The Meghalaya Assembly on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging the Centre to include Khasi and Garo languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
The fresh resolution replaces the earlier one which was passed by the Assembly on September 27.
Chief minister Conrad Sangma tabled the new resolution in the House during the one-day special session on Tuesday. The resolution was passed by voice vote.
“The state government found that the contents of the September 27 resolution should be further strengthen, and in consultation with the Khasi Authors’ Society, and A’chik Literature Society, it was felt necessary to pass a fresh resolution to replace the earlier resolution,” Conrad told the assembly.
Leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma said a team of dedicated officers should be formed to pursue the matter while demanding that necessary support should be provided to the two organizations – Khasi Authors’ Society and Achik Literature Society.
Independent legislator SK Sun said that the two organizations should be recognized by the government in the line of Sahitya Akademi as in the case of Konkani and Kannada languages.
The resolution stated that according to the Census 2011, Garo has a language population of 936,496. Garo belongs to the Tibet-Burman group of languages.
Khasi belongs to the Austro-Asiatic family in the Mon-Khmer group. It is widely spoken in Meghalaya and in parts of Assam and Bangladesh. The only language belonging to this family which has been included in the Eighth Schedule so far is Santali.
