Mumbai, Feb 3 : In a serious bid to promote, preserve, propagate, disseminate and develop the Maratha language, the Maharashtra government has made it mandatory to converse in the Marathi language in government, semi-government, local self-government institutions, government corporations, government-granted offices.

It will also be mandatory to put up notice boards in Marathi. The keyboards of all computers purchased under government procurement and subsidy scheme should be in Marathi along with Roman script.

The State Planning Department Deputy Secretary Milind Kulkarni on Monday released a government resolution in this regard.

According to the government resolution, a complaint can be made to the concerned Head of Office or Head of Department regarding government officers/employees who do not communicate in the Marathi language.

The Head of Office or Head of Department shall verify the matter and after investigation, if the concerned government officer/employee is found guilty, disciplinary action shall be taken against him. However, the complainant shall be informed by the Head of Office. If the action taken by the Head of the Department is found to be defective or unsatisfactory, an appeal can be made to the Marathi Language Committee of the Legislative Assembly.

According to the Maharashtra Official Language Act, 1964, except for prohibited purposes, all government office documents, all correspondence, notices, orders, and messages will be carried in Marathi and all types of presentations and websites at the office level will also be in Marathi.

The work of implementing the Marathi Language Policy at the district level will be entrusted to the District Level Marathi Language Committee.

As per the Central Government's Multilingualism Act, it will be made mandatory for the notice boards, name boards of officials, and other samples to be displayed in bold in all Central Government offices and all banks in the state to be in Marathi. Only the Marathi names approved by the Government (Council of Ministers) of government and non-government establishments as well as corporations, boards, government-approved undertakings, and companies shall be used in the functioning of the establishments.

The use of the Marathi language will be mandatory in advertisements given to various media outlets by government-approved enterprises. All advertisements, tenders and announcements of meetings published in Marathi newspapers by companies, boards, corporations, non-governmental organisations, and local self-government organisations incorporated by the Maharashtra government shall be published in Marathi language only.

Further, all departments concerned will take steps to allocate funds as required for the implementation of the Marathi Language Policy. The government resolution said the Marathi Language Department has announced the state's Marathi Language Policy after it was cleared by the state cabinet.

'The Marathisation is necessary. For this, it is necessary to use the Marathi language for communication and transactions at all levels,' an official said.

Keeping this in mind, recommendations have been made in the Marathi Language Policy for the use of Marathi sector-wise including education, higher and technical education, computer science, legal and judicial affairs, finance and industry and media.

The main objective of this policy, along with other objectives, is to establish Marathi as the language of knowledge and employment in the next 25 years.

'If the objectives of the Marathi Language Policy are to be achieved, it is necessary to implement the recommendations in the said policy. Therefore, all the departments and all the offices under the departments should immediately start working on reviewing the recommendations in the Marathi Language Policy and implementing them accordingly,' reads the government resolution.

(Sanjay Jog can be contacted at sanjay.j@ians.in)

/IANS