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AS INTRODUCED IN LOK SABHA

Bill No. 105 of 2015

THE CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2015 By

SHRI BHAIRON PRASAD MISHRA, M.P.

A BILL further to amend the Constitution of

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

1. This Act may be called the Constitution (Amendment) Act, 2015. Short title.

2. In the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution, existing entries 4 to 22 shall be renumbered Amendment of as entries 5 to 23, respectively, and before entry 5 as so renumbered, the following entry shall the Eighth 5 be inserted, namely:— Schedule. "4. Bundeli.". STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS Ours is a multi-lingual country. In the Eighth Schedule to the , twenty-two , being spoken and written by our citizens, have been recognised as national languages. These languages represent the culture of the particular regions. A person learns the maximum things only through the medium of his mother tongue. is the light of wisdom. However, it is unfortunate that Bundeli language spoken by crores of people in and region of has not yet been included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Bundeli language is struggling hard to maintain its existence and dignity. The prosperity of a society or a country is distinguished by the literature composed in its own language. Keeping this viewpoint in mind, if one goes through the history of Bundeli language, it can be noticed that the epic 'Alhkhand' was written in Bundeli by the great poet Jagnik. It is believed that with the advent of chandeli period, inception of Bundeli took place. It means Bundeli language existed in spoken and written form even two thousand years ago. Ramcharitramanas written by Tulsidas is full of Bundeli words. Stone inscriptions, invoices, correspondences, certificates and monarchical decrees have also been prepared in Bundeli. The Bundeli language has its specific contribution in , history and in development of life-style. Besides abundant literature, Bundeli language is also the voice of expression of our glorious culture. Bundeli is the mother tongue of a large Bundelkhand region spread over Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. There are about five crore Bundeli speaking people in Sagar, Jabalpur, , Hoshangabad and Bhopal divisions including bordering districts of Uttar Pradesh covering about 187934 square kilometres area. On 24th February, 2012, Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, after passing an unofficial resolution unanimously, sent a request to the Government of India for including Bundeli language in the Eighth Schedule. Therefore, keeping in view the sentiments of the people of Bundelkhand region spread over a large area, Bundeli language should be accorded the status and honour of national language by including it in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. With the inclusion of Bundeli language in the Eighth Schedule, the folk dances, folk songs, folk customs and other cultural heritage along with the Bundeli language can be saved from getting extinct. Hence this Bill.

NEW DELHI; BHAIRON PRASAD MISHRA March 9, 2015.

2 ANNEXURE

EXTRACT FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA EIGHTH SCHEDULE [Articles 344(1) and 351] Languages

1. Assamese. 2. Bengali. 3. Bodo. 4. Dogri. 5. Gujarati. 6. . 7. . 8. Kashmiri. 9. Konkani. 10. Maithili. 11. . 12. Manipuri. 13. Marathi. 14. Nepali. 15. Oriya. 16. Punjabi. 17. . 18. Santhali. 19. Sindhi. 20. Tamil. 21. Telugu. 22. . * * * * * *

3 LOK SABHA

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A BILL further to amend the Constitution of India.

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(Shri Bhairon Prasad Mishra, M.P.)

GMGIPMRND—130LS(S3)—16-04-2015.