Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: A bench of Honourable Justice Robin Phukan of the Gauhati High Court disposed of Case No. WP-C-5032/2024 by directing the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam (Elementary Education) to constitute a committee comprising all the members of different organizations of the Bishnupriya Manipuri (BM) Community for resolving the dispute in respect of the publication of correct ‘phonetical words and grammar’ and thereafter, to take necessary action for the publication of the textbook – under the Foundation of Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) Programme (Nipun Axom). The bench further said that the aforesaid exercise has to be carried out within a period of three months from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order.
The petitioner – Kishar Kumar Sinha of the Imaa Bishnupriya Manipuri (IBM) – prayed for issuing direction to the respondent authorities, more particularly the Director of SCERT, Assam, to constitute a committee/commission of linguists (Indo-Aryan) towards resolving the issue of correct grammar and orthography for publication for the students of the foundation stage/pre-primary/primary level of education of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Community.
Mr R.P. Sarmah, learned senior counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the SCERT, Assam, issued a letter on August 11, 2022, to the president and secretary of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha requesting them to attend a conference to discuss the issues related to language education in the State of Assam to be held on August 22, 2022, under the chairmanship of the Education Minister of Assam. Accordingly, four representatives/office-bearers of the Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha had attended the said meeting. Thereafter, the SCERT, on June 24, 2022, issued a letter to all the presidents/secretaries of Sahitya Sabhas of different communities, including the Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha, for the submission of traditional rhymes, lullabies, play songs, folklore, short stories, etc. from indigenous/tribal communities within July 2022. But, under the same memo number, the SCERT also issued a separate letter to the president/secretary of Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Assam) on the same subject matter. Senior Advocate Sharma further submitted that on January 25, 2023, the SCERT had issued another letter to the president/secretary of all Sahitya Sabhas, including Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha and Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Assam), to depute two members for an orientation programme on the National Curriculum Framework for the Foundation Stage to be held on February 9, 2023, at Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara. But, this time also, the SCERT had issued another separate letter, under the same memo number, to the Sahitya Sabhas, except the Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha.
Mr Sharma further submitted that as per direction issued by the SCERT, the Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Sabha had submitted a set of textbooks for printing and publishing. But, on the other hand, the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Assam) also submitted a set of textbooks for printing and publishing. But, there were grammatical contrasts in both the textbooks, and as such, the respondent authorities are reluctant to select one textbook from both of them for printing and publication of the same.
Mr Sharma further submitted that due to the delay in printing of the textbook, the petitioner society had submitted a representation on July 10, 2023, to the Education Minister and Chief Minister of Assam for unlocking the logjam in Bishnupriya Manipuri textbooks under the Foundation of Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) Programme (Nipun Axom) by constituting a commission of linguists (Indo-Aryan) from universities. On August 17, 2023, the petitioner society had submitted another representation before the Education Minister and Chief Minister of Assam to remind them that as the academic session was underway, the authorities concerned had yet to form any commission as requested.
Mr Sharma also submitted that the petitioner society also tried to settle the matter amicably within the society, and in this regard, a series of discussions were held with the other organizations of the society, and one such meeting was held on September 9, 2023. But the Nikhil Bishnupriya Manipuri Sahitya Parishad (Assam) did not attend the said meeting. Petitioner Kishar Kumar Sinha and the chief adviser of the IBM, Umakanta Sinha, thanked all the respondents in the case for their positive cooperation.
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