Mind this language

Maharashtra has a policy in place to promote employment for local people,i.e. those who are domiciled in the state for over 15 years irrespective of their religion,language or place of birth. The state has issued GRs government resolutions on six occasions: on November 5,1968; August 25,1970; February 13,1973; June 2,2005; March 30,2007; and November 17,2008,reiterating this policy. The GR is a directive,with no provision to punish defaulters. In an interview to The Indian Express on January 19,Industries Minister Rajendra Darda said that the policy was being followed and 86 to 87 per cent of the industrial workforce in the state was local.

Marathi signboards

The Bombay Shops and Establishments Act,1948 specifies that signboards of shops and establishments must also be in Marathi,besides any other language. Over the past two years,the Sena-ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has sought to reinforce this rule and set deadlines to businesses in Mumbai to put up signboards in Marathi/Devnagari as well or face action. The MNS went one step further and threatened businesses with violence if the Marathi/Devnagari signboards were not more prominent than the ones in English. Harried businessmen took the issue to court and found relief in a stay order.

Marathi films

Last week,Deputy CM R R Patil sought to reinforce a 1968 GR which mandates all movie halls in the state to exhibit Marathi films for four weeks a year at four shows per day. The Cinema Owners and Exhibitors Association of India has termed the condition unrealistic and difficult to implement in Mumbai,saying there is hardly an audience for Marathi films in the financial capital. The association claims that the government has threatened to cancel licences of theatres that violate this GR,although the GR does not give room for such punitive action,and has challenged this in the High Court.

Marathi rubber stamps

In April 2008,the state government issued an order saying that while endorsing documents,officials and ministers should use rubber stamps and seals in Marathi.

Poll promises

Congress-NCP: A Marathi language conversation fortnight to be organised every year from May 1 to 15; and a legislative committee to be appointed to monitor and promote the use of Marathi as the official language in administration.

Shiv Sena-BJP: Will create a permanent machinery to stop the influx of migrants into Mumbai to reduce the burden on civic amenities; will provide affordable houses for sons of the soil; to provide financial aid of Rs 75,000 each to locals for constructing houses in rural areas and to make efforts to provide flats priced below Rs 5 lakh each in urban areas; to enact law to observe Marathi Week from February 21 World Mother Tongue Day to February 27 World Marathi Day on the lines of the central governments Hindi week; to permit students appearing for competitive examinations to answer in Marathi,apart from English and Hindi; to increase the use of Marathi in official work,from the current 50 per cent levels to 100 per cent in five years; and to form a Bhasantar translation corporation to translate important books written in other languages to Marathi.

MNS: To provide 100 per cent reservation for Marathi-speaking citizens in private and public sector jobs; to make Marathi language compulsory for students till Class 10; and to provide houses to local citizens at affordable rates.