LANGUAGES
During the year under report, the Ministry of Education and Social Welfare continued to give vigorous assistance towards the promotion and development of Hindi, other Modern Indian Languages and Sanskrit in addition to English and other foreign languages. In what follows, an account is given of the various activities and programmes under each of these heads.
Spread and Development of Hindi Governments of non-Hindi speaking States were rendered financial assistance, as in the previous years, to appoint Hindi teachers in their schools and to train them. Learning of Hindi on a voluntary basis was encouraged through correspondence courses by providing financial assistance to voluntary organisations in the non-Hindi speaking States for holding Hindi teaching classes, and for certain other activities; scholarships to students in such States for studying Hindi beyond the matriculation level. Awards were given to Hindi writers belonging to non-Hindi speaking States. The development of the methodology of teaching Hindi to non-Hindi speaking students, the preparation of suitable teaching material, and advanced teacher training were undertaken by the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra; the work of evolution of terminology in Hindi for adopting it as a vehicle of scientific and technical knowledge was continued; the Central Hindi Directorate continued supporting publication of Hindi books and free distribution of reading material in non-Hindi speaking States; extension activities were also undertaken through that Directorate and the work of promotion of Hindi in foreign countries was continued; the Ministry provided the Ministry provided assistance to the Rashtrabhasha Prachar Samiti, Wardha, in holding the World Hindi Convention at Nagpur in January, 1975.
Promotion of Modern Indian Languages The Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, continued its work on improved teaching methodology, preparation of teaching materials suited for the learning of different languages and the training of second language teachers in its Regional
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language Centres; the adoption of regional languages and Hindi as media of instruction at the university stage was promoted through the Centrally sponsored scheme of Production of University Level Books in these languages; prizes were awarded to authors for writing quality books in languages other than their mother-tongue; production of academic and popular literature in Urdu was continued under the guidance of the Tarraqui-e-Urdu Board to make books on modern knowledge available to the Urdu knowing public; steps were also initiated to produce books in Sindhi.
Improvement of Foreign Language Teaching The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, an institution deemed to be a university, forged ahead with the training of English and foreign languages teachers; the evolution of improved teaching methodology ; the preparation of teaching materials for these Languages; and the holding of seminars of foreign language teachers working in universities and other institutions.
Promotion of Sanskrit The year under review, being the first year of the Fifth Plan, witnessed the development of Sanskrit in a pronounced form covering a wider area of operation. In this chapter, the salient features of the various activities undertaken by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, the publication brought out, scholarships granted and financial assistance rendered to institutions working in the field are outlined.
SPREAD AND DEVELOPMENT OF HINDI
Teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking States The Ministry continued to, provide facilities for the teaching of Hindi in non-Hindi speaking States by : (1) providing financial assistance to the non-Hindi speaking States in appointing Hindi teachers in their schools and providing such assistance for the training of their Hindi teachers; (ii) awarding scholarships to students belongnig to non-Hindi Speaking States for the study of Hindi beyond the stage of matriculation; (iii) encouraging voluntary institutions to hold Hindi teaching classes through financial assistance; (iv) providing funds to the Central Hindi Directorate for continuing and expanding its programme of Hindi correspondence courses; and (v) organising research on the methodology of teaching Hindi to different mother-tongue groups and allied matters through the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra.
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FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO NON-HINDI SPEAKING STATES
Appointment of Hindi Teachers in non-Hindi Speaking States With the completion of the Fourth Five Year Plan in 1973-74, the liability of maintaining nearly 22000 Hindi teachers appointed till the end of that Plan became that of the respective State Governments. During the year under report, a provision of Rs. 75 lakhs only became finally available for the scheme due to the present financial stringency. This amount has been utilised for giving grants to various States for the appointment of about 2200 additional Hindi teachers in the various non-Hindi speaking States. The scheme will be continued next year and about 1500 teachers are expected to be appointed in view of the constraint on resources.
Establishment of Hindi Teachers Training Colleges/Wings in the non-
Hindi speaking States The scheme which is being implemented in the Fifth Five Year Plan is a continuation of what was undertaken during the previous Five Year Plans. During the year under report, a provision of Rs. 1.50 lakhs only is likely to become finally available for the scheme due to the present financial stringency. Within this provision, however, two, new Teachers' Colleges/Wings have been sanctioned in Manipur and Mizoram besides the thirteen sanctioned teachers' colleges.
Award of Scholarships for the Study of Hindi The Ministry awarded during the year under report, 1850 scholarships for the study of Hindi at the post-matric stage by students belonging to non-Hindi speaking States. For the year under report, there is a provision of Rs. 25 lakhs for the scheme. By the end of the Fifth Plan, it is proposed to increase the number of scholarships to about 2500 per year.
Financial Assistance to Voluntary Hindi Organisations During 1974-75, grants amounting to over Rs. 17 lakhs are expected to be given to voluntary organisations for the spread and development of Hindi. It is estimated that the different organisa- tions have been running more than 2000 Hindi classes in the nonHindi speaking States. Some organisations are also running Hindi typewriting classes and have opened Hindi libraries.
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Hindi Correspondence Courses Another important scheme in this field is the scheme of Teach--- ing Hindi by correspondence courses. The Central Hindi Directorate continue to implement the scheme. The present annual enrolment is of the order of 6000 students both from India and abroad. During the year under report, there were 350 foreign scholars studying in these courses. The medium of instruction at present is English but it is proposed gradually to make available the medium of Indian languages also during the Fifth Plan by expanding the present arrangements.
KENDRIYA HINDI SANSTHAN, AGRA
(CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF HINDI, AGRA)
Research and Material Production The Sansthan continued to conduct research in teaching me- thodology and materials production for facilitating the teaching of Hindi to non-Hindi speaking students by the use of improved methodology and materials. The Sansthan prepared teaching materials suitable for use in different linguistic regions in the shape of basic Hindi readers, bi-lingual textbooks, Hindi glossaries, phonetic drill books, Hindi grammar books, books on Hindi composition, translation exercise books, script exercise books, tapes, Hindi self-taught books, and books on Stylistics, etc. The Sansthan also prepared textbooks, rapid readers, glossaries, etc. for use in Nagaland, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.
Advanced Teacher Training The Sansthan continued to arrange courses for imparting advanced teacher training to teachers working in the non-Hindi speaking States. Ten teachers took the Nishnat (equivalent to M.Ed.) examination from the Institute in 1974. Besides, 60 Hindi teachers from non-Hindi speaking areas attended the Parangat (equivalent to B.Ed.) course of the Sansthan. The Sansthan also gave training to teachers under the schemes of (i) Intensive teaching-cum-training courses for trained graduates; (ii) specialised intensive Hindi teaching-cum-training course for the untrained teachers of Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland; and (iii) Short-term advanced orientation courses for University tea- chers and short-term orientation courses for school teachers. The Sansthan also conducted a summer language programme (an improvement course for Hindi learners) and also a diploma course in applied linguistics.
Activities at New Delhi Campus The Sansthan is conducting, on the request of the Ministry of
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Home Affairs, Intensive Hindi courses for Central Government employees. During the year under report 120 officials were trained. Besides, the Sansthan also conducted one month Intensive Hindi Teaching Courses for trainees and probationers of the Institute of Secretariat and Management for 100 officials. Hindi, courses were also conducted for 21 foreigners who came to India under the scheme of 'Propagation of Hindi Abroad'.
Other Activities The Sansthan published a number of useful Hindi books. It also conducted a Two-day conference on "Functional Hindi". Besides, it continued to extend expert assistance to Hindi teaching and training Institutions in the country.
Award of Prizes to Hindi Writers of Non-Hindi Speaking States To encourage writers belonging to non-Hindi Speaking States to write in Hindi also, the Ministry continued its scheme of awarding prizes to such writers for quality books written by them in Hindi as the very concept of the development of Hindi as the Link language of the country implies that more and more persons whose mother-tongue is not Hindi take to the use of Hindi, in addition to their own mother- tongue, for purposes of communication and self-expression. During the year under report, it is proposed to award 15 prizes to the various authors belonging to non-Hindi speaking States. The value of the first prize is Rs. 1000/- and Rs. 500/- of second prize.
Evolution of Terminology Availability of the necessary terminology in a language is a prerequisite for the language to become a means of communicating modern knowledge, including knowledge of science and technology. With a view, therefore, to making Hindi more suitable for this purpose the Standing Commission for Scientific and Technical. Terminology continued its work of evolution and finalisation of Hindi terms. During the year under report, 17600 equivalents in Agriculture have been coordinated. The basic terminology work on basketball and volleyball has been finalised. The work on 8 branches of engineering terminology consisting of about 85,000 technical terms is in progress. A consolidated glossary, of medical science containing 36000 terms of medical sciences, 9500 terms of pharmaceutical science and 4500 terms of physical anthropology has been published. Besides the above, about. 2,00,000 technical terms in the different disciplines have already been finalised.
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Publication of General Books and their Dissemination The Central Hindi Directorate continued to operate during the year its scheme of publication of books in collaboration with publishers. Under this scheme, 1000 copies of books published are purchased by the Directorate and distributed free among schools, colleges, libraries, etc. The books published under the scheme invariably concern dissemination of modern knowledge to the general public. Under the Scheme, 14 books have been published during the year and 16 more are expected to be brought out by the end of the year.
The Directorate continued to operate its scheme of purchase of Hindi Books for making free gift to schools, colleges, institu- tions/public libraries in the non-Hindi speaking States. During the year under report, books of the value of about Rs. 2 lakhs were purchased for such distribution.
The work regarding the Hindi-German and the German-Hindi Dictionaries is in progress. Two German specialists who arrived in November, 1974 were helping in the completion of the work. The preliminary discussions for compiling the Hindi-Czech and Czech-Hindi Dictionaries were also held.
Extension Activities of the Central Hindi Directorate The Central Hindi Directorate which is a subordinate office of the Ministry, besides implementing the schemes of correspondence courses, publication of books and their dissemination, continued during the year to implement its extension programmes. It orgnaized a number of workshops for Hindi writers belonging to non-Hindi speaking States in different parts of the country and organised lecture tours of eminent Hindi scholars. It also organised five Book Exhibitions including one at the World Hindi Convention at Nagpur.
Propagation of Hindi Abroad Under the scheme, Hindi books worth Rs. 1,15,000/- were purchased during the year under report for distribution abroad with a view to providing reading material to those who have already learnt Hindi. A Hindi Press was delivered to the Government of Mauritius as a gift. The Ministry continued in the year under report to maintain the three Hindi lecturers working in the Carribean countries and two part-time lecturers in Sri Lanka. Two students from Mangolia, four students from Fiji, two from
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Guyana, one from Cambodia are studying Hindi in India on fellowships provided under the scheme.
A delegation consisting of 20 artists from Mauritius was received under the scheme and attended the World Hindi Conference held at Nagpur.
A project for the preparation of a comprehensive GermanHindi and Hindi-German dictionaries has been taken up in, collaboration with Humboldt University, Berlin, GDR under the Indo-GDR Cultural Exchange Programme. Other specific requests from any foreign country which could lead to the promotion of Hindi are also entertained under the Scheme. For the current year, there was a provision of Rs. 5 lakhs but due to economy cut this has been reduced to Rs. 4 lakhs. This amount is expected to be utilised in full.
Hindi Shiksha Samiti The Hindi Shiksha Samiti continued to tender valuable advice to the Union Ministry in the field of spread and development of Hindi.
PROMOTION OF MODERN INDIAN LANGUAGES
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore The Institute continued its activities of teacher training in the field of second language teaching, research, teaching methodology, preparation of teaching materials, and the study of tribal languages. Its programmes, all intended to promote language learning were aimed mainly at facilitating the implementation of the three language formula.
Teacher Training During the year under review, the Institute trained through its language training centres at Mysore, Poona, Bhubaneswar, Patiala and Solan, 261 teachers in second language teaching relating to 13 Indian languages and made the teachers competent to teach these languages at the school level. For the next session, the Institute has admitted in its different centres 280 teacher trainees from different States and Union Territories. Besides its regular programme of teacher training, the Institute organised, as a supplementary programme, a three month course in spoken Kannada.
Preparation of Teaching Materials The Institute has a Teaching Materials Unit which is assisted
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in its work by the various regional language centres. The complete material in respect of basic courses in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Sindhi will be ready for publication by the end of the year. Substantial progress in the preparation of basic courses in Assamese, Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati and Punjabi is also expected to be made during the year. The Institute published in this period 22 books bringing the total number of books published by the by the Institute to 100. The new books published include books on language teaching relating to Tamil, Oriya, Malayalam and others. In the field of common vocabulary, the Institute is working on Hindi-Kashmiri, Hindi- Telugu and Hindi-Oriya common vocabularies. It has prepared film strips for the teaching of Bengali, Devanagari, Assamese, Urdu, Gurmukhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tripuri scripts. The Institute has also prepared a number of tapes containing teaching material in respect of several languages.
The Institute held during the year a number of seminars, work- shops and conferences for assisting it in the field of production of materials and evolution of teaching methodology (second language teaching).
Study of Tribal Languages Besides the work already done, the Institute collected data on Lushai, Jantia/Simting and Angami. Phonetic readers of Mundari, Kuvi, Angami and Sema have been published. Such readers for Kurwkh, Manipuri, Balti, Brokskat and Ladakhi are in press alongwith grammars of Mundari, Tripuri and Ao-Naga. A trilingual dictionary with Ladakhi as one of the languages is likely to be made ready for press soon alongwith dictionaries involving Ao-Naga and Thaado.