Manipur University seems to have had a narrow escape from what could have been a full-blown “Hindi-noting disaster.”
Just days after the University’s Registrar issued an office order (No. 274, dated August 29, 2025) directing all departments and sections to compulsorily use Hindi for official noting and drafting, a fresh order (No. 279, dated September 2, 2025) has suddenly put the directive in abeyance citing “procedural lapses.”
The first order, born out of a meeting of the Official Language Implementation Committee, even promised quarterly inspections to check “how Hindi-friendly” the departments were becoming.
But before the ink on the notice could dry, the second order came rushing in like a fire extinguisher, saving the University from a possible crisis with its own staff and the larger Manipuri public, where Hindi remains, at best, a reluctant guest.
While the University officially blamed “procedural lapses,” many are wryly asking if the real lapse was ignoring the cultural pulse of Manipur in the first place.
For now, the students and faculty can breathe easy—at least their files won’t suddenly start speaking in a language many prefer only for Bollywood songs.
But the episode has left one lingering question: was it really a ‘procedural lapse,’ or an attempted linguistic experiment gone wrong?
