Home Ministry Leads Government Wings In Adoption Of Hindi

After Amit Shah took over, 60% of the files are in the language as against 10% earlier; renewed push in the power corridors in the second tenure of Modi government

- Vijaita Singh

Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah said on Saturday that when he took charge on June 1, less than 10% of the files pertaining to the Ministry were in Hindi, “but today 60% files are in Hindi”.

“I work in the Home Ministry; when I came here, not even 10% of the files were in Hindi, now it is 60%. If every department brings this change, then we will be able to promote Hindi,” Mr. Shah said pointing to the Secretaries of various Union Ministries in the audience at an event to celebrate Hindi Divas in Delhi.

Additional staff

Known to go through papers and documents in detail, Mr. Shah does not depend much on officials when it comes to “file notings”.

After he joined office, four or five additional staffmembers were engaged to translate files from English to Hindi for a better understanding of the subject, a Ministry official said.

The Minister insists that press releases of events are sent out in Hindi first and he himself goes through the draft before they are released to the press.

An official said that for decades, the file notings in the Ministry that dealt with complex internal security matters were in English.