PROMOTION OF LANGUAGES
Development of Hindi and 14 other languages listed in the 8th
Schedule of the Constitution including Urdu and Sanskrit on the one hand
and English and other foreign languages on the other is an important
concern of the Department of Education. The Department has Bureau
of Languages for taking care of this concern. In the discharge of its task,
the Bureau is assisted by a number of autonomous bodies and subordinate
offices, namely, Kendriya Hindi Sansthan, Agra ; Rashtriya Sanskrit
Sansthan, Delhi and 8 Vidyapeeths thereunder ; Central Institute of Indian
Languages (CIIL), Mysore and the Regional Centres thereunder ; Central
Hindi Directorate ; Commission for Scientific and Technical Termino-
logy Bureau for Promotion of Urdu etc. The steps taken for promotion
and development of languages during 1987-88 are mentioned below :-
(1) Central assistance is made available to non-Hindi speaking
Promotion and Development of Hindi States/Union Territories for appointment of Hindi teachers
in upper primary to higher secondary schools, with a view to
effectively implementing the three-language fromula. The
pattern of central assistance which was of the order of
50 per cent,. has now been enhanced to 100 per cent. About
6,500 Hindi teachers have been appointed so far by the
various non-Hindi speaking States/Union Territories under
this scheme.
(2) There is a similar scheme for giving 100 per cent central
assistance to non-Hindi speaking States/Union Territories for
establishment of Hindi Teachers' Training Colleges in non-
Hindi speaking States/Union Territories. This assistance is
so available to voluntary organizations for meeting the
expenditure of Hindi teachers' training colleges under the
scheme of financial assistance to voluntary organizations for
promotion of Hindi. So far, 29 colleges in different States
have benefitted under this scheme including 3 colleges run
by Karnataka Mahila Hindi Seva Samiti. Bangalore, one
college run by Karnataka Hindi Prachar Sabha, Bangalore
and six colleges run by Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha,
Madras.
(3) Dictionaries have been found to be useful tools for language
learning and language processing. With this end in view,
the Central Hindi Directorate has brought out a number of
bilingual (9), trilingual (5) and multilingual (1) Dictionaries.
A number of Hindi-foreign language Dictionaries (6) are also
in the process of being brought out to facilitate access of
foreigners to Hindi. The Central Hindi Directorate has also
brought out four bilingual conversational guides for the
convenience of tourists and students.
(4) In addition to traditional methods of teaching Hindi through
schools and colleges in both Hindi and non-Hindi speaking
areas, it is being taught through a number of non-conventional
media, i.e., through extensive use of Computers and through
Correspondence Courses. There has been a spectacular
increase in the number of students enrolled for the Corres-
pondence Courses of the Central Hindi Directorate during
the last two years to about 17,000.
(5) The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology
(CSTT), has published a number of glossaries containing
equivalent of more than 4 lakh technical terms in Humanities,
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Sciences, Agriculture, Engineering, Medicine, Forestry, Sports,
Space, Electronics, in Hindi which are being extensively used
at the university level. The CSTT has also produced and
published a number of university level textbooks (260) and
translated 2000 original books covering a variety of disciplines
into Hindi.
(6) A new scheme for holding workshop for the university/college
level teachers has been implemented and seven Workshops
have been held in Hindi speaking universities where the
university/college level teachers have been guided in the use
of Hindi for teaching purpose through the terminology evolved
by CSTT.
(7) The Central Hindi Directorate has a series of other schemes
for learning Hindi through (a) organizing study tours in Hindi
speaking areas (b) releasing travel grants to research scholars
of non-Hindi speaking areas, and (c) organizing lecture tours
of scholars. So far, 35 such study tours and 119
lecture tours have been organized and these had salutary
effect.
(8) A Review Committee on Hindi to assess the quantum and
quality of the work for development and propagation of Hindi
being done in the Central Government offices was set up In
January, 1987 under the Chairmanship of Prof. Kireet Joshi,
Special Secretary, which met seven times during the period
from January to August 1987 and has presented a comprehen-
sive report touching all aspects. It has made far-reaching
recommendations which are being processed for implementa-
tion.
(9) A Special Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Sudarshan
Prasad Sinha was constituted in January, 1987 in pursuance
of the recommendations of the Hindi Siksha Samiti with the
objective of assessing and considering the status of Hindi
language at the primary, secondary and university level.
The Committee, after a thorough study, submitted its report
with twenty-eight recommendations on 17-7-1987. The report
of the Samiti was considered by the Executive 'Standing
Committee of the Hindi Siksha Samiti in its meeting held on
21-9-1987. The recommendations have thereafter been sent
to the concerned offices/departments for necessary action.
(10) A Committee under the chairmanship of Dr. Suresh Dalal
has been set up for a critical review of the scheme as well
as the programme of production of university level textbooks
in Indian languages on 17-3-1987. The committee has
completed its work and is expected to submit its report
shortly.
(11) A Sub-Committee of Hindi Siksha Samiti was constituted in
1983 to work out details of a proposal for establishment of
an International University for Hindi. The Sub-Committee
has completed its work and the draft university bill has also
been formulated which is expected to be introduced in the
Parliament soon.
Promotion and Development of
Modern Indian Languages (1) The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore,
which was set up in July, 1969, has set up four regional
language teaching centres and two Urdu teaching centres for
providing training to teacher trainers in thirteen Indian
languages. It has been functioning as a clearing house of
information on all matters relating to the development of
Indian languages in the country and abroad.
(2) The Institute has covered 57 tribal languages, under its
programme of research, training and materials production in
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tribal languages. So far, 60 books have been published by the
Institute in and on tribal languages.
(3) The Bureau for Promotion of Urdu set up in 1977 for promo-
tion and development of Urdu has set up 31 calligraphy
centres which include 4 centres exclusively for women. These
centres have benefited about 1000 students in learning
the calligraphy of Urdu. The Bureau has compiled one Urdu
Encyclopaedia in 12 volumes, completed one English-Urdu
dictionary in 5 volumes, and publish 572 books in Urdu
language, The Bureau is also running a certificate and
diploma course of one year duration for teaching of Urdu
through the medium of English and Hindi. The Bureau has
published glossaries in 7 subjects for university level.
(4) In a meeting held under the chairmanship of Special Secretary
on 20-10-1987, a number of decisions have been taken in the
area of translation of books and preparation of bilingual
and multilingual dictionaries. These decisions involve setting
up of two new organisations, namely, (a) Central Translation
Bureau (as proposed in the Programme of Action), and
(b) National Institute of Translation with separate aims and
objects. Necessary follow tip action has been initiated.
(1) The Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages set
Promotion and Development of up in 1958 has designed a number of programmes to improve
English the professional competence of teachers of English and foreign
languages at all levels. With a view to providing saturation
level training to teachers of English at the secondary level, to
serve as resource centres of library and audio-visual materials,
and to function as centres for non-formal education for adult
learners, the Institute is co-ordinating a programme in 11
district centres (out of 20 sanctioned) in the States/Union
Territories.
(2) With a view to undertaking study of language competencies of
students, the work relating to the designing, of tests for
English proficiency for school level stage has been entrusted
to the Regional Institute of English, Bangalore and H.M. Patel
Institute of English Training and Research, Vallabh Vidya
Nagar, Ahmedabad. The first version of the English language
competency tests was put up to field trial. The revised
version arrived on the basis of field trial is now being tried
out extensively in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.
Promotion of Sanskrit and other Recognising the importance of Sanskrit in promoting national inte-
Classical Languages gration and appreciation and preservation of our cultural heritage, several
programmes have been initiated by the Government for the development
and promotion of Sanskrit education and learning. Programme for the
propagation and development of Arabic and Persian, the other two
classical languages, has also been continued. Some of the main activities
undertaken during 1987-88 for promotion of Sanskrit language, literature
and learning are indicated below:
Financial assistance to Voluntary
Sanskrit Organisation in Under this scheme, registered voluntary Sanskrit Organisations/
the Propagation and Development of Institutions are given recurring and non-recurring grants for salary of
Sanskrit teachers, scholarships to students, construction and repair of building,
furniture, library etc. Seventy-five per cent of the approved expenditure
on cacti of the above items is given as grant from the Ministry and in the
case of Vedic Institutions here oral Vedic tradition is being preserved,
Government grant covers 95 per cent of the total approved expenditure.
About 700 Sanskrit Organisations are being given financial aid during this
year.
Marsh Sanskrit Mahavidyalaya/ A few Institutions run by voluntary organizations having potential for
Shodh Sansthan future development and offering Post-graduate studies are provided with
financial assistance Co, 95 per cent recurring and 75 per cent non-recurring
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