Punjabi becomes official language in Punjab

Chandigarh, Sept 11 (PTI) A bill making Punjabi the
official language of Punjab was unanimously passed by the
state Assembly, fulfilling a decades-old demand.

The measure - the Punjab Official Language (Amendment)
Bill, 2008 - paving the way for "comprehensive" use of Punjabi
in the state administration, was approved by the Assembly
Wednesday.

Moving the Bill, Education and Language Minister
Upinderjit Kaur said it was extremely important to monitor the
implementation of status of Punjabi as the official language
of the state by constituting state level and district level
committees.

"Although Punjabi is a scheduled language under the
Constitution, yet being language of the minority community, it
needs regular, systematic and planned development at both the
national and international level particularly in this era of
modern information and communication technology," she said.

Supporting the Bill, Ajit Inder Singh Mofar (Congress)
said this decision should have been taken at least 20 to 30
years back.

"If we kept ignoring it, we will forget the Punjabi
language," he added.

He said Punjabi language must get priority in schools,
colleges and other institutions.

The House also passed the learning of Punjabi and other
languages bill 2008.

The bill will ensure that Punjabi is taught to all
students studying in standard one to 10 as one of the
compulsory subjects from the next academic session commencing
from April 2009.