution of India (1949)"(PDF).Lok Sabha Secretariat.p. 1189. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 3 December 2013.Retrieved5 December2013.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^"Texts of the Constitution Amendment Acts"(PDF).Lok Sabha Secretariat.pp. 672–673. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 3 December 2013.Retrieved5 December2013.This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
- ^abcde"Constitution Amendment in India"(PDF).Lok Sabha Secretariat.pp. 337–338. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 3 December 2013.Retrieved5 December2013.
- ^abcd"Government to bring comprehensive legislation on languages".The Hindu.24 December 2003. Archived fromthe originalon 29 August 2004.Retrieved5 December2013.
- ^"Discussion on The Constitution".indiankanoon.org.
- ^"The Constitution (Amendment) Acts".Constitution.org.Retrieved5 December2013.
- ^abc"Joy greets language victory".Telegraph India.22 December 2003.Archivedfrom the original on 10 March 2019.Retrieved10 March2019.