Maharashtra asks central government offices to use Marathi for official communication

The move is being seen as an attempt to counter the aggressive campaign led by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) over the use of the local language.

The Maharashtra government issued a notification on Tuesday saying it wants all central government offices in the state to use Marathi for official communication, along with Hindi and English.

Maha CM Devendra Fadnavis. (FILE)

The state government has also instructed central agencies to use Marathi and Devanagari script along with English and Hindi for all its services, such as, banking, telephone, post, insurance, railway, metro, mono-rail, airline, gas, petroleum and taxation. It also wants them to use Marathi for various examinations conducted for government jobs.

The move is being seen as an attempt to counter the aggressive campaign led by Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) over the use of the local language.

The state Marathi language department issued a circular requesting heads of all central government agencies in the state to use Marathi for official purposes. “The state government has noticed that the central government offices in the state are not using Marathi language effectively along with English and Hindi. The state government is also receiving instructions from elected representatives and general public regarding inclusion of Marathi language in the examinations for railway, post, banks and other offices of the central government. This is despite the tri-language policy adopted by the Centre,” said the circular.

The circular further mentioned the use of Marathi language and Devanagari script for all instructions, public notices, notice boards, indicators, name-plates displayed and for all offline and online services being provided for the public.

In order to make central government employees proficient in Marathi, the state has suggested conducting workshops and training programs. This will make their communication with locals easier.

Reacting to this, MNS spokesperson Nitin Sardesai said that his party has been raising the issue for a long time and the state government has now taken it up by issuing this circular. “Rules are in place, the only issue is their implementation. We are hoping that from now, rules will be followed. If not, then MNS is ready to take up the matter,” Sardesai told HT.