Pradipta Kumar Naik, the Leader of Opposition (LoP), addressed a letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him to take measures for the usage of Odia language in all State Assembly proceedings.
Naik claimed that Odia language in administrative and judicial works is only restricted to the papers while the majority of the letters in the Assembly and Lok Seva Bhawan are written in English. He further alleged that several judicial reports, departmental budgets, commission’s reports, and ordinances are not written in Odia language. High Court and other courts in Odisha also continue to use English as their primary language.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar High courts have approved Hindi as a supplementary language aside from English to conduct judicial works. Naik demanded that the Odisha government take similar measures and include Odia as an additional language in the Orissa High Court.
“On November 4, 2011, the name of the State was changed from Orissa to Odisha and the name of its language from Oriya to Odia. However, the State’s name remained unchanged in the signage of the Orissa High Court,” said Pradipta Kumar Naik.
Notably, the Odisha Assembly had passed the Odisha Official Language (Amendment) Bill on May 1, 2018. The bill had penal provisions for non-compliance and rewards for the extensive use of Odia by state government officials in official communications.
“Assembly and judicial proceedings need to be people-friendly, usage of Odia language is highly essential. But, unfortunately, the State government is not paying heed to the issue,” Naik asserted.