New Delhi: From the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, Rajya Sabha members can speak in any of the 22 languages listed in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
The decision was taken by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.
This is the first time that Rajya Sabha MPs can speak in any of the 22 languages from this monsoon session of parliament.
Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat is arranging for simultaneous interpretation facility for five more languages- Dogri, Kashmiri, Konkani, Santhali and Sindhi.
Naidu, soon after assuming office, assured that necessary measures would be taken to allow the members to speak in any of the 22 languages.
“Speaking in mother tongue enables better expression of thoughts,” he said.
In order to put this into effect, Rajya Sabha Secretariat has made special efforts to identify, select and train interpreters in those five languages.
Of the 22 scheduled languages, Rajya Sabha has earlier established Simultaneous Interpretation Service for 12 languages- Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.
For the five languages- Bodo, Maithili, Manipuri, Marathi and Nepali- interpreters have been deployed from Lok Sabha.
ANI