Pursuing Center to include Khasi, Garo languages in Constitution since 2019: Meghalaya CM

Shillong, Feb 19 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on Monday said that the state government has been pursuing the Central government for inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution since 2019.

The Chief Minister while replying to the MLAs’ queries in the state assembly said that in between 2019 and 2023, he has written eight letters to the Center to include Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

He also said that the Center is yet to clarify about the reasons for the delay over the inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

“The state government is continuously pursuing the matter with the Centre,” Sangma told the house.

He said that the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government in its first term had taken a determined step to pass a resolution in this regard in December 2018.

Strong commitment of the house would make sure that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would have to resolve the matter, Sangma said, adding that both Khasi and Garo languages are on the list of 38 languages lying pending with the MHA.

The principal languages in the Christian dominated Meghalaya are Khasi and Garo with English as the official language of the state.

--IANS

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