Centre to Appoint New Chief Secretary with Knowledge of Mizo Language: CM Zoramthanga

The Centre will designate a person with a working understanding of Mizo as the state's chief secretary, according to Mizoram chief minister Zoramthanga.

Zoramthanga, the Mizoram chief minister, said he had just addressed the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

"During our meeting in Delhi, the Prime Minister informed me that the Centre will pick a chief secretary who is familiar with the Mizo working standard," he added, adding that Mizoram's chief secretary is likely to be a Mizo IAS official.

The chief minister stated that there really is no interpersonal animosity toward the present chief secretary Renu Sharma and that the major issue is a linguistic difference. He claimed that during committee hearings, the majority of cabinet members talk in Mizo, forcing the chief secretary to stay seated, which made it difficult for her to carry out her duties properly.

Renu Sharma, an AGMUT cadre IAS officer from the 1988 batch, was appointed chief secretary of Mizoram by the Centre on October 28. She took office on November 2nd.

The Mizoram government also released a notice on the same day (October 28), asking JC Ramthanga, the chief minister's assistant chief secretary, to assume command of the chief secretary till further notice.

According to sources, Ramthanga was proposed as chief secretary to the Centre by the chief minister long before Sharma was chosen. On October 29, Zoramthanga wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah, urging that the Centre revoke its proposal to appoint Renu Sharma as the state's Chief Secretary, and instead appoint someone who is conversant with the Mizo language's working standard.

Following incumbent Lalnunmawia Chuaungo's retirement on October 31, he requested JC Ramthanga, his supplemental chief secretary, to take over. In the letter, the chief minister noted that none of the cabinet ministers spoke Hindi and that some of them struggled to understand English.

"The Mizo people, for the most part, do not understand Hindi, and neither do any of my Cabinet Ministers; some even struggle with English." "A Chief Secretary who does not grasp a working standard Mizo language would never be an effective and productive Chief Secretary," Zoramthanga stated.

"As a consequence of this fact, since the foundation of the state of Mizoram, the Government of India has never put a Chief Secretary who does not know the operating level of Mizo language," he wrote in the letter.

Zoramthanga camped in the national capital between November 19 to December 3 to meet with the central leadership on a range of challenges and development projects in the state.

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