Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities

On the recommendations of the States Reorganization Commission (SRC), 1956, the seventh Constitutional amendment was enacted, in which the Article 350 A & B were inserted, wherein Article 350B talks about the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities as known as commissioner for Linguistic Minorities.   is called the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. This comes under the  Ministry of Minority Affairs, Chaired by the Union Cabinet Minister Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who took office on May 31, 2019. The special officer is responsible for  sending the annual reports to the President of India through the Union Minister for Minority Affairs. They also send other reports to the President. This article talks about the Special Officer for linguistic minorities in great detail.

The Indian Constitution and its rules about a special officer for linguistic minorities:

Before the 7th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956, the Indian Constitution didn’t say anything about a “Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities.” State Reorganization Commission (1953-55) recommended that the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities be set up, and the Indian Constitution took that idea into account in Article 350 B of the Part XVII of the Constitution.

The text reads:

(1) There will be a “Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities” who will be chosen by the President.

(2) The Special Officer must look into all issues relating to the protections for linguistic minorities in this Constitution and report back to the President at such intervals as the President wants. The President will then lay the reports in front of each House of Parliament and send them to the governments of the states where they were made.

Linguistic Minorities Commissioner

In 1957, the term “Special Officer” began to be used in connection with the Linguistic Minorities. From that point forward, the Special Officer was known as the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities. There are three regional offices under the Commissioner’s Allahabad headquarters, each led by an Assistant Commissioner: Belgaum (Karnataka), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Kolkata (West Bengal). Assistant Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner assist the Special Officer at the headquarters. Because it is technically impossible for the Commissioner to carry out every duty in conjunction with the 29 states and 7 Union Territories, the Special Officer selects nodal officials to carry out and assist the Commissioner’s tasks.

What is the Commissioner’s role?

The Commissioner of the Linguistic minorities has a significant role to play in helping the Ministry of Minority Affairs achieve goals in association with the linguistic minorities of the nation. Any notice, references, information brought before the Commissioner by the linguistic minority groups or individuals, associations, or organizations at the highest administrative levels of the state governments and Union Territory administrations must be taken into account by the Commissioner.

The Commissioner’s work is motivated by the following goals:

• The Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities will acquire his/her position keeping in mind the purpose of the designation acquired.
• Thus there has to be both a vision and a mission that will facilitate the functions of the Commissioner or the Special Officer.
• To summarize, therefore, the vision of the Commissioner is to provide equal opportunities, and scope for the growth of the linguistic minorities 
• Similarly, the mission is to give effect to the vision of the Commissioner, and the Ministry of Minority Affairs as a whole.

The Commissioner’s responsibilities and goals

The Commissioner of Linguistic minorities has been appointed by the Government of India to look after the protection measures in place for the linguistic minorities. The function of the Commissioner is to investigate matters associated with safeguards available for linguistic minorities and report to the President of India on their implementation.

The Commissioner of Linguistic minorities is appointed by the Indian government to provide and ensure equal opportunities, platforms and awareness for the linguistic minorities for their development and overall national integration. The Commissioner must make it certain that effective implementation of the safeguards provided for in the Indian Constitution will take place, as has been agreed by the states / Union Territories.

There are certain further provisions. The Commissioner of Linguistic minorities seat of government is in Allahabad. The deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners work with him to do the job effectively.  He maintains contact with the state governments and Union Territories via nodal officers who are chosen by the state governments and union territories.  At the federal level, the commissioner is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.  He sends the yearly reports and other reports to the President via the Union Minority Affairs Minister on behalf of the Ministry.

Conclusion

Special Officers for Linguistic Minorities have always made an effort to adhere to constitutional protections in order to maintain the organization’s vision, mission, and goals. The preservation and protection of minorities’ languages have been the subject of several institutions, organisations, and promotional events. It’s important to note that there have been isolated instances of minorities’ languages being denigrated, which must be avoided if the minority’s goals are to be met.