The Manipur Official Language Act () is an

act (document) An act is an instrument that records a fact or something that has been said, done, or agreed. Acts generally take the form of legal instruments of writing that have probative value and executory force. They are usually accepted as self-authenti ...

that declares the

official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

of the State of Manipur. It was passed by the

Manipur Legislative Assembly The Manipur Legislative Assembly is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Manipur. Description The seat of the Manipur Legislative Assembly is at Imphal, the capital of the sta ...

, approved by the

Governor of Manipur A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

. It makes

Meitei language Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the scheduled ...

(officially known as

Manipuri language Meitei (; ) also known as Manipuri ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of northeast India. It is the official language and the lingua franca of Manipur and an additional official language in four districts of Assam. It is one of the scheduled ...

) as the official language of the

Government of Manipur The Government of Manipur (; /mə.ni.pur lə́i.ŋak/), also known as the State Government of Manipur, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Manipur and its 16 districts. It consists of an ex ...

. It was initially enacted in 1979 but later amended in 2021, to replace

Bengali script The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet (, Romanization of Bengali, romanized: ''Bāṅlā bôrṇômālā'') is the standard writing system used to write the Bengali language, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. ...

's sole usage by the concurrent usage of both

Meitei script The Meitei script (), also known as the Kanglei script () or the Kok Sam Lai script (), after its first three letters is an abugida in the Brahmic scripts family used to write the Meitei language, the official language of Manipur, Assam an ...

(officially known as Meetei Mayek) and Bengali script, for writing the Meitei language.

Act enabled in 1979

The Manipur Official Language Act, 1979 (Manipur Act 14 Of 1979) was enabled by the

on 27 October 1979. It stated the following:

Official definition of "Manipuri"

The clause (f) of the section 2 of the Manipur Official Language Act, 1979 (Manipur Act 14 Of 1979) defines the meaning of

as follows:

Official language of the state

The section 3 of The Manipur Official Language Act, 1979 (Manipur Act 14 Of 1979) explains the official language status of the state as follows:

Amendment in 2021

The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021 (Manipur Act No. 7 Of 2021) received permission from the

on 25 February 2021. Afterwards, it was published in the Official Gazette of the

on 10 March 2021. The act states the following:

Causes of amendment

As a part of the

Meitei script movement Meitei script movement, also called Meetei script movement (sometimes also referred to as Manipuri script movement), is a series of cultural wars and :wikt:campaign, campaigns, undertaken by various cultural and sociopolitical associations and o ...

, a group named Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillol Apunba Lup ( MEELAL) pressurized the

government of Manipur The Government of Manipur (; /mə.ni.pur lə́i.ŋak/), also known as the State Government of Manipur, or locally as State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Manipur and its 16 districts. It consists of an ex ...

to make Meitei script an official writing system for the state's official language,

, in place of the

, demanding that the legal wording, "written in Bengali Script" in the ''Manipur Official Language Act 1979'', should be corrected and replaced with "written in Meetei Mayek script".

Languages with legal status in India , 22 languages have been classified as scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India. There is no national language of India. While the constitution was adopted in 1950, article 343 declared that Hindi would be th ...

Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation Directorate of Language Planning and Implementation (DLPI) is a directorate of the Government of Manipur in charge of the language planning and the implementation of language policy. The first anniversary of the Directorate of Language Plan ...

Meitei language movement The Meitei language movement (), also known as the Manipuri language movement (), is any linguistic movement undertaken by the literary, political and social associations as well as organisations, advocating for a change or development of Mei ...

Meitei linguistic purism movement The Meitei linguistic purity movement is a political and social language reform movement that aims to purge the Meitei language of foreign elements (such as loanwords from Hindi, Sanskrit, and English) and promote a supposedly purer form of ...

Meitei classical language movement The Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri) movement seeks to achieve recognition of Meitei as a Classical language of India. It was supported by various literary, political, social associations and organisations as well as notable ...

** Meitei associate official language movement *

Meitei language festival The Manipuri Language Festival (), also known as the Meitei Language Festival or the Manipuri Bhasha Utsav, is an annual language festival dedicated to the promotion and the development of the Manipuri Meitei language, Meitei script, and Mei ...

Meitei language day Manipuri Language Day (; /ma-nee-poo-ree lon-gee noo-meet/), is an annual celebration of the Manipuri (Meitei) language in India and Bangladesh on 20 August. It is the day in 1992 on which Manipuri was added to the Eighth Schedule to the Cons ...

* Meitei poetry day *

** Meetei Erol Eyek Loinasillol Apunba Lup

References

Other websites

{{Authority control Meitei language Meitei script Official languages Government of Manipur Language law History of Manipur Politics of Manipur Language policy in India 1979 in Indian law 2021 in Indian law Indian legislation