The Maharashtra government on Wednesday put on hold Hindi-language examinations for gazetted and non-gazetted state employees following protests by pro-Marathi groups and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, The Indian Express reported.
The state’s Marathi Language Minister and Shiv Sena leader Uday Samant said that the examinations scheduled for June 28 had been suspended and the government would review whether such tests were necessary.
“If it is found that there is no need for such an examination, then it will never be conducted again,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
On April 9, the Directorate of Languages issued a notification announcing lower and higher grade Hindi examinations for government employees at centres in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
As controversy erupted over the notification, the government said that the examinations are conducted routinely every year and are mandatory only for employees who did not study Hindi in Class 10, The Hindu reported.
Director of Maharashtra’s Directorate of Languages Arun Gite told the newspaper that the examinations were “part of the three language policy accepted by the state many years ago”.
“These exams are being conducted since 1951, since even before the formation of the state,” Gite was quoted as saying. “Typically, 2,000 to 2,500 government employees of all ranks give this exam annually.”
The announcement, however, led to protests from pro-Marathi groups and political parties, which questioned the need for Hindi examinations in a state where Marathi is the official language.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Sandeep Deshpande accused the government of attempting to impose Hindi “through the backdoor”, The Indian Express reported. Deshpande alleged the move was taken to “please leaders sitting in Delhi” and was part of a broader attempt to promote Hindi in non-Hindi-speaking states.
Deepak Pawar, the chief of Marathi Abhyas Kendra, an organisation working for preservation and promotion of the language, said that the notification “insults the sentiments of the people of Maharashtra”, The Hindu reported.
The development came weeks after the Maharashtra government announced its decision to make Marathi mandatory for autorickshaw and taxi drivers, before deferring the enforcement of the directive.
