New Delhi, Nov 3: A delegation of National People’s Party leaders, with Lok Sabha MP, Agatha Sangma, Hon’ble Speaker, Thomas A Sangma, and Marcuise N Marak held a meeting with the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi on Friday.
The meeting was held to discuss and advocate for the inclusion of the Garo Language in the list of demands for recognition under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
The aim of this meeting was to ensure that the Garo Language receives its due recognition.
The information was shared by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on his social media handle.
A delegation of @nppmeghalaya leaders, led by Hon’ble Lok Sabha MP, Smti. Agatha Sangma, Hon’ble Speaker, Thomas A Sangma & Hon’ble Minister, Sh. @marcuisemarak met Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi regarding inclusion of Garo Language in the list of demands for… pic.twitter.com/IaDoDPiJG9
— Conrad K Sangma (@SangmaConrad) November 3, 2023
This comes days after President of the Garo Baptist Convention (GBC) expressed his concern and disappointment over the exclusion of Garo or Achik from the tentative list of 38 languages to be incorporated in the Eight Schedule notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs recently.
The languages in the list that are pending and are yet to get approval includes Angika, Banjara, Bazika, Bhojpuri, Bhoti, Bhotia, Bundelkhandi, Chhattisgarhi, Dhatki, English, Garhwali (Pahari), Gondi, Gujjar or Gujjari, Ho, Kaachachhi, Kamtapuri, Karbi, Khasi, Kodava (Coorg), Kok Barak, Kumaoni (Pahari) and Kurak.
The other languages are, Lepcha, Limbu, Mizo (Lushai), Magahi, Mundari, Nagpuri, Nicobarese, Pahari (Himachali), Pali, Rajasthani, Sambalpuri or Kosali, Shaurseni (Prakrit), Siraiki, Tenyidi and Tulu.
Currently, there are 22 languages in the Eighth Schedule : Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.