हिंदी दिवस: 14 सितंबर
इतिहास
सितंबर 14, 1949 के दिन देवनागरी लिपि में लिखी हुई हिंदी को केंद्र सरकार की आधिकारिक भाषा के रूप में रूपांतरित किया गया था। इसीलिए हर साल 14 सितंबर को देश में हिंदी दिवस मनाया जाता है।
14 सितंबर क्यों?
14 सितंबर की तारीख बोहर राजेंद्र शर्मा, प्रशंसित भारतीय विद्वान, के जन्मदिन के साथ मेल खाती है।
बोहर, हजारी प्रसाद द्विवेदी, काका कालेलकर, मैथिली शरण गुप्त और सेठ गोविंद दास ने हिंदी को आधिकारिक भाषा के रूप में घोषित करने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई थी।
एक आधिकारिक भाषा, राष्ट्रीय नहीं
लोगो को अक्सर लगता है कि हिंदी हमारी राष्ट्रीय भाषा है। पर ध्यान रखिये कि भारत की कोई राष्ट्रभाषा नहीं है।
भारतीय संविधान के अनुच्छेद 343(1) के अनुसार देवनागरी लिपि में हिंदी, केंद्र सरकार की आधिकारिक भाषा है।
राजभाषा अधिनियम, 1963 ने भारत सरकार को हिंदी के साथ-साथ, अंग्रेजी को भी आधिकारिक भाषा के रूप में जारी रखने की अनुमति दी।
22 अनुसूचित भाषाएं
आज हमारे देश की आबादी करीब 140 करोड़ है, जिसमें से केवल 52 करोड़ के करीब लोग ही हिंदी बोलते है।
2011 की जनगणना के अनुसार, देश में कुल 121 भाषाएं बोली जाती हैं ।
इन 121भाषाओं में से भारतीय संविधान में हिंदी सहित, 22 क्षेत्रीय भाषाओं को अनुसूचित भाषाओं के रूप में मान्यता दी गई है। प्रत्येक राज्य को कानून के माध्यम से अपनी राजभाषा तय करने की स्वतंत्रता है।
राष्ट्रीय पुरस्कार
स्थानीय समारोहों के अलावा, भारत के राष्ट्रपति नई दिल्ली में विज्ञान भवन में एक आधिकारिक समारोह में हिंदी दिवस पर दो पुरस्कार प्रदान करते हैं, 'राजभाषा कीर्ति पुरस्कार' और 'राजभाषा गौरव पुरस्कार'।
2015 में गृह मंत्रालय द्वारा बदले जाने से पहले, इन पुरस्कारों को 'इंदिरा गांधी राजभाषा पुरस्कार' और 'राजीव गांधी राष्ट्रीय ज्ञान-विज्ञान मौलिक पुस्तक लेखन पुरस्कार' के रूप में जाना जाता था।
Jet Airways to fly again soon?
Business
3 years after getting grounded due to its crisis, Jet Airways flights will fly domestically again in the first quarter of 2022. Likewise, international flights are expected to start in the succeeding Q4.
The first flight is likely to be on the Delhi-Mumbai route.
“Our plan is to have 50+ aircraft in 3 years and 100+ planes in 5 years” Murari Lal Jain, the new owner of the private airline said.
First airline to be revived
Jet abruptly shut down its operations on April 17, 2019, due to lack of funds and the inability of the then promoters – Naresh Goyal & Etihad Airways — to put more money into the company.
On June 22, 2021, the bankruptcy court - National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), approved the resolution plans (subject to certain conditions) for the grounded airlines, allowing it 90 days to implement the revival process.
Jet Airways is the first airline in the country to be revived after shutting down.
New owners
After multiple discussions (between many investors and the creditors) and failed deals, a consortium of UK-headquartered Kalrock Capital and UAE-based Murari Lal Jalan won the bid for Jet Airways in October 2020.
A 7-member committee will be supervising the implementation of the resolution plan. According to the new CEO, Sudhir Gaur, the airline has already hired 150+ full-time employees and will be hiring over 1,000 staffers in the current financial year.
What is the resolution plan?
Against the total claims of INR 15,432 crores by the operational and financial creditors (including banks), the consortium has offered to pay INR 1,183 crores over a period of 5 years.
When operational, Jet Airways had 3,600 employees, to whom the airline owes a total of INR 1,265 crores, for which a settlement amount of INR 52 crores has been proposed. However, 95% of the staff would have to support the plan for it to be implemented. Banks and employees will also be getting a 9.5% and 0.5% stake in the airline, respectively.
Employees and PNB unhappy
Only 35% of the workforce has voted in favour thus lapsing the proposal. In August 2021, the employees sought a stay on the plan expressing concerns over their dues and reinstatement.
Also, on September 3, 2021, Punjab National Bank (PNB) moved an appeal to the NCLT over irregularities in the claim amount submitted by the resolution professionals. The hearing is scheduled to be held on September 21, 2021.
Caveat to the proposal
In 2019, when the airlines halted its operations, the Government stated that it has temporarily distributed the airlines’ airport slots, and the new owners can win them back later. However, the Government’s stance has changed now, claiming that the slots cannot be returned as other airlines have already made investments to increase capacity and utilize those slots.
The investor consortium has maintained that without the said coveted slots, acquisition of the airlines will be meaningless.
Will Jet get its slots back?
Acquiring slots shouldn’t be much of a hindrance for the airline since the Airports Authority of India doesn’t have an issue with allotting new slots.
Delhi Airport is willing to give 15 slots for both departure and arrival, while Mumbai Airport is open to discussion. Due to the current dip in travel demand, the availability of slots doesn’t seem to be an issue.
However, getting the premium early morning slots from Delhi and Mumbai, that Jet earlier had, might pose a problem.
Is the restart viable?
The number of domestic travellers fell from 140 million in FY 2020 to 53 million in FY 2021. The pandemic has forced airlines to ground 50-70% of their fleet and fly half-empty planes. Indigo, the country's largest airline, reported a decline in revenue by ~60% for FY 2021.
According to experts, in about 2 years of this pandemic, Indian airlines are expected to incur losses of USD 8 billion in total, and each airline would need USD 5 billion of capital infusion to just survive.
Jet Airways will need a lot of funding to survive.
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