Why in News?

• Recently, a Bill to grant the status of Central universities to three deemed Sanskrit universities were passed by the Rajya Sabha.

About the bill:

• The Bill is intended to convert India’s three deemed-to-be Sanskrit universities into Central Sanskrit Universities.
• Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi.
• Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi.
• Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati.
• What the universities will do?
• The proposed central universities will:
• disseminate and advance knowledge for the promotion of Sanskrit,
• make special provisions for integrated courses in humanities, social sciences, and science, and
• train manpower for the overall development and preservation of Sanskrit and allied subjects.
• Powers and functions:

These include:

• prescribing courses of study and conducting training programmes,
• granting degrees, diplomas, and certificates,
• providing facilities through a distance education system,
• conferring autonomous status on a college or an institution,
• providing instructions for education in Sanskrit and allied subjects.
• Some of the authorities that the universities will have:
• A court, which will review the policies of the university and suggest measures for its development.
• An Executive Council, which will be the principal executive body.
• The 15-member council will include the Vice-Chancellor appointed by the Centre, who will be the chairperson.
• The council will, among other functions, create teaching and academic posts and their appointment, and manage the revenue and property of the university.
• An Academic and Activity Council, which will supervise academic policies.
• A Board of Studies, which will approve the subjects for research and recommend measures to improve standards of teaching.
• Visitor of the universities:
• Like at all central universities, the President of India will be the Visitor of the central Sanskrit universities.
• He may appoint persons to review and inspect the functioning of the University.
• The Executive Council may take action based on the findings of the inspection.

What is the Issue?

• The government has been accused of neglecting other classical languages in India.
• Currently there are six languages that enjoy the ‘Classical’ status in India:
• Tamil (declared in 2004), Sanskrit (2005), Kannada (2008), Telugu (2008), Malayalam (2013), and Odia (2014).
• All the Classical Languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.

About Classical Languages:

• The Ministry of Culture provides the guidelines regarding Classical languages.
• Guidelines for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:
• High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;
• A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;
• The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;
• The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.
• Once a language is notified as a Classical language, the Human Resource and Development Ministry provides certain benefits to promote it:
• 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
• The University Grants Commission is requested to create, to start with at least in the Central Universities, a certain number of Professional Chairs for the Classical Languages so declared.