8.36. Sanskrit Dictionary:

The Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Poona, has been engaged on the project of compiling a Sanskrit-English dictionary based on historical principles with financial assistance from the Ministry. The Review Committee has decided that the first two stages of the project, namely, extraction of vocables and the completion of scriptorium should be finished by September, 1971. The preparation of the press copy should be completed by September, 1976.

8.37. Scholarships:

The Ministry provides research scholarships to the students of traditional Sanskrit pathsbalas. About, 100 scholars continued to receive scholarships during the year. 65 have so far completed their research work and submitted their theses which are under consideration for publication by the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati. About 1000 merit scholarships are also awarded to students studying Sanskrit in higher secondary schools.

8.38. All-India Sanskrit Elocution Contest:

The seventh all-India Sanskrit Elocution Contest for students of Sanskrit ins- titutions was held at Bangalore on December 27-28, 1968. Three Prizes in each of the 8 subjects of contest were awarded to successful winners.

8.39. Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati:

The Vidyapeetha has brought out several important publications during the year. It has started the Instructions Wing in the Shastras. New buildings for the Vidyapeetha are likely to be constructed shortly.

8.40. Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha Delhi:

The Vidyapeetha provides facilities for imparting training in the methods of teaching Sanskrit and for research and higher studies in Sanskrit on traditional lines. It is in receipt of financial assistance from the Ministry.

8.41. Other Schemes:

They relate to (i) modernisation of Sanskrit pathashalas, (ii) grants to State Governments for the promotion of Sanskrit and, (iii) provision of facilities for teaching Sanskrit in secondary schools. A sum of Rs. 2.48 lakh was released to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for these schemes.

E. DEVELOPMENT OF INDIAN LANGUAGES

8.42. Assistance to Voluntary Organisations for Promotion of Modern Indian Languages:

Under the scheme for the development of Indian languages, grants up to 50 per cent of the expenditure on approved items are sanctioned for bringing out publications like encyclopaedias, bilingual dictionaries, books of knowledge, catalogues of manuscripts, books of cultural, literary, indological or linguistic interest, etc. Grants on the same basis are given for holding literary conferences, seminars and exhibitions and for conducting other important activities considered conducive to the development of the Indian languages. Assistance is also extended by purchasing a limited number of copies of printed publications. A total sum of Rs. 1,96,252 was sanctioned to various organisations during the period under report.

8.43. Grants to Cultural-cum-Language Organisations:

The fourth Plan outlay for grants to cultural-cum-language organisations is Rs. 5 lakh. In the case of Anjuman-e-Taraqqi-e-Urdu Hind, an annual grant of Rs. 38,000 is given in accordance with the recommendation of Dr. Tara Chand Committee set up in 1960. In the case of three more organisations, namely, (i) Prachya-Vidya Vihara, Calcutta; (ii) Bharat Itihas Sanshodhan

Mandla, Poona and (iii) Abul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute, Hyderabad, ad hoc grants are given for their activities.

8.44. Setting up of Bharatiya Bhasha Sansthan (Central Institute of Indian Languages):

It is proposed to set up the Bharatiya Bhasha Sanstha as a Central scheme with an outlay of Rs. 35 lakh in the Fourth Plan. The main functions of the Sansthan will be basic research and comparative study of Indian languages, organisation of training courses for key personnel and research workers, coordination of the work of the State Institutes of languages, etc. A meeting of linguists held in the Ministry on 16th and 17th December, 1968, discussed and approved the outline of the scheme.

8.45. The State Institutes of Languages :

The State Gov- ernments have been requested to set up Language Institutes to promote the development of the regional language(s) of the State concerned so that they grow rapidly in richness and functional efficiency and become effective means of communicating modem knowledge. The Institutes are expected to do this through (1) evolution of terminology and production of literature; (2) orientation and training, and (3) research and surveys. Each Institute will have an autonomous Board of Management.

8.46. Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti:

The Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti, an all-India advisory body set up to advise the Government of India on all matters relating to the development of modern Indian languages and their relationship with the official language of the Union, held its second meeting on 28th and 29th March, 1968. One of the recommendations of the Samiti related to the constitution of a sub-committee for reviewing the current schemes of the Ministry in respect of the modern Indian languages and for formulating the programmes under the Fourth Plan. The sub-committee met on 20th July, 1968 and approved the Central and State schemes for the development of Indian languages with slight modifications.

8.47. Methodology of Teaching Indian Languages as Second Languages in Secondary Schools:

A conference of linguists,

specialists and others met in New Delhi from 11th to 13th November, 1968, to discuss problems of teaching Hindi, English and other Indian languages as second languages in secondary schools. Emanating from this conference, a new scheme for improving the methodology of teaching Indian languages as second languages in secondary, schools has been prepared.

8.48. Production of Literature in Indian Languages at Uni- versity Level:

The adoption of Indian languages as media of instruction at the university stage demands, among other things, production of books in these languages to meet the requirements for the. change-over. The Government of India have initiated a Centrally sponsored scheme with a proposed outlay of Rs. 15 crore in the Fourth Five Year Plan for assisting the production of university-level books in regional languages and for other allied activities. Under this scheme, assistance, subject to the ceiling of Rs. one crore, will be given to each State Government. A budget provision of Rs, one crore exists for 1968-69. The State Governments have been requested to send the outline of their schemes indicating the organisational set-up, the projects undertaken and the manner of their execution. On-account grants have been released so far to the State Governments of Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Mysore, Kerala and West Bengal to enable them to meet the expenditure for preliminary expenses on the implementation of the scheme. A provision of Rs. 1.5 crore has been made for this scheme in the budget for 1969-70.

F.BOOK PROMOTION

8.49. Collaborative Schemes for University-Level Books:

One of the major problems facing university education in India has been the non-availability of reasonably priced quality books in various fields both for use as textbooks and for purposes of reference. To meet this problem three programmes in collaboration with the Governments of the UK, USA, and the USSR, have been in operation.

(a) The Indo-British Programme (The English Language Books Society Series).-Initiated by the Government of UK in 1960, books are brought out in what is known as the English, Language Books Society Series (ELBS Series). The titles are selected/approved by the Ministry of Education with the help-of experts and expert organisations and are screened by an advisory committee in the United Kingdom. They are published in the UK, in paperback editions at approximately a third of the price of their original edition, and imported into India through, the normal trade channels. Over 200 titles have been brought out under this programme so far. The programme is financed entirely by the UK, Government.

(b) The Indo-American Programme.-A Joint Indo-American Board consisting of 14 members with Education Secretary as chairman was set up to advise on policy matters relating to the Programme instituted in 1961 for the republication of standard American books. The books included under the Programme are approved by the Government of India and' are republished in India with a suitable subsidy given by the USA, authorities out of the PL 480 American Uses Rupee Funds. Tile Indian reprint edition is priced at approximately one-fifth of the original American price. Over 600 titles have so far been published under this programme. The USA Government recently provided an additional amount of two million dollars for accelerating it. The programme hag been enlarged to include the publication of selected American titles in regional languages.

(c) The Joint Indo-Soviet Programme.-A Joint Indo-Soviet Board with five Indian an five Soviet members, with the Education Secretary as chairman, was constituted in 1965 to operate programmes of translation, 'adaptation, publication and distribution in India of standard Russian educational works. The Russian books for use in India are selected/approved by the Ministry of Education with the help of expert bodies but are

translated and published in the USSR itself and imported into India through normal trade channels. Out of the approved titles the Soviet side have intimated the availability of copies of some 84 titles.

(d) The Indian Programme.-To ensure that good Indian textbooks in English are not forced out of the market by competition from subsidised foreign books, a programme was drawn up to subsidise the republication of selected Indian books so as to make them economically competitive with the foreign textbooks and also to bring down their price to a level which the Indian students can afford. So far two books have been republished under the Programme. The scheme is now being revised with a view to (a) including not only the republication of standard books by Indian authors, but also the publication of selected unpublished manuscripts of textbooks in English by Indian authors, and (b) making it possible for Indian publishers to bring out a larger number of books at low prices.

8.50. National Book Trust:

The National Book Trust, India, was set up in 1957 as an autonomous organisation with the broad objectives of producing and encouraging the production, of good literature, making such literature available at moderate prices and fostering book-mindedness among the public.

(a) Under its normal programme, about 100 titles are likely to be brought out during the current financial year, of which 60 titles have already been released. A large number of translations into Indian languages of books originally published in, English have also been brought out.

(b) To foster book-mindedness, the Trust has organised' regional book exhibitions in Jammu, Srinagar and at Belgaum, Dharwar, Mysore, Bangalore and Gulbarga in Mysore. The Trust proposes to cover Maharashtra during the months of January-March with six exhibitions at Nagpur, Amravati, Jalgaon, Sholapur, Kolhapur and Poona. The series will end

with a National Exhibition at Bombay in the second week of March, where not less than 10,000 books published recently in all the Indian languages will be displayed.

(c) A summer camp of writers for children was organised at Simla from 1st to 9th June, 1968 in which about 30 eminent writers from various Indian languages participated.

(d) Unesco has placed at the disposal of the Trust a sum of Rs. 22,500 for the translation of a few outstanding world books into Indian languages. It has also agreed to provide the Trust with a Dulieth Offset machine and other equipment like typewriters etc. Similarly, the Food Foundation has promised the Trust a sum of Rs. 60,000 for arranging to publish a book entitled "The Writer Gandhi" by Dr. Bhabani Bhattacharya in connection with the Gandhi Centenary Celebrations.

(e) In 1969-70, in addition to its normal programmes, the Trust proposes to launch projects like Nehru Bal Pustakalaya aimed at producing supplementary reading material for children with a view to fostering emotional integration, Aadan Pradan, a series of books in which outstanding popular books of each Indian language will be published in all the other Indian languages, and another project in which books of University standard will be published in collaboration with the University Grants Commission.

8.51. National Book Development Board:

It has become increasingly necessary for the Government to play a more positive role in the field of book production by actively associating itself in the evolution and implementation of a coordinated, coherent and unified policy on an all-India basis for the production of books in the country. With this end in view the Central Government set up, in February 1967, a National Book Development Board to lay down guidelines for the development of the book industry in the context of the over-all requirements and generally to deal with and advise on problems of book promotion. The Board has on it representatives of Government as

well as non-Government agencies and the different sectors of the book industry. The Board has as far held three meetings, and has made a number of recommendations which are under consideration of the Government of India.

G. FINANCIAL ALLOCATIONS

8.52. The financial allocations for these programmes during 1968- 69 and 1969-70 are given below.

                                                          (Rs. in lakh)
                                          
        Sl.       Scheme                   Provision for       Budget
        No.                                1968-69             Estimates
                                           Original Revised    1969-70
                                          
        1         2                         3            4            5
                                          
        1 Appointment of Hindi Teachers in
             Non-Hindi Speaking States     100.00    100.00    80.00
        
        2 Hindi Teacher Training Colleges in
             Non-Hindi Speaking States     10.00     10.00     10.00
        
        3 Grant to Kendriya Hindi Shikshana
             Mandal Agra                   11.50     9.15      11.80
        
        4 Assistance to Voluntary Hindi Orga-
             nisations for Propagation of Hindi
             in Non-Hindi Speaking States   11.00    11.00     14.00
        
        5 Preparation of Hindi 
             Encyclopaedias                1.50      1.50      2.10
        
        6    Establishment of Hindi Medium
             Schools and Colleges in Non-Hindi
             Speaking States               ..        ..        5.00
        
        7  Propagation of Hindi Abroad     ..        ..        2.00
        
        8  Plan Schemes of the Central Hindi
           Directorate for Propagation of 
             Hindi                         6.68      5.75      7.65
        
        9    Non-Plan Schemes  of the Central
             Hindi Directorate for Propagation
             or Hindi in  Non-Hindi Speaking
             States                        1.38      1.38      1.38

                                          
        1          2                       3         4         5
                                          
        10 Translation of Standard Works of
             University level              14.00     14.00     10.00
        
        11 Financial Assistance to Voluntary
             Sanskrit Organisations and Guru-
             kulas                         9.00      12.00     13.00
        
        12 Production of Sanskrit 
             Literature                    2.25      2.25      2.50
        
        13  Publication of Rare 
             Manuscripts                   2.00      2.00      2.00
        
        14   Preparation of Sanskrit 
             Dictionary Based on His-
             torical Principles            2.00      1.50      1.75
        
        15   Award of Research Scholar-
             ships to the Products of  
             Traditional  Sanskrit 
             Pathashalas                   1.50      1.50      1.58
        
        16   Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, 
             Tirupati   
                       Plan                1.00      ..        1.00
                       Non-Plan            3.40      2.44      3.50
        
        17   Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya 
             Sanskrit Vidyapeetha Delhi      7.23      4.75    4.75
        
        18   Other Schemes                  7.00     9.00      9.00
        
        19   Assistance to Regional 
             Languages                      5.00     5.00      5.00
        
        20   Setting up of Bharatiya Bhasha
             Sansthan                          ..    ..        5.00
        
        21   Assistance to Hindi States for the
             Appointment of Teachers of other
             Modern Indian Languages        ..       ..        10.00
        
        
        22   Production of Books in Regional
              Languages at University Level 100.00   50.00     150.00
        
        23   Cheap Publication of Textbooks  5.70     2.56     4.75
        
        24   National Book Trust, New Delhi
        
                       Plan                  5.50      5.50    10.50
                       Non-Plan              2.80      2.80     3.10
        
        25 National Book Development Board   0.20     0.20      1.85