MNF member leaves House in a huff

New Delhi, Apr 27 (UNI) Two ministers -- Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal and Law and Justice Minister H R Bhardwaj -- volunteered to reply to a vociferous demand from Mizo National Front member Lalhming Liana to include Mizo language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, but the MNF member left the Rajya Sabha in a huff, saying his demand had been given a short shrift by the government.

It all happened when Mr Liana moved a Private member's Bill in the Upper House, passionately arguing for the inclusion of Mizo in the Eighth Schedule, which has now 22 languages in it.

Mr Jaiswal, though concurring with the member's demand, talked about some major technical problems for inclusion of more languages in the Eighth Schedule.

''There is a clamour for the inclusion of as many as 37 more languages in this Schedule, but there have been reservations from the RBI and the Finance Ministry as also from the UPSC,'' he said.

The minister said the RBI and the Finance Ministry had pointed out that it would be near-impossible to print the names of new languages on a currency note.

''In fact, it has not been possible to include the names of all the 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule in a currency note. More languages in this Schedule will only confound the problem.'' Mr Bhardwaj also referred to the reservations raised by the UPSC, which has made it amply clwar that it would be extremely difficult to conduct examinations in all the regional languages.

In this connection, he referred to the report of the Shrikant Mohapatra-led committee, and said it was under the active consideration of the government.

The committee has recommended inclusion of one language from each state in the Eighth Schedule. Also, the language should be recognised by the Sahitya Akademi.

''It is the policy of the UPA government to encourage and propagate all regional languages, including Mizo, for strengthening the unity and oneness of the country,'' Mr. Jaiswal argued.

He also pointed out that the government had accepted in principle to include Rajasthani and Bhojpuri in the Eighth Schedule and work was under way in this regard.

Mr Jaiswal, who had to cast his vote in some parliamentary committee election, wound up his reply, with the hope that the MNF member would withdraw the bill.

However, Mr Liana was far from satisfied from the minister's reply. ''It is strange that the minister is in a hurry to cast his vote and not willing to remain in the House when the demand is being discussed.'' Mr Bhardwaj, who was in the House, offered to give reply to any of the queries from the member in the absence of Mr Jaiswal. ''I am fuly conversant with the issue and can make suitable reply.'' Not convinced, Mr Liana walked out from the House in a huff.

Earlier, raising the issue, the MNF member the Constitution was amended thrice to include eight languages in the Eighth Schedule, which has originally 14 languages.

To bolster his case, he said Mizoram has the second highest literacy rate in the country after Kerala, and Mizo language is very rich and is also recognised by the CBSE and the ICSE.

Also, eight Mizo litterateurs have received Padma Shri and one has been decorated with Padma Bhusan.

''Inclusion of Mizo language in the Eighth Schedule will send the right signal to the people of Mizoram with regard to their oneness and integartion with the rest of the country,'' he argued.

The bill was later negatived.

UNI