Mother tongue

Khamri

This is highlight a certain event that took place in the West Bengal Public Service Examination (Forest Service) 2008 interview which was held on the 30.10.09. A lepcha candidate had passed both the Preliminary and Mains examination and was selected for interview. The candidate had opted for Nepali as in the examination as the choices available was Bengali, Urdu, Nepali only. But in the sec12. of the Application form the candidate had opted for Lepcha as mother tongue and stated that He/She did not belong to the Nepali speaking community (which includes all the nepali caste including the recently scheduled tribes Subba and Tamang). The candidate was proficient in both lepcha and Nepali and as such had secured good marks in her Nepali papers. The interview panel insisted on the Sec 9 of the application form which states that "if you are not a Nepali speaking community from the hills then Bengali is compulsory". The candidate had already made clear that Lepcha language was the mother tongue but he/she could easily speak read and write Nepali to which the Panel asked to write his/her name in Nepali. He/she successfully wrote the name in nepali but then the panel suggested that he/she read a Bengali newspaper to which he/she replied that he/she can't read Bengali but could easily speak and communicate in the language. Here the Panel insisted that since he/she did not belong to the Nepali speaking community he/she had to read bengali. The panel insisted adamantly and finally the candidate tried to explain the co-existence of both Lepcha and Nepali community in the hills but the panel refused to budge from their position. The candidate was taken to the Joint Secy. of the commission who also could not give any assurances.

We Lepchas are a recognised Scheduled tribe under Article 342 of the Constitution of India and also under West Bengal Scheduled Caste & Scheduled Tribe Recognition(Identification) Act, 1994 & SC STs Welfare department Order No.261-TW/EC/MR=103/94 dated 06.04.1995). Lepcha language is recognised as tribal language and its safe gaurd is enshrined under Articles 29,30,350A of the Constitution of India. For this matter Sikkim Government has taken developmental steps by including Lepcha language in the education right from school education (since 1975) to degree levels (2003 onwards). The Sikkim government's initiative is much appreciated here as  the Lepcha language (the indigenous language of this region) has developed and borne fruits for the Lepchas of Sikkim.

Historically too lepcha language found equal acceptance in the Court of the Chogyals of the erstwhile Kingdom of Sikkim(Nye Mayel Lyang). In fact the deed that was issued to the British handing over tract of the Sikkim called Darjeeling (present day west bengal) by the Chogyal Tshugpud Namgyal in 1835 was issued in Lepcha Language. The language was the official language of the Darjeeling district till 1911. This clearly illustrates the importance of the language which was once used by the royals too.

 But in West Bengal where the officials involved in the Panel for such interviews, fail to recognise this important and protected Tribal language of the people who belong to one of the districts of their own state, clearly highlights parochialism and linguistic ignorance of the panel.

Is this a genuine case of ignorance or just a  tactic to catch the candidate off-gaurd?

here i would like to highlight few important events that usually takes place during such interviews. The first candidate usually gets the toughest of the lot cause the panel has just stepped in and wants the candidate to deliver and in some instances the panel also has members who wants to show off their knowledge.The panel has the entire record of the candidate in front of them so they can ask questions related to the candidate's records or some times questions which the candidates do not have any idea about. But the underlying purpose  is to check the personality of the candidate and the response in different situations. Well this is what i think that usually takes place.

But here the case is entirely different-the mere fact that the candidate was taken to the Joint Secy (outside the  interview room )clearly illustrates that the panel knew the incident had become volatile and needed the Joint Secy's intervention.

But the adamant attitude of the panel suggests their ignorance. The years of effort and hard work involved on the part of the candidate for this (not so easy) examinations have gone down the drain just because some bengali officials did not know about their own state.

Think my dear Friends Think.....where is this pitiful state heading into....