Lok Sabha Question No. 1297 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-06
Subject: Promotion of Indian Languages
Ministry: Education
Asked by: Parbatbhai Savabhai Patel, Naranbhai Bhikhabhai Kachhadiya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1297 TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.12.2021

## Promotion of Indian Languages

## † 1297.    SHRI  PARBATBHAI SAVABHAI PATEL: SHRI NARANBHAI KACHHADIYA :

Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of efforts being made by the Government to promote Indian languages for comprehensive educational development;
- (b) whether the protection and promotion of Indian languages are important for the unity and integrity of the country;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken or proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (d) the efforts being made by the Government in order to ensure that the students  of  Gujarat  may  study  in  their  own  languages  and  acquire  higher education as well,  under this system?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION (DR. SUBHAS SARKAR)

- (a) : The policy of the Government of India  is to promote all Indian Languages and several steps are being taken in this regard :
1. There  are  separate  organisations  for  development  and  promotion  of  Hindi, Urdu,  Sindhi    and  Sanskrit  languages.    Sanskrit    Language  is  promoted through  three  Central  Universities  viz,    Central  Sanskrit  University,  New Delhi,  Shri Lal Bhahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University, New Delhi and National Sanskrit University, Tirupati.   Hindi is promoted by Kendriya Hindi Sansthan    (KHS)  Agra,    Central  Hindi  Directorate  (CHD),  New  Delhi  and Commission     for   Scientific       and  Technical Terminology (CSTT), New Delhi.  Sindhi  is  promoted  through  National  Council  for  Promotion  of  Sindhi Language (NCPSL),   New Delhi     and  Urdu    is promoted through National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), New Delhi.
2. Central  Institute  of  Indian  Languages  (CIIL),  Mysore    works    for  the promotion of all Indian languages including Scheduled/Non-Scheduled  and Classical languages namely Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Odia.

Development and promotion of Classical Tamil is done by Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai.

3. CIIL runs various schemes like National Translation Mission, Linguistic Data Consortium  of  Indian  Languages,  Bharatavani,  etc  for  development  and promotion  of  languages.    Under  NTM  text  books  of  higher  education  are made available in 22 Scheduled languages including Gujarati.

(b)& (c) : Yes Sir.

1. National  Education  Policy  (NEP)  2020  provides,  wherever  possible,      for medium  of  instruction  to  be  in  the  home  language/  mother  tongue/  local language upto at least class 5 and preferably upto class 8. The policy also provides  for  making  available  high  quality  text  books  in  home  language/ mother  tongue  and  encouraging  teachers  to  use  bilingual  approach  while teaching.  In  addition  to  this,  it  provides  for  more  Higher  Educational Institutions  (HEI)  and  more  programmes  in  Higher  Education  to  use  the mother  tongue/local  language  as  a  medium  of  instruction  and/or  offer programmes bilingually.
2. All  India  Council  for  Technical  education  (AICTE)  has  issued  guidelines permitting  technical  education  institutions  to  offer  their  courses  in  local languages also. So far 19 institutions  from  10  states  have  started  offering such courses.
3. AICTE  has  developed  a  tool  called  AICTE  Automation  Artificial  Intelligence Tool  to  translate  English  language  online  courses  into  11  Indian  languages including Gujarati
4. Translation of reference material for Engineering courses are made available in Regional languages on SWAYAM MOOCS portal
5. Course material including text books and teaching resources for Grades 1-12 are  available  on  DIKSHA  portal  of  the  Government  in  33  Indian  languages including Gujarati and Indian Sign language.
6. JEE  and  NEET  exams  are  conducted  in  13  Indian  languages  including  in Gujarati
7. (d)  To  promote  and  acquire  education  in  Gujarati  language  Government  has provided opportunities to all students from class I to PG level by providing text books and reference material for the same.

***