VI. SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION SERVICE 0. INTERPRETERS SECTION 0. Main function: The function of the Simultaneous Interpretation Service is to provide simultaneous interpretation of the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in Hindi and English from the floor language so that Chairperson, Ministers and Members not knowing the floor language can follow the proceedings of the House. Each seat of the House has been provided with an earphone and a channel selector. A number of such earphones have also been provided in the Lok Sabha Members Gallery, Special Box for Distinguished Visitors, Press Gallery and Official Gallery in order to make the interpretation facility available there too. Similar arrangement exists in most of the Committee rooms both in Parliament House & Parliament House Annexe. Simultaneous interpretation of speeches etc. made in Hindi and English is available throughout the sittings of the House and its Committees. Besides, arrangements, at present exist for simultaneous interpretation in Hindi and English of speeches made in 9 other Indian languages, namely, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. A Member desirous of speaking in any of the aforesaid Indian languages is required to give at least an hour, notice to this effect. Incase of Question Hour, notice is required to be given one day in advance. The notice is received by the Table Office and is then passed on to the Principal Chief Parliamentary Interpreter/Chief Parliamentary Interpreter who makes the necessary arrangement therefore. Before the beginning of each Session, Hon ble Members are informed of this procedure as also of the working of the systemuse of equipment etc. through a Bulletin issued by the Secretariat. The Provision of simultaneous interpretation facility has greatly encouraged Hon ble Members of Parliament to speak in Hindi and their respective mother tongues. An ever increasing number of Members choosing an Indian language instead of English to articulate their views in the House and its Committees over the years is reflective of the smooth and successful functioning of the Service. The existing strength of officers of the Service is as follows:
Principal Chief Parliamentary Interpreter Chief Parliamentary Interpreter Senior Parliamentary Interpreters _ Hindi/English Marathi Telugu Oriya Parliamentary Interpreters 7+ (on deputation to (i) Min. of Home Affairs (ii) Min. of Textiles Hindi/English +(on deputation to Min. of Home Affairs) Assamese Bengali Kannada (on deputation to Min. of Textiles) Malayalam Tamil Urdu Total + Vacancies Hindi/English Punjabi 0. Interpretation Work: During the period under review, the Service covered the proceedings of Session of Rajya Sabha from 9 nd to 9 th Session. The total number of sittings was 8.
Work relating to speeches in various regional languages interalia involves Preparation of the English /Hindi version of the speech for inclusion in the day s proceedings of the House. Simultaneous interpretation facility was also provided in the meetings of all Departmentrelated Parliamentary Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha and also other House Committees. The total number of meetings covered during the year was 98. Since the existing strength of HindiEnglish Interpreters was inadequate to cope with the interpretation work in the Committee meetings the services of Shri L.B. Shinde, Senior Parliamentary Interpreter (Marathi), Smt.D. Jayashree, Senior Parliamentary Interpreter (Urdu) were utilized for HindiEnglish Interpretation on their own volition. Various Ministers and Departments also requisitioned the services of the officers of the Simultaneous Service for their conferences and consultative committee meetings and whenever feasible, their requests were acceded to. Sl. No Language No. of speeches made during session 95 th 96 th 97 th. 5 6 7 8 9 0. Assamese Bengali Kannada Malayalam Gujarati Marathi Oriya Tamil Telugu Urdu 9 (L.S) 0 0. Foreign dignitaries calling on the Hon ble Chairman: During the year under review a number of foreign dignitaries including President of Tanzania, Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and other members of Turkish Parliamentary delegation, Ambassadors of Republic of Indonesia and Japan called on the Hon ble Chairman and consecutive interpretation (HindiEnglish) was provided at the said meetings.
0. Translation: The Service is called upon to render translation into English /Hindi of documents such as speeches, Press reports, letters, petitions etc. received by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat in various regional languages. During the year under review, a number of documents in Tamil, Telugu, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu received from different Committee Sections etc were translated into English. 0.5 Attachment Programme with European Parliament: Shri M.N. Kukreti, Chief Parliamentary Interpreter was deputed for a study visit to European Parliament in Strasbourg (France) in the second week of June. During this visit Shri Kukreti had an opportunity to interact with various department Heads and witness the functioning of different Services of the Secretariat. Especially relevant to this Service was multilingualism including simultaneous interpreting system as operative in European Parliament. 0.6 Skill and efficiency: With a view to keeping the Interpreters in form and further improving their skill and efficiency regular practice of simultaneous interpretation was conducted during the year under review. 0.7 Use of Computers: At present there are only 5 computers with Internet connectivity, being used by SPIs and 9 PIs. The provision of Computers with Internet connectivity has greatly helped the officers of this Service to keep them adequately informed of the latest developments, which in turn has contributed to further improvement in their performance. It would therefore be in the interest of improving the efficiency of Interpreters if each one is provided with a computer. 0.8 Supervisory duties for Senior Parliamentary Interpreters: Following the suggestions made in earlier inspection reports related to this Service the four SPIs were assigned in addition to the interpretation duties, supervisory duties including monitoring the performance of the PIs, ensuring attendance and punctuality and providing guidance to the junior colleagues, monitoring the use of computers, conducting familiarization programme for aspiring candidates etc. 0.9 Inspection: Inspection of Simultaneous Interpretation Service was not carried out during the year. 0.0 Vacancies: In addition to the longstanding vacancies of Parliamentary Interpreter (HindiEnglish) and one vacancy of
Parliamentary Interpreter (Punjabi) more vacancies of HindiEnglish Interpreters arose consequent on promotion of Shri R.C. Goel and Shri M.N. Kukreti in 997 and 000 respectively, In the interest of effective functioning of this Service these vacancies should be filled at the earliest. Transfer on deputation of Shri Rajeev Issar, Parliamentary Interpreter (HindiEnglish) and Shri K. Soma Sekhar has also caused two vacancies in this Service. 0. Goals and Objectives: Goals and objectives as set out in the action plan for the year under review include providing simultaneous interpretation in the House and its various committees, preparing translating versions of the speeches made in regional languages, compilation of the rulings by the Chair and maintaining a register to record the precedents and rulings/directions from the Chair during the session period. These goals and objectives were fully achieved during the year.