13th June resolution adopted in Legislative Council of J&K asking the Government to make Urdu as a language of compulsory for recruitment / appointments as tehsildars is sure to agitate people. One of the reasons given in support has been that since many Tehsildars do not have perfection in reading and writing Urdu they are dependent on clerks and cannot perform their duties efficiently / effectively. No doubt the resolution has wisdom but it needs very careful handling by the government otherwise there may be some more regional overtones worth dismantling the pathway of peace and stability that Mehbooba Mufti Government is working on. It is time to even have a detailed review of the recruitment rule / promotion rule for Patwaries / Naib Tehsildars / Tehsildars and even the police officers.
Since Urdu is also official language of J&K and overnight people can’t acquire proficiency in the language worth putting to test at the time of recruitment some way out will have to be found out in an acceptable manner.
Hence the BJP-PBP Government must take immediate remedial measures before it shapes into some disturbing controversy since majority of the non-Muslim community and those in Jammu region have not been taking Urdu as a language at school level and hence they could agitate against making Urdu a condition for recruitment.
1. For those already in service a condition could be of passing a formal Urdu literacy test for further promotion.
2. For those who have not studied Urdu during formal education and want to enter into Revenue/ Police / Judicial service a condition for passing a Urdu literacy test within two years of joining service could be kept.
3. It could be made a condition to have a certificate of Urdu literacy for any new recruitments in revenue/ police/ judicial after say 2027.
4,Urdu must be now onwards made a formal subject in all Government Schools in J&K from class 1st on wards upto Secondary School level with the condition that the subject will be awarded only grades without any affect on the pass result for the class. It will be the choice of the individual to take the language seriously, in case one does not take the language seriously during school he / she will have to suffer during the entrance test for recruitment as patwari / naib tehsildar / ASI/SI. … to be continued
*( Daya Sagar is a Sr Journalist and a social activist, can be reached at dayasagr45@yahoo.com.)