On file, environment minister Dave wants nothing less than perfect Hindi

Hindi has got a new champion in the Narendra Modi government – environment minister Anil Madhav Dave.

The suave politician from Madhya Pradesh has conveyed his displeasure to ministry officials about their lack of command over Hindi in official files.

An upset Dave has ordered officials not to send him anything written in Hindi unless it has been first vetted by the ministry’s in-house language experts.

Dave is well versed in English, but often speaks in Hindi in Parliament and outside. He has to his credit six books in Hindi and two in English.

“It has been observed that documents being submitted in Hindi to the office of the Hon’ble Minister from various divisions/sections/units of this ministry are not up to the mark from the linguistic point of view,” reads an environment ministry directive to all civil servants.

The order went on to record how the minister had expressed his unhappiness at the quality of the notes.

It went on to direct that all documents which have not been translated or typed by the ministry’s official languages division should “be invariably got vetted by them before their submission to his office.”

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Rajnath Singh and foreign affairs minister Sushma Swaraj are prominent among senior BJP leaders known for promoting Hindi.