The inaugural session was presided over by Registrar NIT Srinagar, Prof. Atikur Rehman, who was the Chief Guest of the event. DR (Admin) Faisal Irshad Ganai, DR (Accounts) Nazia Nazir, AR (Director’s Office | Legal) Mohammad Hazik, AR Admin, Supervisor of Hindi Teaching; Rajbhasha Cell Mohammad Iqbal Dar, AR (Special Secretary to Director) Shahid Hamid, Hindi Officer Dr. R. P. Shukla (Asst. Prof. CED), Hindi Anuvadak Dr. Sabzar Gani Batoo, and ministerial staff of NIT Srinagar attended the workshop in hybrid mode.
In his keynote address, Mr. Jagdish Ram Pauri said that the central government has taken various steps to promote the usage and propagation of Hindi as Rajbhasha while also recognizing and supporting the diversity of languages in the country. He mentioned that on September 14, 1949, the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Indian Union.
"Hindi is the language that truly represents our culture and allows us to express ourselves clearly as Indians," Director Rajbhasha said. Mr. Jagdish Ram Pauri also mentioned the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and its various parameters. He stressed the importance of using the mother tongue, regional languages as the medium of instruction in classrooms.
Sharing his long association with the Hindi language, he highlighted the rules and regulations of the Official Language Act 1963. "We need more efforts for its implementation and the main aim of organizing such workshops is to raise awareness regarding the official language among the administrative staff of the institutions," he added.
Mr. Jagdish Ram Pauri also mentioned that the assurances given to the First Sub-Committee of Parliament on Official Language have been fulfilled to a great extent. He directed the NIT administration to fill the vacant posts in the Rajbhasha Cell and take some concrete steps in this regard. On the occasion, Registrar NIT Srinagar, Prof. Atikur Rehman appreciated the efforts of the Rajbhasha Cell for implementing the official language in administrative works.
He also expressed his gratitude to Mr. Jagdish Ram Pauri for extending their full support in achieving the target set by First Sub-Committee of Parliament on Official Language to ensure Hindi is used increasingly in administration. "NIT Srinagar is putting its best efforts to make sure that all official orders come in bilingual form. We have already achieved a target of 55 percent in official language implementation and there is a need to work more in this direction," Prof. Rahman said.
Institute's Registrar also appreciated the efforts of Rajbhasha Cell for organizing the workshop and stated that NIT administration will continue to provide support to such programs. A formal vote of thanks was presented by Dr. RP Shukla to Mr.Jagdish Ram Pauri, Director Rajbhasha, MoE for hosting the informative session during the workshop.