The Jammu and Kashmir Police have established a cell consisting of 20 members to promote and enforce the use of the Hindi language in offices across the Jammu division, The Indian Express reported.
As per an order dated September 21, issued by Additional Director General of Police, Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh, a Staff Officer to ADGP in the Jammu zone will act as the key coordinator to ensure compliance with a previous circular issued by the police headquarters.
The other members of the cell include Rakesh Kumar and Shakti Koul (inspectors), sub-inspectors Bharat Rattan and Pavinder Kumar, along with Ganesh Gutt, Daleep Singh, Bunty Kumar, and Dilbagh Singh (all ASIs), Krishan Lal, Arun Singh, Ram Kumar, and Rajinder Kumar (head constables), Ajay Kumar, Runkman Vaid, and Nitan Sharma (selection grade constables), Narinder Sukha, Rajan Sharma, and Abhishek Bassan (constables), and follower Rajesh Vaid.
In 2020, a bill was passed to designate Dogri, Kashmiri, and Hindi as official languages. On September 22, 2020, the Lok Sabha introduced and passed the J&K Official Languages Bill, 2020, which aimed to designate Kashmiri, Dogri, and Hindi as official languages of the Jammu Kashmir.
This decision ignited a debate, with Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference expressing concerns about having five official languages potentially causing bureaucratic confusion.
In response, Union Minister of State for Home, G Kishan Reddy, highlighted that Urdu, the official language of J&K, was spoken by only 0.16 percent of the population, while Kashmiri was spoken by over 50 percent of the population but was not an official language.
Reddy emphasized the historical mistake and the need to rectify it by including Kashmiri as an official language of J&K.