Every English, regional government advertisement to have Hindi version

NEW DELHI: The Centre has asked all its 88 ministries and departments to have a Hindi version of every advertisement that they release either in English or in a regional language.

This follows the President approving recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Official Languages in March. At present, as per the Print Media Advertisement Policy of the I&B ministry, ministries and departments are supposed to spend 30% of their advertisement budget on advertisements in English newspapers, 35% in Hindi newspapers and 35% in regional and other language newspapers. The advertisements are usually placed in the same language as the newspaper concerned, senior officials said.

The parliamentary committee had recommended that all ministries should ensure that half their advertisements were issued in Hindi. The President, vide a notification on March 31 this year, has accepted the recommendation with a modification saying that every advertisement issued by any government ministry or department in English or a regional language “will also be compulsorily issued in Hindi”. The Centre has also sent a letter asking for compliance of the same to all 88 central ministries and departments on June 30.

This will lead to more ads being placed in Hindi and even English newspapers getting Hindi ads, a senior official conceded. The orders of the President on various aspects of Hindi promotion have led to other issues too, like the one highlighted in an ET report on Thursday whereby the DGCA has asked airlines to carry equal number of Hindi and English publications on board.