New Delhi, September 22: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Introducing the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020, 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.
The minister pointed out that 53.26 per cent of the population of Jammu and Kashmir speaks Kashmiri language. Reddy said 26.64 per cent of the population of the UT speaks Dogri while Urdu, which is currently its official language, is spoken only by 0.16 per cent population there.
The Lt. Governor, administrator of the Union Territory, has been empowered by the new bill to take necessary steps to promote Gojri, Pahari and Punjabi language.
The bill now would be introduced in the upper house of the Parliament for consideration and passing after which it will be sent for the President’s assent.
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