Every time President Pranab Mukherjee, a non-Hindi speaker, addresses a joint sitting of Parliament, the Hindi version of his speech is partially read out by Vice-President Hamid Ansari. Mr Ansari reads out the first and the last page of the speech and the rest is taken as read. Now the President has accepted the recommendations of a parliamentary committee that says speeches of dignitaries, including the President and Union Ministers, should be delivered in Hindi alone if they can.
