3 more civic bodies follow in Mathur footsteps

‘Sir’ and ‘madam’ go out of office

Following in the footsteps of the Mathur grama panchayat in the district, three other local bodies across the State banned the use of ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ in their offices. The Avinissery grama panchayat in Thrissur, Ambalappuzha North grama panchayat in Alappuzha, and the Uzhavoor grama panchayat in Kottayam were the local bodies that proscribed the use of ‘sir’ and ‘madam’, saying that they were the relics of the colonial period. With the national media highlighting the historic move made by the Mathur grama panchayat, a serious discussion on the larger issue of purging the official language of the outmoded expressions from the British period has begun.