The Union Home Ministry has directed states and central departments to ensure the National Song Vande Mataram is performed before the National Anthem Jana Gana Mana at all official functions. A July 9 letter from Joint Secretary Arvind Khare to state chief secretaries and union secretaries stressed strict adherence to this sequence. The communication also required correct script, text and pronunciation during performances. It included an earlier order listing occasions when the two should be played or sung at the start or end of events. On February 6 the ministry had already instructed that all six stanzas of Vande Mataram, lasting about three minutes ten seconds, must precede the anthem. Written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and published in the novel Anandamath in the 1880s, Vande Mataram received National Song status after the first two stanzas were adopted by the Indian National Congress in 1937. Jana Gana Mana was composed by Rabindranath Tagore. On May 5 the Union Cabinet approved amendments to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, making insults to Vande Mataram punishable. A bill is expected in the monsoon session of Parliament beginning July 20. The existing law already covers insults to the anthem, flag and Constitution with penalties of up to three years imprisonment or fine.
