Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday, 19 June 2026, chaired a meeting of the Hindi Advisory Committee under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, reaffirming the government's commitment to expanding the use of Hindi in the ministry's official functioning.

Posting on X in Hindi, the minister wrote: 'राष्ट्रभाषा से राष्ट्रनिर्माण तक!' ('From national language to nation-building!'), framing the session as a step toward using language as a unifying instrument of governance. He stated that 'meaningful discussion' was held on the extent of Hindi's current use in the ministry and on ways to promote it further.

Context

The Hindi Advisory Committee is a statutory body constituted in every central government ministry under the Official Languages Act, 1963, and the Official Languages Rules, 1976. Its mandate is to review the progressive use of Hindi in official correspondence, file-noting, and public communication, and to advise the ministry on meeting targets set by the Department of Official Language.

Central ministries are required to hold these committee meetings periodically and submit progress reports. Friday's session at the Petroleum Ministry is part of this standing institutional requirement.

Policy Backdrop

Article 343 of the Constitution of India (1950) declares Hindi in Devanagari script as the official language of the Union. The constitutional provision is complemented by the Official Languages Act, 1963, which allows English to continue alongside Hindi in official use while prescribing a gradual expansion of Hindi across Union government offices.

Successive governments have maintained these institutional mechanisms without displacing regional languages, which continue to enjoy protections under the Eighth Schedule and the three-language formula. The Hindi Advisory Committee structure is therefore a routine administrative channel, not a policy departure.

Puri, a former career diplomat and senior BJP leader who has held multiple ministerial portfolios since 2017, has consistently used Hindi-language messaging on official occasions to signal alignment with the government's language-promotion agenda.

Stakeholders and Impact

The immediate stakeholders are officials and employees of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and its attached public sector undertakings, who may see revised internal guidelines on Hindi usage in correspondence and documentation following the committee's deliberations.

Broader civil society interest centres on the balance between promoting Hindi and protecting linguistic diversity. The government's stated position — reflected in the minister's post — frames Hindi as a 'thread of unity' (एकता के घनिष्ठ सूत्र) in a diverse country, a framing that has both supporters and critics across India's linguistic spectrum.

What's Next

The ministry is expected to issue follow-up directions on Hindi usage targets in line with the committee's recommendations. The annual Hindi Diwas on 14 September typically serves as a milestone when ministries report progress on official language goals, making it the next significant checkpoint for outcomes from Friday's meeting.

Any formal orders or revised targets from the Petroleum Ministry will reflect how seriously the committee's discussions are translated into administrative action in the months ahead.