India has six classical languages namely Tamil (declared in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
- Tamil language is promoted through an autonomous institute named Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT).
- Sanskrit is promoted through three Central Universities.
- However, special centres set up for the promotion of other four classical languages – Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia – function under the aegis of the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysuru.
Demand for Autonomy
- Financial Dependency: Any event or activity planned for them had to get financial sanction from the CIIL.
- High vacancy: For e.g., Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Telugu (Andhra Pradesh) have only 12 staff out of approved 36.
- Unequal funding: Between 2017-18 and 2019-20, Union government has spent ₹643.84 crore on promotion of Sanskrit, while only ₹29 crore was spent on other five classical Indian languages.
Benefits of classical language status
- Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in classical Indian languages
- A Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Languages is set up.
- University Grants Commission is requested to create certain number of Professional Chairs in Central universities for classical languages.
Criteria for declaring Classical languages
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