Cabinet approves Bill to include Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi as official languages in Jammu and Kashmir

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill under which Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi, apart from the existing Urdu and English, will be the official languages in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Addressing a press briefing, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 will be introduced in Parliament in the upcoming Monsoon Session.

The Bill received the Cabinet nod on Wednesday at a meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The minister did not divulge further details saying the bill be debated in Parliament soon.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh said the government has accepted the long pending demand of the region for the inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri as officials languages in J-K.

"Inclusion of Dogri, Hindi and Kashmiri as official languages in Jammu and Kashmir is not only a fulfilment of a long-pending public demand of the region but also in keeping with the spirit of equality which was ushered in after August 5, 2019," he said.

Briefing on another decision by the Union Cabinet, Javadekar said, "Union Cabinet has approved three MoUs - one between Textile Ministry and Japan for quality evaluation method, between Mining Ministry and Finland and between Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Denmark."