Chennai: There are no attempts by the Centre to impose Hindi in Tamil Nadu, said Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The BJP Government was trying to promote Tamil as well, she told reporters here.
"There is no Hindi imposition", she told reporters here while replying to their questions in the backdrop of some state political parties and Tamil activists protesting the recent conduct of Postal department exams only in English and Hindi while Tamil was dropped out.
One can question the government if such things were done knowingly or not, but should not jump to a conclusion that it was imposition of the language, the finance minister said, asserting that the Centre “does not do Hindi imposition”.
"If somewhere, at an administrative level, if something happens, don't come to a conclusion that it is imposition. Definitely there is no imposition (of Hindi). We are also involved in development of Tamil," she said.
She said as part of the Centre's 'EK Bharat Shreshta Bharat' scheme, efforts have been made to popularise Tamil in the northern states.
Following the Postal department exams last week, political parties, including the ruling AIADMK, had protested against only English and Hindi being used in one question paper for selection of postmen and assistants in rural areas. After the issue echoed in Parliament, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad assured the Rajya Sabha that the examination would now be held in all local languages, as per the notification of May 10, 2019 of the department concerned with examination, including in Tamil.
To a question on views from certain quarters against the budgetary proposal on Zero Budget Farming, Nirmala Sitharaman said it has already been tried out in some states. "This is a free country and people can give their opinions. But there are states which have done it at the ground level-- Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and Karnataka-- zero budget farming has been helpful to farmers (in these states)," she said, pointing out that the proposal was part of the government's endeavour to double farmers' incomes. Zero Budget Farming involves total lack of dependence on chemicals and fertilizers and using natural ingredients including herbs in the farming process.
