Official Language

The Official Language Division of the Department of Commerce monitors the progressive use of Hindi and implements the Official Language Policy in the official work of the Department. Necessary follow up action has been initiated to achieve the targets set out in the Annual Programme for the year 2006-07.

Monitoring by Committees

Hindi Salahakar Samiti

A Hindi Salahakar Samiti has been set up in the Department under the Chairmanship of the Hon'ble Minister of Commerce & Industry. The Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce presided over the meetings of the Samiti held on 2.6.2006 and 27.12.2006 wherein the progressive use of Hindi in the official work of the Department as well as various organisations under its administrative control was reviewed. Six organisations have been awarded the Rajbhasha Shields/Trophies for their commendable work in promoting the use of Hindi in their official work.

Official Language Implementation Committee

The Official Language Implementation Committee (OLIC) of the Department is headed by the Commerce Secretary. The Committee assesses the use of Official Language in the various Divisions/Sections/Organizations of the Department. The meeting of OLIC was held on 23.10.2006. The Hindi Division implements the decisions taken by the Committee.

Hindi Salahakar Samiti Award function chaired by Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce & Industry

Training Programme

(a) Shorthand & Typewriting

The Department has a Hindi Shorthand & Typewriting Training Centre for the Stenographers and Lower Division Clerks. The Centre is located in Udyog Bhavan, New Delhi.

(b) Use of Hindi on Computers

Hindi software has been loaded in all the computers and significant progress has been made in the use of the Official Language through computers.

Hindi Workshops

Hindi workshops are intended to familiarise the employees of the Department with the Official Language Policy of the Government and to impart practical training on noting & drafting in Hindi. During the year, four workshops of two days each were organized in the Department.

Hindi Fortnight

A Hindi Fortnight was organised in the Department during 1-15 September, 2006. In order to promote the use of Hindi and encourage the officers to perform their official work in Hindi, four competitions viz. Translation and Essay writing in Hindi, Noting and Drafting in Hindi, Extempore Speech in Hindi and Hindi Quizwere organized for Hindi speaking and non-Hindi speaking employees separately. The Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce awarded the cash prizes and certificates to the winners of these competitions.

Incentive Schemes to promote the use of Hindi

• To enhance the use of Hindi in their official work by the staff, various attractive incentive schemes have been introduced in the Department. An attractive Cash Award Scheme for doing official work viz. noting, drafting etc. in Hindi has been introduced.
• "Vanijya Granth Puraskar Yojna" aimed at encouraging the writing of original books in Hindi on subjects pertaining to the Department of Commerce has also been put in place. Under the Scheme, cash prizes of Rs.25,000, Rs.18,000, Rs.12,000 and
  Rs.6,000 were awarded for the first, second, third and consolation positions respectively.
• A bi-annual incentive scheme for the Assistants and dealing hands using Hindi in their official work has also been continued during the year with an individual award of Rs.600/-.
• A new scheme called "Special Incentive Scheme" has been formulated during the year wherein a cash award of Rs. 5000/- will be given to 20 officers/employees (10 Hindi Speaking and 10 non-Hindi speaking) doing their entire official work in Hindi. The Scheme will be operated in the financial year 2007-08.
• The status of the various organizations under the Department of Commerce whose employees have acquired 80 per cent or more working knowledge of Hindi for doing their official work is being reviewed regularly.
• During the year, 28 Regional offices, under the Attached/Subordinate Offices/Undertakings of the Department of Commerce, have been notified in the Gazette of India under Rule 10(4) of the Official Language Rules, 1976. Apart from this, 10 Sections in the Department have already been specified under Official Language Rules, 1976 for doing their entire official work in Hindi.
• Under Rule 8(4) of the Official Language Rules, 1976, individual orders have also been issued to the officers possessing proficiency in Hindi, to do their entire official work in Hindi. Several steps are also being taken to increase the number of original letters written in Hindi both in the Department and its organizations.
• Letters and references received in English from the Members of Parliament from Hindi speaking States are replied to in Hindi invariably.
• In compliance with the instructions issued by the Department of Official Language, the website of the Department is also made available in Hindi: http://commerce.nic.in/hindi_htm/main.htm

Checking / Inspections

To ensure effective implementation of Section 3(3) of the Official Language Act wherein all papers/documents are issued in bilingual (Hindi & English) form and that the letters signed or received in Hindi are invariably replied to in Hindi, check points have been further strengthened. The progress made in promoting the use of Hindi in the organisations under the control of the Department is monitored and reviewed through their Quarterly Progress Reports and inspections. Necessary instructions are also issued from time to time to remove deficiencies noticed during these reviews.

As the success of Official Language Policy depends on the use of Hindi in official work particularly in noting & drafting, the Department has specified several items of work to be done in Hindi only. These, inter alia, include all acknow-ledgements, letters requesting for reports, reminders and all forwarding letters to be sent in Hindi.

Committee of Parliament on Official Language

With a view to assess the progress made in the implementation of the Official Language Policy of the Government, the Committee of Parliament on Official Language inspected the Regional Office of Rubber Board, Kanyakumari; Projects and Equipment Corporation Limited, New Delhi (Headquarters); Regional Office of the State Trading Corporation of India, Agra; Export Inspection Agency, Faridabad; Export Inspection Agency, Kollam; sub offices of Export Inspection Council of India (Headquarters); Regional Office of DGFT, Pune and Regional Office of MMTC, New Delhi under the Department of Commerce. Besides, 40 Offices located in A, B and C regions of the country were also inspected.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The Department has continued its efforts to enhance the application of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and its tools for efficient and effective administration, delivery of services, information dissemination and facilitating Government-to-Government (G2G),

Procurement Hub Coordinator, World Bank addressing the gathering at the Seminaron National e-Procurement Strategy

Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Citizen (G2C) interfaces for information exchange. To facilitate the necessary support in decision making, monitoring, analysis and e-governance, various ICT based systems, applications and packages have been developed and implemented. These are being used as one of the necessary tools in the day-to-day functioning of the Department. The electronic interface with community partners for trade facilitation, Electronic Payment through Net Banking and Digital Signature have been integrated with the systems. The Department's web site can be visited at (http://commerce.gov.in)