NEW DELHI, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing row between the government of India and the government of the southern state of Tamil Nadu escalated on Thursday when the latter replaced the often-used symbol nationally for the Indian Rupee, written in the Hindi language, with an alphabet of the local Tamil language in the Budget papers for the financial year 2025-26.
According to a media report by "India Today," the state's Chief Minister M.K. Stalin shared on X (erstwhile Twitter) a teaser for the state Budget saying, "To ensure the widespread development of Tamil Nadu to benefit all sections of society."
The state's Budget for the next financial year is slated to be presented on Friday.
The language row erupted after the Tamil Nadu government showed resistance against the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, and the three-language formula proposed in it.
The NEP's three-language formula recommends that the school students must learn three languages, at least two of which must be native to India. This formula applies to all schools, including government and private, giving the states the flexibility to choose languages without any imposition.
As per the NEP, in addition to Indian languages and English, students at the secondary-school level can also learn foreign languages like Korean, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, etc.
Tamil Nadu is the lone government which is opposed to the federal government's three-language formula. For several decades the state had opposed the official usage of Hindi language within the state, and any attempt to impose it. ■
