Lok Sabha extends translation services to 6 more languages

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that efforts are being made to gradually extend the translation services in the House to all languages based on available human resources

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday announced the extension of translation services in the House to six additional languages—Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri, Sanskrit and Urdu.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conducts proceedings of the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday. (Sansad TV)

Until now, translation services have been provided in ten languages—Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil and Telugu, along with Hindi and English.

Birla said that efforts are being made to gradually extend the service to all languages based on available human resources.

According to Schedule 8 of the Constitution, 22 languages, including Sanskrit, are officially recognised.

Earlier, on June 28, 2023, the Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a circular announcing a plan for real-time, two-way interpretation in all 22 languages.

“Indian legislature is the sole democratic institution in the world providing simultaneous translation services in several languages. Every world forum has appreciated the idea of simultaneously translating the proceedings into 22 languages,” Birla said.

The move, however, faced opposition regarding the inclusion of Sanskrit. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) member of Parliament (MP) Dayanidhi Maran questioned its addition, arguing that Sanskrit is “not communicable” and not an official language of any state.

“The extension of this service to official state languages is welcome. But which state’s official language is Sanskrit? Why is taxpayers’ money being spent on a language that is non-communicable?” Maran asked, citing the 2011 Census, which recorded “only 73,000 supposed speakers” of the language.

Responding to the criticism, Birla defended the decision, stating, “In which part of the world do you stay? Sanskrit has been the root language of India. Why do you have an issue with Sanskrit?” His remarks led to a reaction from the Opposition members.