Employees were instructed to sign all letters in Hindi at least on Mondays
A circular of the Life Insurance Corporation of India
(LIC) asking its employees to sign all letters and communication in
Hindi, at least on Mondays, was withdrawn following a protest from trade
unions.
“The instruction ran as a scroll on the
intranet of LIC on July 9. We immediately expressed our protest and it
was withdrawn,” K. Swaminathan, general secretary of the All India
Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), South Zone, told The Hindu.
According
to Mr. Swaminathan, the advisory said, “Under the instruction of the
Zonal Manager, employees are requested to sign the letters in Hindi at
least on Mondays.”
“When we took up the issue with
the management, we were told it was only a request. Then we asked if it
was just a request why should they say that it was under the Zonal
Manager’s instruction. The circular was withdrawn and the management has
not pursued it after that,” Mr Swaminathan said. The union has conveyed
this to its employees.
He said learning Hindi was
not an issue and many employees did so out of interest. “But you cannot
compel anyone on the issue of language. We are going through a time when
there is much competition in the insurance sector. Instead of
concentrating on that, the management raked up an unnecessary
controversy,” he said.
Nehru’s promise
The
issue was flagged by DMK president M. Karunanidhi on Friday. He objected
to the circular, accusing the Centre of imposing Hindi and throwing to
the winds the promise of Jawaharlal Nehru that the language would not be
imposed on non-Hindi communities.
Mr. Karunanidhi
claimed the decision to issue a circular was taken at a meeting of the
Official Language Implementation Committee on June 29 and that the Zonal
Manager (Human Resources) had sought the employees’ cooperation for its
implementation.
“Similar actions in the past had
led to the anti-Hindi agitation in Tamil Nadu. The question before us is
whether Nehru’s promise is just a bubble,” he asked.
- The Hindu 21.07.2012
3 comments:
ITS A STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM TO LANGUAGE.AIIEA RED SALUTE.
ITS A STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM TO LANGUAGE.AIIEA RED SALUTE.
Yes Com Anu, It is against Imposition of One Language.
We respect Hindi, We want
to learn it. But it is not
the job of LIC or Central
Government. In fact such
attempts makes people to
maintain distance
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