अनुस्मरण का प्रारूप: एक पत्र, तीन दोष
You are the section officer in the grant-in-aid section of a central ministry. A grant of ₹12.50 lakh was released to a state education directorate on 12 March 2024 for a scheme; the utilisation certificate (उपयोगिता प्रमाण-पत्र) fell due on 31 March 2025. Two reminders, dated 20 April 2025 and 5 June 2025, have gone unanswered, and the finance wing will freeze the next instalment on 1 August 2025. A junior assistant drafts the third reminder: प्रिय महोदय, मैं आपको सूचित करना चाहता हूँ कि आपने अभी तक उपयोगिता प्रमाण-पत्र नहीं भेजा है। कृपया इसे शीघ्र भेजें, अन्यथा आगे की कार्रवाई की जाएगी। आपका विश्वासी. The draft carries no file number, no subject line and no service address. Your section head wants the letter to stand as an institutional record if the file is audited, not to read as one officer's complaint against another.
1. Recast the draft as a formal अनुस्मरण of about 120 words, repairing format and register while keeping every fact: amount, release date, due date, scheme, and the two earlier reminders.
Read the worked answer
A defensible redraft:
सेवा में, निदेशक, राज्य शिक्षा निदेशालय, भोपाल
विषय: दिनांक 12.03.2024 को जारी ₹12.50 लाख के अनुदान के उपयोगिता प्रमाण-पत्र के संबंध में अनुस्मरण।
महोदय,
इस कार्यालय के पत्र दिनांक 20.04.2025 तथा 05.06.2025 के द्वारा अनुरोध किया गया था कि उपर्युक्त अनुदान का उपयोगिता प्रमाण-पत्र निर्धारित प्रारूप में उपलब्ध कराया जाए। प्रमाण-पत्र 31.03.2025 को देय था; अब तक प्राप्त नहीं हुआ है।
अनुरोध है कि प्रमाण-पत्र दिनांक 15.07.2025 तक इस कार्यालय को उपलब्ध कराने का कष्ट करें, जिससे आगामी किस्त जारी करने की प्रक्रिया अग्रसर की जा सके।
भवदीय, (नाम), अनुभाग अधिकारी
Repairs made, in order of importance: service address and subject line added; the two earlier reminders cited by date so the file shows a sequence; the due date stated as fact; an exact new deadline instead of शीघ्र; the threat replaced by the administrative consequence that will actually follow (आगामी किस्त की प्रक्रिया); first person singular removed throughout.
2. Justify four substitutions: प्रिय महोदय → सेवा में + महोदय; मैं ... चाहता हूँ → इस कार्यालय द्वारा/अनुरोध है; शीघ्र → a dated deadline; आपका विश्वासी → भवदीय.
Read the worked answer
- प्रिय महोदय → सेवा में + महोदय. प्रिय is an intimate address marker borrowed from English Dear; महोदय is formal. Together they produce a register no Hindi office uses. The standard frame is the addressee's designation under सेवा में, with महोदय as the salutation after the subject line.
- मैं ... चाहता हूँ → इस कार्यालय द्वारा / अनुरोध है. A reminder is an act of the office, not of the person signing it. Institutional voice keeps the letter valid when the officer is transferred mid-file, and it matches भवदीय, which closes on behalf of the office.
- शीघ्र → दिनांक 15.07.2025 तक. शीघ्र is unenforceable and unauditable: no date exists to show default. A dated deadline creates the record the finance wing needs before the 1 August freeze, and it also gives the directorate a defensible date to work to.
- आपका विश्वासी → भवदीय. आपका विश्वासी is a literal rendering of yours faithfully and reads as a personal pledge of loyalty. भवदीय is the standard complimentary close of official Hindi correspondence and carries no personal claim.
3. The junior assistant objects that आपने अभी तक प्रमाण-पत्र नहीं भेजा is clearer and more forceful. Explain what is lost by that construction, and give the one sentence you would use instead.
Read the worked answer
What is lost is not force but attributability and tone.
- आपने ... नहीं भेजा makes a charge against a named officer. If the directorate replies that the certificate was sent and lost in transit, the file now contains an accusation that the ministry cannot substantiate, and the dispute shifts from the missing document to who is at fault.
- The impersonal alternative records the state of the file, which is what an audit examines: प्रमाण-पत्र 31.03.2025 को देय था; अब तक प्राप्त नहीं हुआ है. Nothing is conceded and nothing is alleged.
- Force is not carried by the second person; it is carried by the dated deadline and by naming the consequence that follows. That is why the redraft is firmer than the original even though it is politer.
Sentence to use: उपर्युक्त अनुदान का उपयोगिता प्रमाण-पत्र 31.03.2025 को देय था, जो अब तक इस कार्यालय को प्राप्त नहीं हुआ है।