By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
Ranchi : The Anjuman Taraqqui-e-Urdu Jharkhand (ATUJ) has welcomed the notification issued by the State government by order of the Governor maintaining the position of Urdu as the second official language as enjoyed by it in the undivided State of Bihar as per the provision laid under Section 84 read with Section 85 of the Bihar State Reorganisation Act, 2000 making the rules, regulations and orders valid and binding in the nascent State of Jharkhand as were in force immediately before the bifurcation of the State of Bihar effective from November 15, 2000.
The language was unfortunately denied the official patronage by the previous NDA government despite its holding the indisputable and legally established position as the second official language of the State.
"The language was evidently kept deprived of the requisite facilities for its growth and development virtually putting its future at stake," said ATUJ president Prof. Abuzar Usmani in a statement received by TwoCircles.net here Wednesday.
"The persistent demand of the Anjuman put forth through a series of memorandums submitted to the former Chief Ministers Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda to restore the legal status of Urdu notifying the order for its official use as per the Bihar Reorganisation Act, 2000 was blatantly ignored causing undue harm to the language obviously linked with the vital need of promoting the linguistic and cultural harmony in the multilingual State of Jharkhand," he added.
The legal status of Urdu having now been affirmed with the issuance of notification to this effect, a long standing grievance of the Urdu speaking people of the State has been removed and it will certainly help in improving their educational and economic prospects and serve the larger cause of the welfare and development of the State.
"The Chief Minister’s solemn declaration in this context to solve the linguistic tangle assuring to give the other languages their due putting an end to the discriminatory policy followed by the previous government in this regard is a welcome move and should justly be appreciated by all the right thinking people who are sincerely interested in the overall welfare and development of the State rising above narrow and sectarian considerations with their firm belief in the secular and democratic ideals," Prof. Usmani stated.
The Anjuman also hoped that the government would urgently take necessary steps to speed up the use of Urdu in government offices and departments with expansion of opportunities for the education and employment of the Urdu speaking people implied in the notified order implementing it in the true sense of the term.