At last Urdu has got the status of second official language in Jharkhand. It was the demand of the people of the state as Urdu had the status in undivided Bihar since late 80s.
But after the new state of Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, the demand to give the language its rightful place was ignored. Chief Minister Madhu Koda needs to be congratulated.
He had promised that he would present the Urdu speakers with a gift on Eid-ul-Fitr and on the third day of Eid, he delivered on his promise with the announcement. Though the role of Lalu Prasad Yadav who gave the go-ahead for the decision, needs to be appreciated as well.
The states where Urdu is an official language for administrative use (additional or second language) include Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Delhi, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh (HP).
In Himachal it remains just on papers and was made the official state language when as part to popularise Southern languages in North, Telugu was made an official language in Haryana in the 70s. In Uttaranchal (now again it is christened Uttarakhand) the language is yet to gets the same status.
