NEW DELHI: India will have eight and Pakistan two of the ten squadrons of the Royal Indian Air Force, it is reliably learnt. This division is based on the ratio of Muslim and non-Muslim personnel of the Air Force. A third squadron may be created for Pakistan out of spare machines at the disposal of the Government of India, although it is not certain whether Pakistan will immediately have the necessary personnel.

[Meanwhile, as reported from Lucknow,] The drive to replace Urdu by Hindi is in full swing in the U.P. Consequent on the decision of the various Municipal Committees and District Boards to dismiss forthwith those people who do not know Hindi, comes the news that the Ministers have begun using Hindi in the official correspondence and another report … says that all the files in the Public Works Department will be maintained in Hindi and applications for building constructions will be entertained only when they are written in the Devnagri script. … Not content with all this there is an organised movement to eliminate Urdu entirely, even in educational institutions. Latest example of this is provided by the Managing Committee of the M.S.V. High School in Kalpi, which has decided to abolish teaching Urdu and Persian as from July 1948.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2022