Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill passed in Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages (Amendment) Bill under which Kashmiri, Dogri, and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory. The Union Home Minister Amit Shah described the passing of the J&K Official Languages (Amendment) Bill as a momentous day for the people of the Union Territory. He took to Twitter and wrote: "A momentous day for the people of J&K as Jammu Kashmir Official Languages (Amendment) Bill was passed in Lok Sabha. With this historic bill, long-awaited dream of the people of J&K comes true! Kashmiri, Dogri, Urdu, Hindi and English will now be the official languages of J&K." "Under this bill, special efforts will be made towards the development of major regional languages like 'Gojri', 'Pahari' and 'Punjabi'. Along with this, the bill will also strengthen the existing institutional structure for the promotion and development of regional languages," he said in another tweet. Also Read | COVID-19: India's testing capacity surges to more than 12-lakh daily tests He further thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the same. He wrote: "I thank PM Narendra Modi Ji for his commitment towards restoring the culture of Jammu and Kashmir through this bill. I also want to assure our sisters and brothers of Jammu and Kashmir that the Modi govt will leave no stone unturned to bring back the glory of Jammu and Kashmir." While introducing the J&K Official Languages Bill, 2020, the Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said it was a demand of the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the language they speak should be the official language. -PTC News