Centres for promotion of classical Telugu, Odia, Kannada and Malayalam demand autonomy for proper functioning

File photo of the Central Institute of Indian Languages in Mysuru.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Special centres set up for the promotion of Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia after they were designated classical languages are demanding autonomy in their functioning in order to better carry out their functions.

India has six classical languages — Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Odia. While four of the centres for classical languages function under the aegis of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru, the centre for Tamil is autonomous. For the promotion of Sanskrit, dedicated universities also receive funds directly from the Union Education Ministry.

At a meeting on March 18 this year, the Project Directors of the centres for Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia demanded that their institutes be made autonomous. Following this, the centres were asked to submit detailed project reports, which was done in June. However, no further direction has been received from the Union Education Ministry as of now, sources told The Hindu.

Once a language is notified as a classical language, the Education Ministry provides certain benefits to promote it, including two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in the said languages, a Centre of Excellence for Studies in the classical language is set up, and the University Grants Commission is requested to create to start with a certain number of Chairs for the classical language at least in the Central Universities.

Tamil was declared a classical language in 2004, Sanskrit in 2005, Kannada in 2008, Telugu in 2008, Malayalam in 2013, and Odia in 2014. Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha in 2020, the Union government had said that in the previous three years, ₹643.84 crore had been spent on the promotion of Sanskrit, while ₹29 crore was spent on the other five classical Indian languages.

The sources said that the chief problem facing these four language centres was that any event or activity planned for them had to get financial sanction from the CIIL. Most of the time, the centre has to hold the event first and then get the cost reimbursed from the CIIL, making it difficult to organise many such programmes. This also means many positions for research scholars as well as administrative staff remain vacant in the absence of regular funds.

At the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, as against an approved staff requirement of 36 people, only 12 are on board.

Similarly, the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Odia in Bhubaneswar has the approval for 30 senior and associate Fellows and 10 administrative staff, but has been able to hire only eight. In 2023, the Education Ministry allocated ₹1.76 crore for the Odia centre but it could spend only ₹56 lakh.

“There is no funding in the centre and the Project Director has no financial drawing power — he has to take approval from the nodal officer, the Director, CIIL, and is constrained to spend from his own pocket to conduct any programme and then get it reimbursed from CIIL. This difficulty will be solved when the centre will be autonomous,” a senior official at the Odia centre told The Hindu.

The Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Malayalam, in Tirur, Kerala, has only the Project Director and one other staff member. “I have been here for the last two years. We do not have any financial resources. Only two persons are here — myself, and a daily wage employee. There are several vacancies but none have been filled yet,” the Project Director at the Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Malayalam said.

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