(a) whether the Government has directed University Grants Commission (UGC) to set up professional chairs for classical languages in select universities for scholars;
(b) if so, the details thereof, especially for Rajasthani language ;
(c) the funds earmarked and spent for each language in the country during the Twelfth Five Year Plan; and
(d) the number of demands still pending with the Government for each language?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT (Dr. SHASHI THAROOR)
(a) & (b) : Yes, Madam. The Ministry, vide letters No.20-20/2004-Desk(U) dated 21.12.2004 and
No.8-81/2009-Languages-II dated 9.3.2010, had requested the University Grants Commission (UGC)
to set up professional chairs for scholars of eminence in the classical languages of Tamil,
Kannada and Telugu respectively. As the Rajasthani language is not classified as a classical
language, the provisions of this letter do not apply to it.
(c) : An amount of Rs. 1200 Crore has been allocated for the 12th Plan period for the development
of various languages. Grants for the development of Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi and classical
Tamil are given by the Government to its various institutions viz. the Central Hindi Directorate,
the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, the National
Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, the National Council for Promotion of Sindhi Language, the
Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, the Maharishi Sandipani Rashtriya Ved Vidya Pratishthan and the Central
Institute of Classical Tamil. A consolidated grant for the development of other languages is given
to the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), mandated for the development of Indian languages.
The Ministry also gives grants to the CIIL for the development of Classical Telugu and Classical
Kannada. The details of allocation and expenditure made during the first year of the 12th Plan i.e.
2012-2013 by the various language institutions are given in the Annexure.
Besides the above, the UGC also gives grants to the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupati,
the Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, New Delhi, and other Universities
for the development of languages in India.
(d): There is no demand for funds pending with the Government.