The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Rajasthan government has announced that students in 800 of its hostels for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes across the state will have to sing the national anthem every day, The Times of India reported.

The state’s Social Justice and Empowerment Department, which issued the notification, said that this was an effort to “evoke nationalism” in students. The students will have to sing the national anthem at 7 am every day during morning prayers. It said that the national anthem was being sung in all residential schools, and it will be followed in hostels as well.

The department’s Principal Secretary Samit Sharma, however, said the tradition was already a part of the routine in hostels, but was not followed regularly because of a shortage of staff. “We have just asked the national anthem to be sung regularly like it is being done in any other school,” Sharma said.

The Social Justice and Empowerment Department has 789 hostels across the state with 40,000 students, and 22 residential schools.

On November 8, the Vasundhara Raje-led government had made around 50,000 people sing the national song and the national anthem at an event in Jaipur to celebrate the first anniversary of the demonetisation exercise. The chief minister had also attended the event.

On November 1, the Jaipur civic body had made it mandatory for all staff to sing the anthem every morning and Vande Mataram every evening. Jaipur Mayor Ashok Lahoty had said that those who oppose the decision should “go to Pakistan”.