1

AS INTRODUCED IN LOK SABHA

Bill No. 168 of 2015

THE CONSTITUTION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2015 By

SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY, 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 1 to 22 shall be Amendment re-numbered as entries 2 to 23, respectively, and before entry 2 as so re-numbered, the of Eighth Schedule. 5 following entry shall be inserted, namely:— “1. .”. STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS Angika is one of the most ancient and richest . Angika is considered as one of the oldest languages of the world. Angika is written in the Lipi, and Devanagri scripts. Angika is a language of the Anga region of India which covers more than 58,000 kilometers of area falling within the States of , and West Bengal. Angika is spoken in most of the metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bengaluru and also spoken in most of the industrial cities like Durgapur, Vodadara, Surat, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro and other parts of the country. Angika is a language spoken in eastern part of Bihar, Santhal parganas of Jharkhand and Maldah district of West Bengal. As per 2001 Census, Angika is spoken by more than thirty million of the Indian population and around fifty million people worldwide. Angika is also spoken in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. Besides this, a sizeable Angika speaking population is also residing in gulf countries, United States and United Kingdom. In view of above, in order to promote and protect the culture and traditions of the ‘Angika’ language, it is necessary that the language be given its due recognition by including it in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. Hence this Bill.

NEW DELHI; NISHIKANT DUBEY July 2, 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

————

A BILL

further to amend the Constitution of India.

————

(Shri Nishikant Dubey, M.P.)

GMGIPMRND—1419LS(S3)—15-07-2015.